The Origin
I fell in love with physics in middle school. In college, I discovered Olympic weightlifting — and won the Inter-IIT championship in the 55 kg class in 1996. Someone had posted a single page in the weight room explaining that the snatch is a total body exercise. That stuck with me for decades.
After college, I built a career in software engineering. Most gyms don't have a platform, so I drifted away from the sport. Years later, I found a platform in a company gym in San Jose and got back under the bar. As a masters lifter, I was struck by how different my body felt — and amazed that muscle memory survived two decades away.
Then I heard the announcement of car crash detection using device sensors, and the connection was immediate: if the watch can detect a car crash, it can detect a snatch. The physics of rapid deceleration aren't that different from the physics of a barbell pull.
A background in physics, experience doing the sport competitively, and a career in software — it all converged naturally. BarbellKinetics is the tool I wanted as a lifter and finally had the skills to build.
