Validity of Commercially Available Punch Trackers

Omcirk, D, Vetrovsky, T, Padecky, J, Malecek, J, and Tufano, JJ. Validity of commercially available punch trackers. J Strength Cond Res 37(11): 2273–2281, 2023—This study determined how well data from commercially available punch trackers (Corner, Hykso, and StrikeTec) related to gold-standard velocity and force measures during full-contact punches. In a quasi-randomized order, 20 male subjects performed 6 individual rear straight punches, rear hooks, and rear uppercuts against a wall-mounted force plate. Punch tracker variables were compared with the peak force of the force plate and to the peak (QPV) and mean velocity (QMV) assessed through Qualisys 3-dimensional tracking. For each punch tracker variable, Pearson's correlation coefficient, mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and mean percentage error (MPE) were calculated. There were no strong correlations between punch tracker data and gold-standard force and velocity data. However, Hykso “velocity” was moderately correlated with QMV (r = 0.68, MAPE 0.64, MPE 0.63) and QPV (r = 0.61, MAPE 0.21, MPE −0.06). Corner Power G was moderately correlated with QMV (r = 0.59, MAPE 0.65, MPE 0.58) and QPV (r = 0.58, MAPE 0.27, MPE −0.09), but Corner “velocity” was not. StrikeTec “velocity” was moderately correlated with QMV (r = 0.56, MAPE 1.49, MPE 1.49) and QPV (r = 0.55, MAPE 0.46, MPE 0.43). Therefore, none of the devices fared particularly well for all of their data output, and if not willing to accept any room for error, none of these devices should be used. Nevertheless, these devices and their proprietary algorithms may be updated in the future, which would warrant further investigation.