Research center
The science supporting BlazePod
"Perfect Practice makes Perfect Permanent."
Michael "MC" Cummings states, "Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Therefore, make sure your practice is perfect."
Michael "MC" Cummings
Head Master Trainer & Academy Advisor, BlazePod
Why Visuo-Motor as a stimulus for BlazePod?
Probably one of the most important studies that we have seen is from Faubert & Sidebottom in their 2012 study, which states that one of the most formidable tasks for the brain of an athlete during game play is to perceive and integrate complex moving patterns while allocating attentional resources in different key areas of the dynamic scene.
We propose the possibility that these perceptual-cognitive abilities are both a critical component of elite performance generally, and that they are trainable, and we suggest that perhaps there may be room to consider the need for conditioning higher-level visual processing of dynamic scenes and to be able to implement this at a practical level.
Faubert & Sidebottom, 2012The athlete sees a stimulus or a trigger and then performs the appropriate action to achieve the goal. This is one of the fundamental core principles in training Focus and Processing Speed.
Faubert & Sidebottom, 2012
Studies validating the use of BlazePod as a leading Reaction Training Solution
BlazePod reactive agility device is a reliable measure of reactive agility performance and are consistent with the coach's perception of the athlete's agility performance, thus demonstrating construct validity.
Hoffman. J.R.
Evaluation of a reactive agility assessment device in youth football players.
The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 34(12)
Practitioners can use the information provided by BlazePod technology to monitor performance changes during cognitive training and evaluate effects of a training intervention.
De-Oliveira. L.A, Matos. M.V, Fernandes. I.G, Nascimento. D.A. & Silva-Grigoletto. M.E, Test-retest reliability of a visual-cognitive technology (BlazePod) to measure response time.
Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 20(1), 179
Simultaneous Physical & Cognitive Training
In a 2015 study done by Cona, Cavazzana, Paoli, Marcolin, Grainer, and Bisiacchi, they surmised that all sports require the brain and body to work together, and outstanding athletes were shown to be more able at making decisions and at extrapolating relevant information from the environment to anticipate future events and outcomes faster than 'normal' athletes.
"Our unique 'Light Logics' for programming BlazePod can make these normal athletes outstanding or expert. The best athletes can make decisions faster, react faster, and focus on relevant information and ignore irrelevant information. These athletes have high sports IQ, which means they can anticipate the flow and movement of the game. For example, someone with a high soccer IQ seems to always be in the right place at the right time"
Michael "MC" Cummings
A 1990 study by Garland and Barry showed that the more experienced the athlete, the more efficient their eye movements.
Perceptual organization is the ability to integrate efficiently complex perceptual stimuli in the visual field. The first step in using BlazePods is perception. Perceiving the stimulus (S = Pods). Thus, training with BlazePod will create a more experienced athlete faster.
Mann, Williams, Ward, and Janelle in a 2017 study discovered that sports experts are typically more proficient at making decisions and possess an unparalleled ability to foreshadow or predict future events and outcomes.
The analysis of performance measures confirmed expectations that experts were more accurate in their decision making relative to their lesser skilled counterparts. These experts anticipated their opponents' intentions significantly quicker than less skilled participants. This is one of the reasons we see so many coaches using BlazePod within their sports environment. (on field, on court, on ice, in ring etc.)
According to Janell & Hillman in 2003, a 'sports expert' is defined as the ability to consistently demonstrate superior athletic performance.
The method is through perceptual training and there is none better than BlazePod. Perceptual- cognitive skill refers to the ability to identify and acquire environmental information for integration with existing knowledge such that appropriate responses can be selected and executed. All abilities that can be enhanced through the BlazePod training system and concomitant methodology.
"Think about any sport, and it requires immediate vision, immediate decision and immediate reaction. There are not many sports where you can take your time and think about what you want to do. You have to react to what is coming."
Dr Daniel Laby, RedBull's Trents Vision
"You've literally got half a second to make a decision… I guess that's what you call instinct."
"You've literally got half a second to make a decision… I guess that's what you call instinct."
Wayne Rooney, Ex. Manchester United Legend
Visual training
BlazePod Activities train athletes to know where and when to look, which is crucial for successful sport performance. In sport the visual display is vast and often saturated with information both relevant and irrelevant to the task. Sport performers must be able to identify the most information-rich areas of the display, direct their attention appropriately, and extract meaning from these areas efficiently and effectively, which is programmable within the BlazePod app.
Michael "MC" Cummings
Visual training
Minoonejad, Barati, Naderifar, Heidari, Kazemi, and Lashay in 2019 conclude: Visual skills are an integral part of most daily activities and an effective indicator of the functional ability of athletes, particularly in the fields of dynamic sports like basketball.
According to the obtained results, the oculo-motor exercises can be used to enhance the limit of stability and dynamic visual acuity in basketball players and other dynamic sports.
sports science research has established that how an athlete perceives and reacts to a set of stimuli is a crucial element of top-level competitive sports
Davids & Williams, 1999
Cognition
In 2018 Fabian, Dennis, Lutz and Notger concluded that Cognition is a term covering a wide range of mental abilities that are necessary to perceive, process, and interact with our environment. The process of perception, processing and interaction or reaction are fundamental for human living. And that across the life span, cognitive performance is influenced and changed by many factors. BlazePod can be a catalyst for this change, to enhance cognitive and physical well-being as well as enhanced performance potential.
According to the "guided plasticity facilitation" framework, the combination of physical and cognitive activities trained simultaneously has positive synergistic effects that exceed the pure addition of the positive effects of cognitive and physical exercises trained sequentially or on their own. This facilitation effect of physical and cognitive triggers neurophysiological mechanisms, which promote neuroplasticity or the re-wiring of the brain to enhance performance abilities.
References
Cona, G., Cavazzana, A., Paoli, A., Marcolin, G., Grainer, A., & Bisiacchi, P. S. (2015). It's a matter of mind! Cognitive functioning predicts the athletic performance in ultra-marathon runners. PloS one, 10(7), e0132943.
Čotar, S., Ascione, A., Di Palma, D., & Agosti, V. (2020). VISUAL STIMULI FOR IMPROVING PERCEPTUAL-COGNITIVE SKILLS IN SPORT ACTIVITIES: THE TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT. Giornale Italiano di Educazione alla Salute, Sport e Didattica Inclusiva, 4(1). doi: 10.32043/gsd.v4i1.163
Cross, E. S., Stadler, W., Parkinson, J., Schütz‐Bosbach, S., & Prinz, W. (2013). The influence of visual training on predicting complex action sequences. Human brain mapping, 34(2), 467-486.
Deeny, S. P., Hillman, C. H., Janelle, C. M., & Hatfield, B. D. (2003). Cortico-cortical communication and superior performance in skilled marksmen: An EEG coherence analysis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 25(2), 188-204
Fadde, P. J., & Zaichkowsky, L. (2018). Training perceptual-cognitive skills in sports using technology. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 9(4), 239-248.
Falbo, S., Condello, G., Capranica, L., Forte, R., & Pesce, C. (2016). Effects of physical-cognitive dual task training on executive function and gait performance in older adults: a randomized controlled trial. BioMed research international, 2016
Faubert, J., & Sidebottom, L. (2012). Perceptual-cognitive training of athletes. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 6(1), 85-102.
Herold, F., Hamacher, D., Schega, L., & Müller, N. G. (2018). Thinking while moving or moving while thinking–concepts of motor-cognitive training for cognitive performance enhancement. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 10, 228.
Hoffman, J. R. (2020). Evaluation of a reactive agility assessment device in youth football players. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 34(12), 3311-3315.
Lange-Küttner, C. (2012). The importance of reaction times for developmental science: What a difference milliseconds make. International Journal of Developmental Science, 6(1-2), 51-55. DOI: 10.3233/DEV-2012-11089
Mann, D. T., Williams, A. M., Ward, P., & Janelle, C. M. (2007). Perceptual-cognitive expertise in sport: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 29(4), 457-478.
Sarikaya, M., Selçuk, M., Gencer, Y. G., Temur, H. B., & Öntürk, U. (2017). The Effect Of 8 Week Tennis Technical Training And Games On Reaction Time In 10-12 Year Old Boys. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science.
Seo, Y. S., Song, I. Y., & Yoon, J. H. (2022). Effect of convergence body stabilization exercise on the visual response speed and functional movement, balance, and vital capacity of High School Football Players. Journal of Digital Convergence, 20(1), 191-202.
Spiteri, T., McIntyre, F., Specos, C., & Myszka, S. (2018). Cognitive training for agility: The integration between perception and action. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 40(1), 39-46.