So, you’re interested in software that can support your strength and conditioning department, and CoachMePlus has supported coaches at all levels for more than 10 years. It should be a good fit, right? Not necessarily.
CoachMePlus designed its software for coaches chasing marginal gains. Developing competitive advantages in the weight room comes down to automating routine tasks and tracking your key performance indicators (KPIs). Automation allows you to have more face time with your athletes, and tracking KPIs ensures that your training has the intended effects. We can’t recommend strength programming or tell you what KPIs to track, because we believe that is up to you and the community.
CoachMePlus won’t necessarily reduce the number of hours that you work, but it can improve the quality of those hours. Share on XCoachMePlus gives the coach total control over their program, not just typing in sets and reps like other programs. We won’t necessarily reduce the number of hours that you work, but we can improve the quality of those hours. CoachMePlus organizes and presents information about your department in real time. This real-time information allows you to quickly focus on what matters, not simply collect workout cards or survey responses.
Strength and Conditioning Software
When you’re looking to write workouts and share them with your athletes, what you want is something that works for both Android and Apple (which covers most phones). Then, you need a program builder that lines up with your current strength and conditioning plan. The best way to check that out is to look at your programming for these two things: workloads and training structure.
Here are your options in CoachMePlus for Workloads:
- Pounds or kilograms
- Time or duration
- Distance in meters
- RPE
- % 1RMs
- % body weight
- We also have an option for notes, which coaches use for velocity-based training metrics.
If these workload metrics match your programming, then take a look at how you’ve structed your program:
- How are your exercises sequenced: sets and reps, circuits, progressions, ladders, etc.?
- Do you use work-to-rest intervals?
- Is your programming based on metric or imperial units?
CoachMePlus can handle sets and reps, circuits, and progressions easily. Ladders are a pain to program, but it can be done. However, the app can’t handle work-to-rest intervals. Imperial and metric measurements can be implemented quickly.
So how does it work? Our Program Builder consists of three sections: exercises, circuits, and programs. We have a large exercise library that you can draw from, or you can add your own exercise. You can upload your own videos or link out to videos directly.
Next, combine those exercises into circuits. Circuits are sequences of exercises that you can save and reuse within program days. Circuits have the option to add supersets and progressions for coaches who have those training structures. Finally, the Program Builder allows you to organize your circuits over the span of an entire program. You can use these programs again and again.
You might’ve used Teambuildr or TrainHeroic before, or possibly BridgeAthletic. All of us have similar training software. Teambuildr seems to have more options, but most of those are just labeled Notes such as VBT, body weight, etc. They have APRE with their software, which is very useful for coaches who aren’t interested in adding VBT. TrainHeroic has a great athlete experience but provides fewer options on the programming side. They also make it extremely easy to add athletes to your programming with shareable group codes. BridgeAthletic has the coolest-looking software of any of us, but it is expensive and only does workout sharing.
How to Implement
The strength and conditioning software comes with every CoachMePlus package.
Testing, Monitoring, and Reporting
Now that you’ve got workouts down, you’re likely looking to do more. At this point you’ll want to determine what metrics (KPIs) you plan on tracking, then see if the features below match those options. For example, say you want to track flying 10s with your athletes. We have the ability to add a test to our system called “Flying 10,” visualize it for each athlete, create a leaderboard, or compare flying 10 speeds over time.
Testing
Most coaches will have a few tests they want to measure with each athlete group. In our system, we call those measurement “fields.” They include common measures such as speed, strength, and mobility tests, and we can easily add them to any package.
If you want to add in a calculated test, then you’re technically using the Algorithm Engine. The Algorithm Engine allows coaches to run calculations on any measurement field in our system. For example, if you want to measure relative strength, you would use the Algorithm Engine to calculate strength divided by body weight.
What makes it an algorithm is that you can run calculated tests on device API data. In practice, let’s say that a coach was measuring an athlete’s dynamic strength index using Force Decks. The Force Decks API would pull the testing data directly into CoachMePlus. That data would then be combined with 1RM (example), and the algorithm would calculate the new dynamic strength test in real time.
Monitoring
The simplest monitoring tool that we have is our research-backed Wellness Questionnaire that is automatically assigned to each athlete. The Questionnaire provides coaches with a quick snapshot of training responses among their athletes. Our body charts allow you to track pain and soreness as well. Questionnaire data, once collected, can be visualized quickly using Dashboards or Assessments.
Dashboards and Assessments takes the data you want to look at—training, testing, device, or questionnaire—and allows you to peruse the information in real time. Dashboards typically are bar or line charts, but we provide multiple options including radar graphs, dials, and trendlines. Assessments are color-coded tables that provide quick insights on how your team is doing. You can set up alerts for Assessment values that are outside of a specific range: e.g., someone scored really low on the questionnaire. Alerts will buzz your phone and let you know that something’s not right.
You can set up alerts for Assessment values that are outside of a specific range, and they will buzz your phone to let you know when something’s not right. Share on XUsually, Dashboards are where coaches like to use their device data. If you create a Dashboard or Assessment in CoachMePlus, it will pull your device data into the visualization without any work on your part. Once you log in to your athlete’s profile, all their information will be right there.
Reports
Dashboards and Assessments can sometimes be limited because they are designed to show recent data. If you want to see how an athlete or team has progressed over time, run a Report. A Report allows you to pull a measurement value for a desired time range. You can go back months or years to show how an athlete has improved since they worked with you.
How to Implement
All packages include basic tests. The Performance Package allows you to add custom tests. Both the Pro and Elite Packages support calculated tests (Algorithm Engine) but differ depending on the complexity.
Integrated Devices
We offer two types of device integrations: CSV import and API. Both integrations pull your data directly into CoachMePlus and match it to each athlete in the system. CSV integrations involve exporting the data from your hardware device and importing it into our system using the Universal Data Importer. This does require some manual work, but it is highly cost effective for smaller programs. It’s useful for inputting periodic data such as testing. An API integration is a “set it and forget it” integration. Once it’s hooked up, it will pull your information directly into CoachMePlus automatically. Both integrations allow our Visualization Suite to immediately display your information.
Free Integrations
Apple HealthKit API integrations: Apple HealthKit is like the App Store but for health and fitness. Any device that’s compatible with Apple HealthKit will automatically send its data directly to CoachMePlus. Right now, we visualize resting heart rate, but we will add more data as we continue to develop.
Mindbody or EZFacility: Member management is difficult, so for private facilities we offer an API integration to either Mindbody or EZFacility. The integration pulls over all the members from either of these software programs and creates them as athletes in CoachMePlus.
SimpliFaster Integrations
We have committed to creating integrations with SimpliFaster products. Integrations with these supported devices are included in the SimpliFaster Comprehensive Team System. We currently offer four integrations and are actively working on adding another timing gate to our integrations list:
- VBT SF (CSV)
- GymAware (API)
- Swift Performance (API)
- Dashr Timing Gates (API)
Additional Supported Integrations
We currently support integrations for the following devices. The cost of every integration on this list varies because the data is different. Our customers actively use every device here. Check below to see if we support your device.
Athlete Tracking
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- Catapult
Polar
Kinexon
STATSports
Monitoring
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- Firstbeat
WHOOP
Assessment
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- Fit3D
AccuPower
Motus
ForceDecks
ForceFrame
SportVU
VBT
- EliteForm
How to Implement
Supporting every device integration is like supporting a foreign language version of your strength and conditioning program: The meaning of the words might be the same, but it could end up lost in translation. You might wonder why it’s so expensive, and that’s because we have to stay up to date with every change that device companies make to keep the connection stable. That’s not unique to us—any company that you deal with has to manage those integrations. Really think about what devices you need to integrate with before you make a decision to move forward.
If you’re wondering what package you should get, every package includes the free integrations. SimpliFaster device connections are available with the SimpliFaster bundles. If you want an integration from the list of additional supported integrations, you would need the Elite Package.
Team Access Points
One of the major concerns that coaches have with strength and conditioning software is that athletes will be on their phones in the weight room. Phones can be distracting, especially for younger athletes. That’s why we’ve made all of our phone app features available for tablets. Your athletes can answer questionnaires and complete training on any iPad with a quick tap. So, what does this look like in a weight room setting?
Rack View
Allow your athletes to complete their training on an iPad. The system can handle up to four athletes at a time, and each can go at their own pace. It has a quick and simple workflow for training groups.
Weight Tracking/Hydration
This is a favorite with football and hockey programs. Our Bluetooth scale hooks up directly with our weight tracking. You can have athletes click their face on the screen and step on the scale, and it will automatically log in their weight. No errors for manual entry. If you want, you can use the weigh-in/weigh-out feature to provide personalized hydration recommendations to your athletes.
For Coaches Who Want More Than Sets and Reps
There are great options out there for pushing out workouts, but if you want to do more than just be a barbell babysitter, have a look at CoachMePlus. Our platform improves the relationships between coaches and athletes by allowing them to work collaboratively toward their performance goals. Good strength and conditioning software should allow coaches to have more meaningful conversations with each athlete by providing two key benefits: automating routine tasks and allowing coaches to set their own key performance indicators.
There are great options out there for pushing workouts, but if you want to do more than just be a barbell babysitter, have a look at CoachMePlus. Share on XAutomating routine tasks like workout distribution, survey collection, and data analysis allows coaches to spend more face time with their athletes. And because coaches are able to set their own KPIs, they’re able to have more meaningful conversations with every athlete.
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