Name: Matthias Aeschbacher
Sport: Wrestling
BaseLab service: Athletic Performance, Consulting, Injury Prevention
Methods given: Testing on site, measuring analytics in TeamBuildr, daily monitoring of Heart Rate Variability, tailored training plan.
Matthias Aeschbacher is a well-known wrestler in Switzerland. He is a 13-time wreath festival winner, with more than 76 wreath victories overall. Yet his ultimate goal? To win the biggest sporting event in wrestling: the Swiss Federal Wrestling and Alpine Festival (ESAF) in 2022, which is held only every three years. The winner is crowned king of the sport, and Matthias is a big contender for the title.
Given his already considerable level of strength and skill, Matthias enlisted BaseLab to further maximize his athletic performance, and to consult him and coach him with a focus on injury prevention. With seven months to prepare before the event, Matthias’s main aim was to increase his maximum power output, and embed this power within his unique and dynamic moves in the arena. A data-backed approach based on these aims and the monitoring of his progress led to a consistent improvement in power.
Matthias presented some issues with his patellar tendon, which were monitored regularly by BaseLab’s sport scientists. It was vital for his tendon elasticity to stay healthy during the season, in order to effectively achieve his goals. In addition, Matthias was already working in tandem with a wrestling coach and using other facilities specific to the sport, so finding a solution to incorporate BaseLab’s services in balance with that was key.
On the whole, our strategy was to increase both strength and speed, and to convert both into the power of his horizontal push. To achieve this, we first needed a comprehensive analysis of Matthias’s physicality, and use this data to create an evidence-based training program. This happened with a variety of small actions: like tracking his muscle power and the coordination of his hip and knee openings with a force plate, and the impact on his tendons in his jump performance.
Beyond these incremental steps, BaseLab offered multiple check-ins that were done across the seven months, with in-person consults and re-testing to look at the bigger-picture progress.
Despite Matthias’s extensive pre-existing skills and knowledge of the sport, there was still great scope for measurable improvement. Using BaseLab’s data-backed technology (TeamBuildr, HRV monitoring) was a first for the champion, and it motivated him to track and observe his progress. This enabled him to get better with each event that occurred—and experienced several wins during the seven month period with BaseLab. He was one of the two athletes in the final round in the big championship ESAF in August 2022, a fantastic result and one that will enable Matthias to strive even harder for the next title.