We help coaches and athletes catch unseen movements to increase their odds of winning through wearable motion capture. - Medium

Brave Virtual Worlds - Medium

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*o7C1dZj4mMgdhw4rHJ72Tw.jpeg"></figure>In strength and conditioning training, athletes perform certain movements to train major muscle groups and improve performance. Incorrect movements can be very detrimental to an athlete’s body, so strength and conditioning teaches athletes how to move properly in order to avoid future injury. By training a variety of skills, this form of coaching helps increase muscle strength, strengthen neuromuscular efficiency, and improves mobility and flexion.
What are the basic fundamental movements trained in strength and conditioning sessions? Read on to learn about the six basic movements performed in strength and conditioning training.
<h3>Pull</h3>
In the pulling motion, you pull a weight toward your body or move your body towards your hands. The pulling motion comes in various forms, such as vertical or horizontal pulls. The main muscles being worked in this motion are the mid and upper back, biceps, forearms, and rear deltoids. Some examples of the pulling motion include pull-ups and barbell rows.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*LSi8ysjAg1MlEComLyAIeQ.gif"></figure><h3>Push</h3>
The pushing motion is the opposite of the pull: it works as an antagonist muscle pair. In this movement, you push a weight away from your body or away from an object. Just like in pulls, the pushing motion also has vertical and horizontal components. The muscles targeted in this motion are the chest, triceps, and front deltoids. Sample exercises include push-ups and dumbbell shoulder presses.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/310/1*sY0dyNLNqb71M0NJ_iVHtQ.jpeg"></figure><h3>Squat</h3>
The squat — one of the most complex movements of the human body — requires a lot of strength and mobility in the leg, hip, knee, and ankle. This exercise targets the glutes, core, quadriceps, and hamstring muscles. Variations of the squat include goblet squats, sumo squats, and front squats.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*QMgHMAGCp8d7H3G3L0cOyw.jpeg"></figure><h3>Lunge</h3>
Lunges require greater flexibility, stability, and balance all throughout the body because you perform this motion in a less stable position: one foot further away from the other. This exercise works the same muscles as the squats (glutes, quadriceps, core, and hamstrings) with the added stimulation of all three gluteal muscles because of the split stance you are in. Some example exercises are step-ups and side lunges.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*cvSEnGmCMsDdGa1lxDVLsg.jpeg"></figure><h3>Hinge</h3>
Hinge exercises require a slight bend at your knees and a forward lean pushing your hips backward, all while keeping your back straight. These exercises build the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back muscles. Some exercises include kettlebell swings and sumo deadlifts.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1021/1*VqOv4UUBcSDRA-Ob-TOdVw.jpeg"></figure><h3>Rotation</h3>
Rotation is a movement that involves twisting your core instead of moving forward and backward or side to side. This motion is very important for athletes to train since rotation is seen in almost every sport: while throwing a ball, kicking a ball, and changing directions while running. The core (specifically the obliques) and the lower back are the key muscle groups trained in this type of exercise. Exercises that fall under this group are side plank rotations and Russian twists.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*VzlyZosj6U0K6wB7tOt5Vw.jpeg"></figure>If you are looking to improve your fundamental movements with accurate and objective data, contact<a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact"> Brave Virtual Worlds</a> for a demo of Valor: our 4D wearable motion capture technology. In just one session, you will learn where you are most injury-prone and fix those movements immediately!
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a third year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
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<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/about-the-fundamental-human-movements-d9941dd4887e">About the Fundamental Human Movements</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

About the Fundamental Human Movements

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*_h32ZhVOhpc-vllfpOy94A.png"></figure>Athletes regularly practice on the court, field, or pitch with the hope of improving their skills. However, motion training originates in one place: the gym. Strength and conditioning coaches have long been searching for a tool that helps their athletes with injury prevention and performance optimization, specifically a way to understand an athlete’s movement before they even step into an actual game. Luckily, Valor, our 4D movement assessment tool, is exactly what they have been hoping for.
<h3>Valor’s Capabilities</h3>
Functioning as a completely wireless motion capture suit, Valor works to capture and analyze movement in any location. Without constraints, athletes and clients can easily put on a Valor suit and perform mobility assessments that their coaches have crafted for them on the mobile app. To learn more about Valor’s software and our app’s features, read our other blog<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/the-software-behind-valor-e82f51a723d4"> here</a>.
On the Brave app, coaches can create custom mobility assessments that will measure and analyze certain movements they believe will help determine how to improve their athletes’ overall movement. In seconds, analytics and graphs will display on the screen of the Brave app detailing joint kinematics, piecing together an athlete’s range of motion.
These customizable mobility assessments allow coaches to pick and choose which movements they would like their athletes to perform, and within those movements, pick which joints they would like to see data on for that specific movement or exercise. As they conduct these movement assessments on athletes, they will be able to then tell how prepared a given athlete is to play a certain type of sport. In a conversation with Dhyey Parikh, Brave’s COO, he emphasized the importance of figuring out an athlete’s range of motion, flexibility, and stability before they even begin playing a sport.
“For example, if a baseball player’s internal hip rotation is not up to par — which you can figure out through these movement assessments with Valor — it means they probably won’t have that level of explosiveness that is needed when trying to do a swing or throw,” said Dhyey.
As coaches and trainers recognize that the root problem of their athletes’ ability to perform their best lies in a limited range of motion, they will turn to initial mobility assessments to tell them the story behind how an athlete moves.
<h3>The Importance of Movement Assessments</h3>
Brave’s long-time partner, Aaron Corwin, Director of Strength and Conditioning at D-BAT Lewisville first realized about a year ago that if he could understand how someone was moving in the weight room, he could then understand how they would move in a game.
“For athletes to increase their performance on the field, they need to improve movement in the gym first. They need to improve their neuromuscular efficiency,” said Aaron.
Since then, Aaron has been working with Brave to co-create Valor. With his feedback, these custom motion assessments have been designed and implemented into Valor’s software.
For coaches and trainers who want high-quality motion capture at their fingertips, Valor gives you the ability to fundamentally understand movement across the entire body. Do you want to see data you have never seen before in your training sessions? Contact us <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">here</a> for a demo of Valor.
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a third year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=3be3ba3163fb" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr>
<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/using-valor-as-the-all-in-one-movement-assessment-tool-3be3ba3163fb">Using Valor as the All-in-One Movement Assessment Tool</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Using Valor as the All-in-One Movement Assessment Tool

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*AI0yfg3j-GHEyQggzHurtg.png"></figure>The use of technology and data in sports is an ever-growing field. As coaches and athletes seek to increase their odds of winning, they are turning to data-driven solutions to prevent injuries, fine-tune technique, and increase performance.
In baseball, we have lately seen big jumps in technological advancements largely due to the MLB’s management of technology and development of the game. By maximizing their use and evolution of technology, the sport of baseball has become more efficient for athletes and more exciting for fans.
In the past few years, there have been many thrilling advancements in baseball technology. Here are a few of the newest additions to baseball technology.
SwingTracker
The SwingTracker by Diamond Kinetics is the perfect tool to see improvements in your swing over time. It is a small sensor that attaches to the end of your baseball bat which captures data from your swing. Paired with the SwingTracker app which displays simple or advanced metrics, the SwingTracker allows players to easily learn what they need to improve, compare different swings, and view metrics such as hand speed and barrel speed. SwingTracker’s motion analysis has saved many athletes time and effort as they work to have the best possible swing.
KinaTrax
KinaTrax, a marker-less motion capture system, consists of 8 to 16 synchronized video cameras positioned along the first and third base lines that work together to capture every movement of the pitcher and hitter. After 10 hours of processing the captured footage, the system is able to show 3D rotational and positional data for all of their joints. From this data, athletes and coaches can work together to identify movement patterns that may cause injury or decrease performance and fix them in training.
Statcast
Similar to KinaTrax, the Statcast system operates with a series of high resolution optical cameras. Cameras along with radar data track the movement of the ball and every player on the field at any given time. Having data on virtually every aspect of the game is crucial to understanding and conducting an informed analysis of any player’s skill. Coaches can pinpoint each athlete’s strengths and weaknesses in performance and work with them individually to improve their weaknesses and train their strengths.
Now, people from fans to coaches enjoy Statcast statistics to compare athletes and measure the once immeasurable — some MLB teams have even adopted the practice of looking at Statcast data to evaluate future Draft picks.
<h3>Even Newer Technology</h3>
While these 3 pieces of technology have already established themselves in the MLB world, there are new technologies being developed every day. One of them is Brave Virtual Worlds.
Brave has created a 4D wearable motion capture solution for athletes and coaches. Their product, Valor, consists of 10 sensors placed directly on the body that can capture and analyze the body’s movement. In seconds, metrics appear on the Brave app right on your phone for easy access to the data. Several baseball, golf, and strength and conditioning coaches have begun to test out Valor and have seen improvements after a few sessions with the technology.
Want to learn more about Brave and Valor? Check out our website <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">here</a>.
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a third year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=e32f937e2a8f" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr>
<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/technology-that-is-changing-the-game-in-baseball-e32f937e2a8f">Technology That Is Changing The Game In Baseball</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Technology That Is Changing The Game In Baseball

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/770/1*s1ktT4kVcfVxo4qNIVVzOA.jpeg"></figure>Lower back pain is common among adults everywhere. According to the<a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/7936-lower-back-pain"> Cleveland Clinic</a>, around four out of five people experience lower back pain sometime in their life. Causes for lower back pain include age, lifestyle, and other problems due to weakened muscles and back injury. Although lower back pain comes in various forms — sharp, dull, or achy — there are simple exercises you can do to address any kind of pain.
The following exercises strengthen your muscles to better support your spine and help you avoid more pain.
<h3>5 Exercises to Help The Pain</h3>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2LM4fmFf_g">Partial Crunches</a>
Try partial crunches to strengthen your back and stomach muscles!
<ol>
<li>Lie down on your back with your knees at a bend and feet flat on the floor.</li>
<li>Cross your arms over your chest or put your hands behind your head.</li>
<li>Raise your shoulders off the floor, remembering to exhale as you raise your shoulders and inhale as you lower them back down. You should feel your abdominal muscles tightening as you move — never use your arms to pull your neck off of the floor.</li>
<li>Repeat this motion 10 times, holding for a couple of seconds when your shoulders are off the floor if you want a challenge.</li>
</ol>
Remember, your feet, tailbone, and lower back should always remain on the floor. Proper form will prevent further back injuries or pain.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/600/1*8GoK-sley7PDlJK5K1tsfA.jpeg"></figure><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9F7SA713H4">Bridges</a>
<ol>
<li>Back bridges are the perfect way to feel your back muscles strengthening.</li>
<li>Lie on your back with your arms on the floor at your sides, your knees at a bend, and your feet flat on the floor.</li>
<li>Tighten your abdomen and slowly lift your hips off the floor, focusing on keeping your back straight.</li>
<li>Slowly lower your hips back down to the floor. Repeat 10 times.</li>
</ol>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*6zW_nP8Y_vb1CCuT8PoIFg.jpeg"></figure><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cdph8hv0O0">Wall Sits</a>
<ol>
<li>Wall sits work to train your back to stay straight and strong.</li>
<li>Stand about a foot away from the wall, then begin leaning back until your back touches the wall.</li>
<li>Slide your back down the wall until your knees are bent and your lower back presses into the wall.</li>
<li>Hold this position for 10 seconds, then carefully slide back up the wall until you reach your original position. Repeat this exercise 10 times.</li>
</ol>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*oMSnIvgmmI-jxP8yW5BBPg.jpeg"></figure><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4z-5Oz9zXE">Cat Camel</a>
<ol>
<li>Cat Camel, a popular pilates pose, helps with mobilization to loosen your spine and reduce lower and mid back pain.</li>
<li>Start on all fours, with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees directly under your hips.</li>
<li>Hold your chin toward your chest and slowly round your back up toward the ceiling and hold this position for a couple of seconds.</li>
<li>Release your chin, relax your back, and arch it slightly while looking straight ahead of you. Return to the starting position and repeat 10 times.</li>
</ol>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/277/1*NWsy41huNMU8yq0qGa1Hdw.jpeg"></figure><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYvYsFrTI0U">Child’s Pose</a>
<ol>
<li>Child’s pose stretches the muscles of your lower back to release tension, making it a very relaxing exercise.</li>
<li>Kneel on the floor on your hands and knees.</li>
<li>As you exhale, push your torso back into your thighs and extend your arms out in front of you with your palms facing down.</li>
<li>Hold this position for 20 to 30 seconds and repeat the exercise 10 times.</li>
</ol>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*J_7nKmlGcLEAwLhNAScpeQ.jpeg"></figure>Injury prevention and muscle strengthening exercises help you avoid and treat lower back pain. Try out these exercises to relieve stress in your back and loosen your spine.
Interested in injury prevention? Check out how easy injury prevention can be with Brave’s motion capture. Learn more about us below.
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a third year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=3dea9f36a722" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr>
<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/exercises-for-lower-back-pain-3dea9f36a722">Exercises for Lower Back Pain</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Exercises for Lower Back Pain

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*IIlTx3n6JpjLXKfbcdY2_Q.jpeg"></figure><h3>About Josh Jackson</h3>
Josh Jackson, golf instructor and professional long driver, began playing golf at the age of 12 with his father. The rest is history.
He fell in love with the sport in his young adult years, moving away from a short stint with collegiate-level football to pursue golf. Now, the 6’1” world-ranked long driver can drive the ball over 400-yards with a club head speed of 154.8 mph and a ball speed of 222 mph.
In an interview, Jackson emphasized the importance of proper technique in hitting a golf ball. The amount of speed and distance he can generate all depends on his positioning and mechanics.
<h3>Josh’s Use of Valor</h3>
Josh has been using<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/the-software-behind-valor-e82f51a723d4"> Valor</a>, our proprietary wearable motion capture system, for about a year now.
“I use Valor as much as I can to figure out how I can correct certain techniques or movements during my training,’’ said Josh.
He enjoys seeing different angles and measurements of his movement that he previously had not been able to study. With this new knowledge, he is able to make changes in his swing that has helped him develop his technique and speed up his training.
“For long drivers, we try to move as fast as we can and hit the ball as straight as possible. I usually make sure that I’m loading my body up correctly before my backswing and downswing with Valor.”
Although he does not have a set schedule for when he uses Valor, Josh brings out the suit every time he notices that he is having an off-day with his swing. From there, he studies the graphs and metrics shown in our<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/the-software-behind-valor-e82f51a723d4"> software</a> to pinpoint areas in which he can improve and work from there.
“If I see a big number on the Launch Monitor, I’ll revisit my session in the Brave app to study what went right with my swing. I try to understand what I did differently in that swing to see if I can slowly increase the numbers on the Launch Monitor going forward.”
So far, Josh has seen lots of improvement in his swing, thanks to Valor. He recalls that in one of his first sessions with Valor, he noticed that his better swings happened when he slightly relaxed his arms and moved his body harder. He claims that he would not have found this out without the help of Valor’s software.
He also recounts that in another session, he was able to improve his club head speed by 4 mph — something that normally would have taken him months to be able to achieve!
“That’s a lot when you’re moving at the speed I am!” Josh said.
<h3>Valor in Josh’s Future</h3>
Josh is moving to Ohio in the next month, where he will serve as a golf instructor for a new facility. He is excited to experiment with the existing technology in the facility, and bring Valor with him for his new athletes to try out. He hopes to use Valor on his athletes weekly to understand how they’re moving and tracking improvements over time once it includes optimization tools. One day, he would even like to use Valor every day on athletes.
“I really can’t wait to see where [Brave] goes. I get texts every month about new features and software updates — I’m just really excited to see [Valor] generate optimal numbers and help out many more people with their movement.”
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a second year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
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<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/how-pro-long-driver-josh-jackson-uses-valor-23d3a41ebce7">How Pro Long Driver Josh Jackson Uses Valor</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How Pro Long Driver Josh Jackson Uses Valor

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*QAKiS4VAADWnF9XBavUwKw.jpeg"></figure>Every golf swing begins with your grip of the club — and making slight adjustments to your grip can vastly impact how straight your shots are. Your golf grip controls your entire swing, which is the determining factor in how your golf shots turn out. Due to its ability to influence the movement of your club, professionals argue that your grip is one of the most important factors of a great golf swing.
Read on to learn more about what makes a good golf grip and how to improve your swing by positioning your hands properly!
<h3>How To Hold The Club</h3>
First, start by holding the top of the club with your dominant hand, then place your non-dominant hand on the side of the grip with your fingers pointed down. Once your hand is in place, wrap it around your club. Now take your dominant hand from the top of your club and move it to the place right below where your non-dominant hand is. Wrap your dominant hand around the club so that there is contact between your fingers and palm — holding the club with your entire two hands instead of just your fingers will give you added control and power to your swing.
<h3>Types of Grips</h3>
After you have the club in your hands, there are three main types of grips, or in other words, three different ways to position your hands. First, there is the overlapping grip where the pinky finger on your dominant hand stays between your index finger and the middle finger of your non-dominant hand. Second, there is the interlocking grip where you interlock your pinky finger on your dominant hand with the index finger on your non-dominant hand. Finally, there is the 10-finger grip — this is where all of the fingers on your dominant hand sit below your non-dominant hand without any overlap.
Golfers prefer the first or second grip to maximize the connectivity between the hands. Junior or beginner golfers tend to use the third grip as they get accustomed to the sport, even though it creates more separation between the fingers.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/847/1*vzFcwpZ3aZ_c3lSvfMc5gw.jpeg"></figure><h3>How Much Pressure To Use</h3>
A common problem in a golf grip is using too much pressure to hold the club. In a death grip (too much pressure on the club), there is less wrist hinge and reduced club speed, which results in a worse swing. Too much pressure also results in less forearm rotation during the swing, which causes hooks or slices in your swing.
The ideal amount of pressure should only be felt in the top three fingers of your non-dominant hand as well as in the thumb and index finger of your dominant hand.
<h3>Practicing Your Swing With Your New Grip</h3>
Now that you know what a proper golf grip looks like, you can now head out to the range and practice your swing! Begin by experimenting with different grips and keep adjusting until you strike a straight ball.
Practice makes perfect, but what if your practice turned into perfect faster? Would you jump at the chance to improve your swing in minutes instead of months? Check out Brave’s motion capture technology to assist all of your sports needs.
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a second year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=3be8815fc414" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr>
<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/analyzing-the-golf-grip-3be8815fc414">Analyzing the Golf Grip</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Analyzing the Golf Grip

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/612/1*wqsA7SDfdS64ADptwqOAJg.jpeg"></figure>We’re all familiar with the concept of sports rehab: from a devastating injury to an arduous journey in physical therapy. Exercises in PT can effectively treat an athlete’s pain and build back their previous strength until they return to normal function.
But what about before athletes get injured? Is there a way to proactively avoid certain injuries?
Introducing prehab: the newest term to describe taking preventative measures against injuries. It takes your warm-up to a new level: besides simple stretches, prehab targets small aches and pains before they grow into bigger problems for the body. It functions differently for every athlete, since everyone deals with their own movement patterns. However, as a whole, prehab encompasses exercises to improve range of motion, build strength, and grow stability.
<h3>Use Prehab to Protect Your Body</h3>
There are many different ways to use prehab to protect your body. Observe the following examples for different exercises you could do to prevent future injuries.
For athletes in baseball, the shoulder is one of the most used joints in the body for hitting and pitching. When athletes lack shoulder stability, the joint has a higher probability to rotate too far and tear or pull out of the socket during a swinging or throwing motion. It is imperative that these athletes engage in exercises that improve mobility and stability — such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=155ey6fDurs">upper shoulder rotations</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vJKSlfLX10">child’s pose</a> — to prevent shoulder injuries.
For weightlifters, good core strength ensures proper weightlifting techniques. Poor core strength leads to a rounded or extended back during exercises, which can eventually lead to a damaged spine and back muscles. As a good core prehab, weightlifters can participate in exercises that go against rotating the spine. These include <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeKv5oX_6GY">planks</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_BYB0R-4Ws">dead bugs</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTqlJ0aoJlM">renegade rows</a>.
<h3>How Do You Know Which Prehab Exercises to Do?</h3>
First, it is important to think about which muscles you’re engaging in your workouts. If you are a tennis player, you’ll want to do exercises that engage and strengthen your rotator cuff. If you are a sprinter, you’ll want to strengthen your hamstring and other leg muscles to prepare for your sprints.
But sometimes it’s difficult to determine all of the exercises you should be doing. When you want a deep analysis of your movement without having to go to a physical therapist, you can turn to wearable motion capture as your solution. Wearable motion capture records and analyzes your movement and pinpoints areas in which you can improve. In just 5 minutes, you can have all of the answers about your movement at your fingertips.
Want to know if Brave is the right solution for you? Learn more by contacting us <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">here</a>.
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a second year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=824c1c28edd" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr>
<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/what-is-prehab-824c1c28edd">What is Prehab?</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is Prehab?

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*nfhJGgi2FQS_v_DxR1CSsw.jpeg"></figure>At Brave, we give athletes the power to improve their movement through Valor, our wearable motion capture suit that records and analyzes the body’s movement, resulting in better performance, injury prevention, and quicker improvement over time. If you haven’t read our blog on how Valor improves golf hitting mechanics, read it <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/valor-impacts-golf-swing-mechanics-1bbe47d818ae">here</a>. This blog will focus on how baseball athletes improve with Valor.
<h3>Valor’s Place In Baseball Training</h3>
Achieving the best baseball swing begins with understanding the mechanics behind the movements building up to the moment your bat contacts the ball. Hitters should make sure that among other things, they are connected to the ground and in a strong athletic position from the start to the end of the swing.
The small mechanics, such as lining up your back knee, back hip, and head or bending your top arm at the right angle, are difficult to keep track of during a swing — after all, there are other factors that come into play. <a href="https://twitter.com/bvent11">Brendan Venter</a>, a coach at D-BAT Lewisville and former minor leaguer, explains the following:
“Hitting mechanics in baseball is dependent on the athlete’s intention, pitch selection, and anticipation.”
With Valor, the mechanics are broken down in a digestible way for athletes and coaches alike. By providing 3D visuals of the athlete’s swing and tracking valuable data, such as the degrees of torso or pelvis rotation, Valor gives objectivity to the learning process.
As Venter works with his athletes to optimize their swing, he uses Valor to validate and train the correct kinematic sequence of movement. With the Valor suit on, he asks his athletes to take their best swing first, to identify how they are currently moving and second, to use Valor’s accurate and objective data to correct their movement. Based on the results of the motion capture, he trains his athletes accordingly in conjunction with their intention and anticipation.
<h3>Valor In A Session</h3>
In a training session, Venter used Valor to affirm his own movements. Before delving into the analysis of Valor’s software, he said, “the peak velocity should be right at contact [between the ball and the bat.]”
Sure enough, Valor’s analytics displayed just that: the graphs showed a spike right as he made contact with the ball. Looking at the additional data captured by the suit, he saw that his other mechanics were in order.
“The pelvis [graph] spikes before the torso, which is great,” said Venter.
Valor’s objective feedback gives athletes and coaches a new way of training. The constant validation from its data allows for a quicker learning experience, and consequently, quicker improvement.
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a second year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=e38852661d3c" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr>
<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/how-valor-improves-baseball-hitting-mechanics-e38852661d3c">How Valor Improves Baseball Hitting Mechanics</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How Valor Improves Baseball Hitting Mechanics

<h3>How Valor Helps Golf Instruction</h3>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/966/1*VSEJq0Z1-q0KCOw3mUfnPA.png"></figure>For golfers — Valor has the power to transform and strengthen your swing. From start to end, Valor sensors track every inch of your motion, and the software instantly analyzes it, from which it can tell you that your right shoulder is a bit too high or your posture is poor. Our partner Bill Fedder, PGA Director of Golf Instruction at the Club at Glenmore, uses Valor to help his athletes improve and succeed. Read on to learn more about how Valor influences golf swing mechanics.
<h3>How Bill Fedder Uses Valor</h3>
Bill Fedder, son of two golf pros, has played golf all of his life. Recently, in the 2022 PGA Professional Championship, he hit a <a href="https://www.pgaprochampionship.com/news-media/videos/2022/bill-fedder-aces-no-9">hole-in-one</a> on his final hole of the championship. He works at The Club at Glenmore as Director of Instruction and leads The Club’s Rotella Academy of Excellence — a high-performance junior golf academy. He has begun introducing his students to Valor and taking them through the experience.
Before Valor, Bill would use a TrackMan and cameras to understand his athletes’ motion. When asked what Valor added to his coaching, Bill said that the TrackMan measures the club and the ball, but Valor can measure how the body is moving — and to him, this made all the difference.
“It’s super important because previously golf pros have used cameras [to capture movement]. Now, with Valor, I can look at everything — any view that I could possibly want — which is certainly helpful for the instructor but potentially more impactful for the learner,” said Bill. By escaping the limits of camera frames, Bill and his athletes can explore views never looked at in golf before.
In his lessons, he enjoys looking at the graphs displayed on Valor’s software and the individual data points to learn more about an athlete’s swing. He recognizes that his students most likely do not understand those numbers, so instead, he shows them the animation of themselves. The animation shows students both how they are currently moving and the progress they are making. To them, it serves as validation for all of their hard work.
How Does Valor Improve Performance
In golf, there is one thing that matters: the contact between the club and the ball. The body controls the club, so every motion preceding that contact is extremely important to determine where the ball will go. Bill works with his students to correct their movement and maximize the efficiency of their swing.
“My goal of using Valor is to speed up the learning process for the student. My goal is to help my players reach their goals, and the quicker they can reach their goals, the better,” said Bill.
Valor is a valuable resource for coaches and athletes alike to accelerate results. It records movement instantly, displays poor motion, and tracks progress over time. To use Valor is to improve.
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a second year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=1bbe47d818ae" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr>
<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/valor-impacts-golf-swing-mechanics-1bbe47d818ae">Valor Impacts Golf Swing Mechanics</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Valor Impacts Golf Swing Mechanics

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Bg-pAj40Vl3fo6qAtWgVqg.jpeg"></figure><h3>Valor’s Software</h3>
Brave’s Valor captures motion anytime, anywhere. Consisting of a suit and accompanying software, the Brave team has spent over two years fine-tuning the product with constant customer feedback to become the best version possible. In a previous blog, I wrote about the development of the suit. If you haven’t already, read it <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/about-valor-4557f7155c5a">here</a>. Now, I will write about the other — equally important — half of Valor: its software.
<h3>The Software’s History</h3>
Valor’s software is integral to the motion capture technology: it takes the data collected by the sensors and turns it into easily digestible visualizations and metrics for coaches and athletes to use as a launchpad for improvement. The following is a brief history of its development.
At first, the team worked to integrate the hardware with a mobile application via Bluetooth: the main question was to figure out how to collect the data, visualize it, and transmit it to the cloud. Evan Magnusson, Brave’s CTO and CFO, first developed a Bluetooth class for the mobile app, and then the team built a user interface on top of that. After building multiple versions of the mobile app, the final, most recent version is one that is easy to use, can read all of the data from the sensors, and display the analytics from it.
During the same time period, the team also worked on an additional piece of software: an online dashboard. Originally created for Brave’s physical therapy partners, it was developed as a home-exercise platform that would create workouts and routines. However, it later became a “powerhouse tool” — a site for all the data collected and processed that was back then not needed on the app. Brave’s team, through continuous customer feedback and software iterations, realized that their users preferred the mobile application over the online dashboard and so they concentrated their efforts on perfecting the latter.
“The mobile app is moving to the forefront of the Brave software. It can do almost everything the online dashboard can, but easier since it does not have the limits present on running a web application in a browser without the need to package it as a whole separate desktop application,” said Dhyey Parikh, Brave’s COO, in an interview.
<h3>The Software’s Hidden Gems</h3>
Valor’s software provides many unique features to both coaches and athletes.
“The features that stand out the most are the instant replays and the ability to record any sort of movement,” said Dhyey.
The instant replay feature allows the user to visually see how they move, which is key to understanding and subsequently, improving movement. Users enjoy this feature because it brings their movement to a digital world in which they can analyze and perfect anything they would like. Secondly, the collection of any sort of movement is important because it does not limit users’ improvement. Valor’s software grants people the possibility to explore any and all of their motions.
The software’s efficiency, simple mobile application design, and features make it a tool worth investing in. Being built and perfected since the summer of 2020, it helps users improve performance and reduce injuries without limitations.
<h3>Learn More About Brave</h3>
Read our other blogs <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">here</a>.
Visit our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/">website</a>.
Join our <a href="https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=16075ccceef95e48c79ac3fed&amp;id=19b7e224c2">email list</a>.
Watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__ESWAc4yw&amp;t=2s">demo video</a>.
Try our <a href="https://www.bravevirtualworlds.com/contact">product</a>.
Interested investors, reach out to our CEO William Kodama: wskodama@bravevirtual.com
Written and edited by Julia Duarte. Julia is a second year at the University of Virginia, intending to study Global Public Health and English. She’s interested in world-changing technologies that make an impact on humanity on a global scale. Driven by her passion for writing, she helps Brave spread their message: motion capture made accessible. In her free time, she enjoys journaling and watching episodes of The Blacklist.
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=e82f51a723d4" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr>
<a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds/the-software-behind-valor-e82f51a723d4">The Software Behind Valor</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/brave-virtual-worlds">Brave Virtual Worlds</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.