WHOOP was approved by MLB last week, which notified that players can wear this wrist band during games starting in the 2017 season, making it first wearable device of its kind approved for in-game use for MLB players. MLB and WHOOP conducted the largest performance study in the US professional sports, recently. Technology announcement of this wrist band is the continuation of that pre-existing relationship.
This is not the first time when wearables have been approved for in-game use. Motus Baseball Sleeve and Zephyr Bioharness were approved for the 2016 season.
Will Ahmed is the founder and CEO of WHOOP, he suggested on the company blog that MLB pitchers could use WHOOP Day Strain to assess strain levels compared to just monitoring pitch counts. He said that he is very impressed by how MLB has understood this device’s technology, MLB listened to what they had to offer, gathering feedback from their teams and athletes upon using this device. MLB also examined the findings of the study, very carefully. They followed a thorough review process for approving WHOOP in games which included safety testing.
Last September WHOOP started making its performance publicly available, optimizing system as it continues to help athletes of all ages perform at their highest potential. According to WHOOP’s blog, its mission is to unlock human performance, believing in athletes and competitors alike deserve data to help them better understand their bodies. This data, particularly recovery data will make healthier athletes, longer careers.
This device is waterproof and could be worn 24 hours a day, utilizes five sensors which take in data 100 times per second. The sensors monitor heart rate, ambient temperature, heart rate variability, skin response and motion. Moreover, this device also analyze 100 megabytes worth of data every day, all of which is stored in both, online platform and app. Main metrics of this device are strain and recovery. Strain is measured to ensure user’s daily activities aligned with what their body could respond and if there’s discrepancy, WHOOP optimizes activities to help body recover.
