ShoulderSense
A smart wearable shoulder brace paired with a mobile app that helps weightlifters prevent shoulder strain and enhance pressing performance.
ShoulderSense aims to help weightlifters prevent shoulder strain and improve performance by combining a smart wearable shoulder brace with an intuitive mobile app. The system leverages real-time muscle sensing and guided feedback to promote safer, more confident training while enhancing users’ awareness of their readiness.
Project
ShoulderSense
Services
User Research UX Design Product Design UI Design
Industries
Wellness and Fitness
Tools
Figma Figjam Blender Jira
Project Summary
Problem Statement
Every year, thousands of lifters—especially those doing bench presses and heavy upper-body work—sustain shoulder strain or injuries. These often stem from poor muscle readiness, subtle form deviations, or lack of real-time feedback on how engaged their stabilizing muscles really are. Current wearables track heart rate or steps, but none reliably monitor shoulder muscles during pressing motions. This leaves athletes flying blind—exposing themselves to injury without knowing it.
ShoulderSense fills that gap by combining real-time EMG sensing, wearable stabilization, and contextual cues to help lifters train smarter, safer, and with greater confidence.
Introduction
What is Weight Training?
Weight training involves using resistance — such as dumbbells, barbells, or machines — to strengthen and tone muscles. It helps improve muscle strength, endurance, and body stability.
Regular training enhances posture, boosts metabolism, and supports overall fitness
Bench Press Anatomy
The bench press is a compound strength exercise that primarily targets the pectoralis major (chest), while also engaging the anterior deltoids (shoulders) and triceps brachii (arms). During the lift, the shoulder and elbow joints work together to lower and press the barbell in a controlled motion. Supporting muscles such as the latissimus dorsi, biceps brachii, and rectus abdominis help stabilize the body and maintain proper form.
This coordinated effort across multiple muscle groups makes the bench press one of the most effective exercises for building upper body strength and shoulder stability.
My Role
I led the overall design process, overseeing product scoping, user research, user flows, wireframes, rapid prototyping, and usability testing. I also contributed to synthesizing research findings into actionable design directions and developed 3D models to visualize and refine the physical form of the product.
The Team
1 Product designer,
1 product manager
1 front-end developer
1 back-end engineer
Timeline
6 Weeks
Secondary Research
To better understand the problem space and assess its significance, I conducted secondary research by collecting relevant data on the fitness and wearable technology landscape. This included identifying key players, examining existing solutions and their offerings, and analyzing market gaps where ShoulderSense could deliver innovative value and address unmet user needs.
Key Information
I expanded my research by analyzing secondary sources to extract key information, which I then organized into structured categories according to topics, subtopics, relevance, and data type.
Analyzing offerings, organizations and people
I observed and analyzed various offerings, organizations, and individuals within the opportunity space to understand the factors behind their success and identify the key stakeholders involved.
Competitive Analysis
I conducted a comparative analysis of peer products to evaluate their offerings and identify performance gaps and areas of innovation where ShoulderSense could effectively position itself to provide value.
Primary Research—User Interviews
To gain deeper insights into the problem space and collect rich qualitative data, I conducted interviews with a diverse group of participants—including both seasoned weightlifters and beginners. This mix of experience levels provided a balanced understanding of user needs, challenges, and perceptions related to shoulder stability and injury prevention during strength training.
User segmentation
The interview data revealed the following category of athletes:
Connecting ideas
After interviewing the users, data from the interview was synthesized employing top-down analysis to identify thematic clusters and derive meaningful insights from participant responses.
Key interview findings
Analysis of interview data revealed six key insights:
How might we help lifters monitor and prepare their shoulder muscles effectively to reduce the risk of injury during weight training?
Empathizing with Personas
Meet Alex
Defining the Components
Physical Product
The user research findings and competitor analysis give me an understanding of the components to prioritize in the product and how it’ll function to support human cognition
Digital Product / Mobile App
Initial solution approach
Physical Aspect
Digital Aspect / Mobile App sketch ideas
Design Guidelines
I created a set of visual rules, assets, and components that defined how the digital product looks and feels. It ensured consistency, clarity, and efficiency in the design process. The style guide evolved alongside the high-fidelity prototype, refining components as they were tested within the interface.
Introducing - ShoulderSense
ShoulderSense is a smart wearable designed to stabilize, sense, and safeguard the shoulders of lifters during pressing motions. By integrating electromyography (EMG) sensors and adaptive massage technology, it monitors muscle activity, detects strain, and provides real-time feedback to prevent injuries. Designed for comfort and precision, ShoulderSense empowers athletes to train smarter, warm up effectively, and lift with confidence—bridging the gap between strength performance and shoulder safety.
App flow
To understand how users navigate the mobile app, it was essential to create an app flow that visualizes the step-by-step actions users take to accomplish their goals seamlessly.
App companion
Project Summary
Problem Statement
Every year, thousands of lifters—especially those doing bench presses and heavy upper-body work—sustain shoulder strain or injuries. These often stem from poor muscle readiness, subtle form deviations, or lack of real-time feedback on how engaged their stabilizing muscles really are. Current wearables track heart rate or steps, but none reliably monitor shoulder muscles during pressing motions. This leaves athletes flying blind—exposing themselves to injury without knowing it.
ShoulderSense fills that gap by combining real-time EMG sensing, wearable stabilization, and contextual cues to help lifters train smarter, safer, and with greater confidence.
Introduction
What is Weight Training?
Weight training involves using resistance — such as dumbbells, barbells, or machines — to strengthen and tone muscles. It helps improve muscle strength, endurance, and body stability.
Regular training enhances posture, boosts metabolism, and supports overall fitness
Bench Press Anatomy
The bench press is a compound strength exercise that primarily targets the pectoralis major (chest), while also engaging the anterior deltoids (shoulders) and triceps brachii (arms). During the lift, the shoulder and elbow joints work together to lower and press the barbell in a controlled motion. Supporting muscles such as the latissimus dorsi, biceps brachii, and rectus abdominis help stabilize the body and maintain proper form.
This coordinated effort across multiple muscle groups makes the bench press one of the most effective exercises for building upper body strength and shoulder stability.
My Role
I led the overall design process, overseeing product scoping, user research, user flows, wireframes, rapid prototyping, and usability testing. I also contributed to synthesizing research findings into actionable design directions and developed 3D models to visualize and refine the physical form of the product.
The Team
1 Product designer,
1 product manager
1 front-end developer
1 back-end engineer
Timeline
6 Weeks
Secondary Research
To better understand the problem space and assess its significance, I conducted secondary research by collecting relevant data on the fitness and wearable technology landscape. This included identifying key players, examining existing solutions and their offerings, and analyzing market gaps where ShoulderSense could deliver innovative value and address unmet user needs.
Key Information
I expanded my research by analyzing secondary sources to extract key information, which I then organized into structured categories according to topics, subtopics, relevance, and data type.
Analyzing offerings, organizations and people
I observed and analyzed various offerings, organizations, and individuals within the opportunity space to understand the factors behind their success and identify the key stakeholders involved.
Competitive Analysis
I conducted a comparative analysis of peer products to evaluate their offerings and identify performance gaps and areas of innovation where ShoulderSense could effectively position itself to provide value.
Primary Research—User Interviews
To gain deeper insights into the problem space and collect rich qualitative data, I conducted interviews with a diverse group of participants—including both seasoned weightlifters and beginners. This mix of experience levels provided a balanced understanding of user needs, challenges, and perceptions related to shoulder stability and injury prevention during strength training.
User segmentation
The interview data revealed the following category of athletes:
Connecting ideas
After interviewing the users, data from the interview was synthesized employing top-down analysis to identify thematic clusters and derive meaningful insights from participant responses.
Key interview findings
Analysis of interview data revealed six key insights:
How might we help lifters monitor and prepare their shoulder muscles effectively to reduce the risk of injury during weight training?
Empathizing with Personas
Meet Alex
Defining the Components
Physical Product
The user research findings and competitor analysis give me an understanding of the components to prioritize in the product and how it’ll function to support human cognition
Digital Product / Mobile App
Initial solution approach
Physical Aspect
Digital Aspect / Mobile App sketch ideas
Design Guidelines
I created a set of visual rules, assets, and components that defined how the digital product looks and feels. It ensured consistency, clarity, and efficiency in the design process. The style guide evolved alongside the high-fidelity prototype, refining components as they were tested within the interface.
Introducing - ShoulderSense
ShoulderSense is a smart wearable designed to stabilize, sense, and safeguard the shoulders of lifters during pressing motions. By integrating electromyography (EMG) sensors and adaptive massage technology, it monitors muscle activity, detects strain, and provides real-time feedback to prevent injuries. Designed for comfort and precision, ShoulderSense empowers athletes to train smarter, warm up effectively, and lift with confidence—bridging the gap between strength performance and shoulder safety.
App flow
To understand how users navigate the mobile app, it was essential to create an app flow that visualizes the step-by-step actions users take to accomplish their goals seamlessly.
App companion
Project Summary
Problem Statement
Every year, thousands of lifters—especially those doing bench presses and heavy upper-body work—sustain shoulder strain or injuries. These often stem from poor muscle readiness, subtle form deviations, or lack of real-time feedback on how engaged their stabilizing muscles really are. Current wearables track heart rate or steps, but none reliably monitor shoulder muscles during pressing motions. This leaves athletes flying blind—exposing themselves to injury without knowing it.
ShoulderSense fills that gap by combining real-time EMG sensing, wearable stabilization, and contextual cues to help lifters train smarter, safer, and with greater confidence.
Introduction
What is Weight Training?
Weight training involves using resistance — such as dumbbells, barbells, or machines — to strengthen and tone muscles. It helps improve muscle strength, endurance, and body stability.
Regular training enhances posture, boosts metabolism, and supports overall fitness
Bench Press Anatomy
The bench press is a compound strength exercise that primarily targets the pectoralis major (chest), while also engaging the anterior deltoids (shoulders) and triceps brachii (arms). During the lift, the shoulder and elbow joints work together to lower and press the barbell in a controlled motion. Supporting muscles such as the latissimus dorsi, biceps brachii, and rectus abdominis help stabilize the body and maintain proper form.
This coordinated effort across multiple muscle groups makes the bench press one of the most effective exercises for building upper body strength and shoulder stability.
My Role
I led the overall design process, overseeing product scoping, user research, user flows, wireframes, rapid prototyping, and usability testing. I also contributed to synthesizing research findings into actionable design directions and developed 3D models to visualize and refine the physical form of the product.
The Team
1 Product designer,
1 product manager
1 front-end developer
1 back-end engineer
Timeline
6 Weeks
Secondary Research
To better understand the problem space and assess its significance, I conducted secondary research by collecting relevant data on the fitness and wearable technology landscape. This included identifying key players, examining existing solutions and their offerings, and analyzing market gaps where ShoulderSense could deliver innovative value and address unmet user needs.
Key Information
I expanded my research by analyzing secondary sources to extract key information, which I then organized into structured categories according to topics, subtopics, relevance, and data type.
Analyzing offerings, organizations and people
I observed and analyzed various offerings, organizations, and individuals within the opportunity space to understand the factors behind their success and identify the key stakeholders involved.
Competitive Analysis
I conducted a comparative analysis of peer products to evaluate their offerings and identify performance gaps and areas of innovation where ShoulderSense could effectively position itself to provide value.
Primary Research—User Interviews
To gain deeper insights into the problem space and collect rich qualitative data, I conducted interviews with a diverse group of participants—including both seasoned weightlifters and beginners. This mix of experience levels provided a balanced understanding of user needs, challenges, and perceptions related to shoulder stability and injury prevention during strength training.
User segmentation
The interview data revealed the following category of athletes:
Connecting ideas
After interviewing the users, data from the interview was synthesized employing top-down analysis to identify thematic clusters and derive meaningful insights from participant responses.
Key interview findings
Analysis of interview data revealed six key insights:
How might we help lifters monitor and prepare their shoulder muscles effectively to reduce the risk of injury during weight training?
Empathizing with Personas
Meet Alex
Defining the Components
Physical Product
The user research findings and competitor analysis give me an understanding of the components to prioritize in the product and how it’ll function to support human cognition
Digital Product / Mobile App
Initial solution approach
Physical Aspect
Digital Aspect / Mobile App sketch ideas
Design Guidelines
I created a set of visual rules, assets, and components that defined how the digital product looks and feels. It ensured consistency, clarity, and efficiency in the design process. The style guide evolved alongside the high-fidelity prototype, refining components as they were tested within the interface.
Introducing - ShoulderSense
ShoulderSense is a smart wearable designed to stabilize, sense, and safeguard the shoulders of lifters during pressing motions. By integrating electromyography (EMG) sensors and adaptive massage technology, it monitors muscle activity, detects strain, and provides real-time feedback to prevent injuries. Designed for comfort and precision, ShoulderSense empowers athletes to train smarter, warm up effectively, and lift with confidence—bridging the gap between strength performance and shoulder safety.
App flow
To understand how users navigate the mobile app, it was essential to create an app flow that visualizes the step-by-step actions users take to accomplish their goals seamlessly.
App companion
I specialize in crafting exceptional digital experiences to help businesses achieve their goals.
Designed by Emmanuel Olubodun
I specialize in crafting exceptional digital experiences to help businesses achieve their goals.
Designed by Emmanuel Olubodun
I specialize in crafting exceptional digital experiences to help businesses achieve their goals.
Designed by Emmanuel Olubodun