Cercacor and Team LottoNL-Jumbo partner; entire team equipped with Ember to non-invasively test hemoglobin and six other biomarkers.
Cercacor, makers of Ember® – the world’s first non-invasive hemoglobin tracker for endurance athletes, today announced that Team LottoNL-Jumbo is the first pro cycling team to use Ember to regularly and non-invasively track hemoglobin, oxygen saturation and pulse rate.
As part of the partnership agreement, Cercacor provides Team LottoNL-Jumbo Ember devices for all of its riders, but does not pay the team to use or talk about Ember.
Essentially a pocket laboratory, Ember enables athletes (cyclists, triathletes, runners, etc.) and their trainers to non-invasively, quickly and inexpensively measure their bodies’ response to the duration and/or intensity of training, recovery time, elevation and more.
Ember measures hemoglobin, oxygen content, oxygen saturation, perfusion index, pleth variability index, pulse rate, and respiration rate in approximately 30 seconds using only light. Users monitor and trend how these biomarkers change based on their activities to better understand their bodies, gain key insights and train smarter.
Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s Head of Performance Mathieu Heijboer began using Ember with his riders to help assess daily recovery during three weeks of altitude training prior to the Giro d’Italia. Also, one of the team’s top riders and 2017 Tour of California winner George Bennett used Ember during training a month before that tour. Bennett is also among Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s cyclists using Ember during their Tour de France training.
"My season has been built around specific targets, using altitude camps as a major part of my build up for each goal,” Bennett stated. “I have been able to track my progress and the effectiveness of each altitude block as well as help my recovery and adaption using the Ember device."
After establishing individual, first-of-day baseline values for his riders during Giro d’Italia training, Heijboer took daily, first-of-day measurements. These morning tests were after riders had a full night of rest, and the impact of the previous day’s training could be assessed. If their hemoglobin readings were lower than baseline, Heijboer would keep a close eye on them during training. If their readings were the same or higher than their baseline, he would continue with the planned workout.
“We find great value in using Ember,” Heijboer explained. “It has become an important part of our training program. Ember improves our altitude training by allowing us to non-invasively and regularly track our riders’ changing pulse rate, oxygen saturation and hemoglobin values to analyze and understand the effects of our altitude camps.
“This helps us to better understand their readiness and helps to avoid overtraining,” Heijboer continued. “I’m thrilled that we’ve established this partnership with Cercacor. Now, every one of our riders who goes to altitude has his own Ember device.”
Interestingly, Heijboer saw that his riders’ subjective feedback about how they felt each morning (pain, readiness, etc.) consistently matched their hemoglobin numbers – when a rider felt tired or less strong, his hemoglobin values were below baseline. The opposite was also true.
“It’s significant for us to have Team LottoNL-Jumbo use and share such positive results about Ember,” stated Cercacor’s VP of Marketing Mel Chiba. “We’re looking forward to seeing the team compete in this year’s Tour de France, and we’re excited about working together in the years ahead.”
Smaller than a smartphone and using only light, Ember enables athletes easy and immediate access to key data about their bodies as part of their strategic training regimen. Users download the Ember app to their (Apple / iOS) smartphone or tablet, which then connects to the Ember device via Bluetooth. Athletes and trainers use the app to view, build a historic record, and segment and track their collective data.
Ember is available for purchase on Cercacor’s website, http://www.cercacor.com.
Cercacor is an innovator of non-invasive, easy-to-use monitoring technologies. The company helps people access key health indicators – empowering them to better understand their bodies, enhance their fitness levels and reach their full potential. Cercacor is passionate about finding better ways to help endurance athletes and everyday people achieve the extraordinary. Its technologies are licensed by Masimo Corporation, a publicly traded, global leader in the development and distribution of non-invasive monitoring solutions in the healthcare professional market. (Online press kit: http://press.cercacor.com/).
Netherlands-based Team LottoNL–Jumbo is a men's, professional World Tour team. Since its founding in 1984 as Kwantum-Decosol, the team was entered every Tour de France. And, since divisions were introduced in 1998, the team has always been in the first division. Its general manager is Richard Plugge. https://www.teamlottojumbo.com/Cycling.
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Jason Sherman, 312-577-7650, Jason@shermancm.com
SHERMAN communications & marketing, www.shermancm.com
