We could possibly go the less traditional route and build something new.

Project Idea: “E-I-C/Acute variable optimization device applied to the bench press” or for short ICE OPT bench press I guess.

Background Information: For every exercise there are three basic types of muscle motions or contractions that occur: eccentric, isometric, and concentric.

  1. Eccentric – the lengthening of a muscle

(it is exerting less force that is being placed on it)

  1. Isometric – a muscle maintaining a certain length

(it is exerting force equal to that being placed on it)

  1. Concentric – the shortening of a muscle

(it is exerting more force than is being placed on it)

The point of the bench press machine would be to optimize user performance of the acute variables – important components that specify how each exercise is to be performed – in particular, the variable of repetition tempo. Repetition tempo refers to the speed with which each repetition is performed. This is an important variable that can be manipulated to achieve specific training objectives such as power, hypertrophy, stability, and endurance. The following table shows the repetition tempos recommended for achieving different training adaptations.

Repetition Tempo Spectrum
Repetition Tempo
Training Adaptation / (Eccentric/Isometric/Concentric)
Strength / Moderate (2/0/2)
Stabilization / Stabilization (4/2/1)

Now the key point of the apparatus would be to use a sorta-neurofeedback-style screen mounted conveniently and displayed clearly to the person operating the bench press. The screen would display the height or displacement of the barbell for a given starting position as a function of time. Displayed on the screen would be two graphs: on one would be an “ideal” path displayed on the screen and the other would show the actual path as a function of time. The goal would thus be to keep the actual graph in line with the ideal graph as closely as possible.

For the bench press, assume the starting position of the barbell (from which displacement would be measured from) is just above the chest and that the goal is to enhance stabilization; we would reverse the ratio so that 4:2:1s becomes 1:2:4s since in this case the concentric muscle action occurs first. The following graph elaborates.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 t(s)

Red shows concentric contractions, black shows isometric, and blue shows eccentric muscle actions.

The actual screen on the press then would display the ideal graph as being a constantly repeating pattern that is displayed in the background and not as a function of time. Graph (a) shows the ideal graph that would be displayed for the goal of stabilization and graph (b) shows the ideal graph that would be displayed on the screed of the goal of strength training.

(a)
(b)

Furthermore, the screen would also show the actual graph which would unfold as a function of time on top of the ideal graph. The actual graph is shown in red in the following example.

For t=7s

For t=14s

Over time user of the machine would optimize performance of repetition tempo.

In large part I think this communicates my idea. No biggie if it doesn’t get picked, just wanted to throw it out there. Not even sure if it would be feasible, wouldn’t this require a computer engineer? electrical and mechanical forsure.