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Think about your last gym session: After hitting that final rep and calling it a workout, you probably felt tired and satisfied. But could your muscles have kept on going? Or did you work too hard?
Now there’s a new way to know for sure. A team from the University of Essex in England has developed a muscle-fatigue sensor that measures how tired your muscles get during a workout.
Think of it as a heart-rate monitor for weight lifters: Strap on a sensor to whichever muscle you’re working. As your reps increase, a light will tell you just how close that muscle is to being fatigued and how much time you’ve got left before you should stop working. Ultimately, the sensor—dubbed the iSense (until Apple shuts them down)—was created to help athletes hit their physical peak, says lead researcher Mohamed Al-Mulla, a Ph.D. student at Essex.
“I’ve been bodybuilding for a long time, and I always wonder, why do I only ever do a certain number of reps per exercise? Why not more? Why not less? So basically, the device pushes you to your performance limit. By knowing exactly when you’ll fatigue, you can be smart and safe with your training,” says Al-Mulla.
Curious how the whole thing works? Without using too much mumbo jumbo, here’s the gist: The sensor picks up electrical signals emanating from your muscles. Those signals are then sent to a computer for processing. While that sounds like a clunky way to tell you you’re tired, it’s still just a prototype. Al-Mulla estimates that within a year, you’ll be able to fit the whole device in your pocket, connect it to your smartphone, and take it to the gym.
“You’ll be able to walk out of the gym and know that you’ve done all the work you can do. You can literally measure the success of your training session—and not lie to yourself,” Al-Mulla says.
But one physiology expert isn’t sold yet on the iSense. “We’ve been using electromyographs in the lab for more than 50 years. While this one might let you know you’re fatiguing, you would already sense that,” says David Pearson, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., a professor of exercise physiology at Ball State University. “There’s not a lot of evidence that you injure the muscle as you approach fatigue, so I would see little or no practical application that would enhance or make your workouts safer.”
We’ll have to wait for more research to recommend this one—but you don’t need to wait until the device hits stores to push yourself, anyway. Read how to build mental skills for endurance to work out harder, faster, and longer. And if it’s extra motivation you’re looking for, sign up for a 30-day free trial of Men’s Health Personal Trainer. You’ll have hundreds of workout plans designed by the fitness pros that will tell you precisely what you need to do to build your best body ever.
—Andrew Daniels
Now there’s a new way to know for sure. A team from the University of Essex in England has developed a muscle-fatigue sensor that measures how tired your muscles get during a workout.
Think of it as a heart-rate monitor for weight lifters: Strap on a sensor to whichever muscle you’re working. As your reps increase, a light will tell you just how close that muscle is to being fatigued and how much time you’ve got left before you should stop working. Ultimately, the sensor—dubbed the iSense (until Apple shuts them down)—was created to help athletes hit their physical peak, says lead researcher Mohamed Al-Mulla, a Ph.D. student at Essex.
“I’ve been bodybuilding for a long time, and I always wonder, why do I only ever do a certain number of reps per exercise? Why not more? Why not less? So basically, the device pushes you to your performance limit. By knowing exactly when you’ll fatigue, you can be smart and safe with your training,” says Al-Mulla.
Curious how the whole thing works? Without using too much mumbo jumbo, here’s the gist: The sensor picks up electrical signals emanating from your muscles. Those signals are then sent to a computer for processing. While that sounds like a clunky way to tell you you’re tired, it’s still just a prototype. Al-Mulla estimates that within a year, you’ll be able to fit the whole device in your pocket, connect it to your smartphone, and take it to the gym.
“You’ll be able to walk out of the gym and know that you’ve done all the work you can do. You can literally measure the success of your training session—and not lie to yourself,” Al-Mulla says.
But one physiology expert isn’t sold yet on the iSense. “We’ve been using electromyographs in the lab for more than 50 years. While this one might let you know you’re fatiguing, you would already sense that,” says David Pearson, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., a professor of exercise physiology at Ball State University. “There’s not a lot of evidence that you injure the muscle as you approach fatigue, so I would see little or no practical application that would enhance or make your workouts safer.”
We’ll have to wait for more research to recommend this one—but you don’t need to wait until the device hits stores to push yourself, anyway. Read how to build mental skills for endurance to work out harder, faster, and longer. And if it’s extra motivation you’re looking for, sign up for a 30-day free trial of Men’s Health Personal Trainer. You’ll have hundreds of workout plans designed by the fitness pros that will tell you precisely what you need to do to build your best body ever.
—Andrew Daniels