OxyRep

Inspiration

Rest periods during strength training are typically determined by fixed timers or perceived readiness, even though muscle recovery varies between individuals and workouts. Existing muscle-oxygenation sensors can also be expensive. We wanted to explore whether affordable optical sensing could provide useful information about muscle recovery beyond what motion sensors already capture.

What we're building

OxyRep is a low-cost, strap-on thigh wearable combining near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with an inertial measurement unit (IMU). NIRS tracks changes in muscle oxygenation, while the IMU measures repetition velocity and velocity loss during strength training.

Our central research question is: Does muscle reoxygenation between sets improve prediction of next-set performance compared with motion data alone?

How it works

During exercise, the IMU records movement and repetition velocity. During rest, NIRS captures the muscle's reoxygenation curve. We will compare two predictive models:

• Model A: IMU features only
• Model B: IMU + NIRS features

By comparing their performance, we aim to determine whether optical sensing provides meaningful additional information.

Challenges and next steps

Key challenges include obtaining reliable optical measurements during movement, accounting for physiological differences between participants, and validating results across repeated workout sessions.

Our next steps are to develop the wearable prototype, validate the sensor measurements, collect controlled exercise data, and evaluate whether NIRS improves next-set performance prediction.

Potential impact

OxyRep could help make physiological monitoring more accessible to sports-science researchers, rehabilitation professionals, and wearable developers. More broadly, our findings could inform future wearables that provide personalized, physiology-informed workout guidance.

Built With

• embedded
• fusion
• imu
• learning
• machine
• near-infrared
• nirs
• optical
• processing
• sensing
• sensor
• signal
• spectroscopy
• systems
• technology
• wearable