From Horse Power to Man Power....

Gone are the days where dyno's are solely used for vehicle diagnostics and tuning, we are now in an age where science and technology underpins everything we do. Fitness trainers incorporate these technological advancements into their training routines to assess and utilise every possible ounce of performance from their team members. This is exactly what David Slyfield, the Fitness Trainer for Emirates Team NZ did. Using a custom built Dynapack Grinding Simulator, assessing and increasing the performance of each team member became a dramatically faster process.

Dynapack designed the Grinding Simulator for Emirates Team New Zealand using the same technology for power measurement as their standard chassis dyno but instead of wheel units to attach to vehicle hubs it has a pedestal (grinder) in the centre of a flat platform to measure the "athletes" Power instead of vehicle Hp!

David measured the amount of power each individual was able to produce on the Grinding Simulator. He could see the results of their power outputs in either short fast bursts or as continuous power outputs over longer periods of time and because the boat has four pedestals positioned around it with two people per pedestal, the Dynapack Grinding Simulator allowed David to look at the best combination of people for each pedestal to optimise the efficiency and performance of the team and boat.

Conducting regular fitness tests on the team allowed David to make regular assessments on specific gym protocol's that improved individual team members performance. David followed the improvements daily making the appropriate changes to their gym routine and they did not have to wait until the next race to see if they had made any improvements, they knew they had well before the boat hit the water!

For the last America's Cup, there had been a design issue relating to the actual positioning of the pedestals on the boat and the Dynapack Grinding Simulator was upgraded so that the platform they stood on was able to simulate pitch and roll. This allowed them to assess the power output for each individual and evaluate the changes in performance. Then with the help of the teams biomechanist they were able to gauge how the different styles and postures of each grinder and any changes in these postures relate to their power output......by just changing body position when grinding they found as much as 7% increase in an individuals power output.

For more information on Emirates Team NZ please go to www.emiratesteamnz.com