2D and 3D Load are derived by the accelerometer on board the SPT2. The accelerometer can capture all movements (data is captured at 100 points per second), from long to short, from slow to fast. By summating all movements and all forces that athletes are subjected to during athletic performances, coaches now have a detailed metric that can be used for individual monitoring. 2D and 3D Load are measured in “Load Units” eg. 450 load units.
2D and 3D Load are useful measures for assessing individual athlete workloads and fatigue state. It is important remember that we should not use these metrics to compare athletes within events. The reason for this, is that every athletes movement signature is different. Many factors play a role in this such as stride frequency/length, limb length and trunk position to name a few.
2D Load:
A summation of the horizontal forces (forwards & backwards, left & right) your body is subjected to throughout the course of the performance.
3D Load:
A summation of all horizontal (forwards & backwards, left & right) and vertical forces (up & down) your body is subjected to throughout the course of the performance.
Use Case:
In the example below, you can view the total 2D Load for a chosen athlete through an individual dashboard in GameTraka.
We can see a significant increase in 2D Load from events 1-3 compared to events 4-6. These are loading spikes that we want to try and avoid. Yes, you might see one or two spikes from a high intensity match (that is probably no cause for concern). But it is important to be aware that loads need to be progressed at a reasonable pace and that constant spikes and troughs are not desirable.
From the example below, there is definitely a case to follow up and have a conversation with the athlete to see how they have been feeling of late.
