Biofeedback training caught my attention a couple of years ago after seeing Jen Sinkler and Jennifer Blake (aka JVB) did a hands on session about it at the Women’s Fitness Summit, and continued to build interest after seeing posts and comments about it from several trainers I know and respect. Fast forward several months and I found myself ordering a grip dynamometer so that I could start testing. I also signed up for David Dallanave’s free ecourse on the subject.

As I understand it, the concept of biofeedback training is that you test your body in some way, do an exercise, then you redo the same test. If your body responded favourably to the exercise, you will perform as well or better on the test after doing the exercise and you should do more of it. Conversely, if your body tested worse after the set, then it wasn’t the right thing for you at the moment, so stop doing it.

I opted to do grip testing as my test because it felt like a better choice for me than the other recommended options. Two of the other options didn’t resonate with me at all – eye blink and finger tapping. I just don’t see myself testing either with any validity. Range of motion also didn’t feel like a good option for me. I say this because I fall into what Thomas Myers (author of Anatomy Trains) would call the Viking end of the mobility spectrum. I’m almost impressively inflexible. For me, the first sign of tension in a toe touch test occurs before my hands get to my knees. In his free biofeedback course, David Dellanave notes that the overwhelming majority of people find range of motion testing to be a better choice, but when I tried it I found myself constantly questioning whether that was where I felt tension or not. I switched to testing full range but still didn’t feel confident in the outcome. Thankfully, the fourth option involves technology, which appeals to my engineer brain: using a hand dynamometer for grip testing.

I spent a few workouts testing my grip before and after every set of every exercise. I also tested after a great song came on, after taking my long-sleeve shirt off in favour of a short-sleeve, and after drinking water when I was thirsty. My impression after a few days was that there may be something to this, but that it might be difficult to determine how much of a good or bad test result is related to the exercise I’ve just done versus factors like music, people, thoughts, and water consumption. And is one side more relevant than another? I found in a few cases, my grip strength improved on one side but was worse on the other. My guess is that, like all things, there is margin of error, and perhaps the downside of using the grip dynamometer is that it provides too much granularity. If I was to continue with this, I would probably want to apply some sort of filter to take the “noise” out of the test so that I would just be responding to the exercise effect.

I ended up stopping my biofeedback experiment after only a couple of days because I was prepping for tennis season. I had a tennis-prep approach that I knew worked well, so it didn’t make sense to trade that in for something experimental. It just wasn’t the right time. But I was intrigued enough to shelve it versus dismiss it.

It’s now about a year later and I find myself in a completely different scenario. I’m mid-tennis season and after changing to a new grip recently (yay semi-western), my tennis game has skyrocketed and I think will continue to as I explore the details of this change. My fitness level on the court is exactly where I like it to be – I’m able to get to balls that seem out of reach, the idea of tired never enters my mind, and all of my body parts feel great. It’s a cool feeling to be fit enough to truly enjoy your sport!

Meanwhile in the gym I’m ambivalent about working out. I think it’s a combination of having hit my performance goals and that my workout partner is the worst. I never was good at conjuring imaginary friends, so it’s no surprise that my imaginary workout partner sucks.

All this adds up to being the perfect time for exercise experimentation. And thus I re-introduce biofeedback training to my world. Conceptually biofeedback training seems like a perfect solution to workout malaise. I mean, the concept is that if an exercise feels good, keep doing it; if it feels bad, stop doing it. I’ll be giving it a try for the next month or so at which point I’ll write up my impressions. I’ll probably post stuff on Facebook in the meantime as well, and will also likely reach out to some of the people I like in fitness who do or have tried biofeedback training.

Anyone else find they hit workout malaise? How do you get past it? For me, test driving new things has always worked in the past. Those of you who know me personally know that this fits with my personality as I do get energized from trying new things. But we’re all different, so I’d love to hear how you re-motivate when you hit a lull.

Elsbeth Vaino is a personal trainer, geek, and tennis player in Ottawa, Canada.