Kymira goes Kickstarter for rowing kit

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After some fantastic responses following my last article Rowperfect kindly asked me if I could write a follow up to speak a little bit more about the science and technology that goes into our KYMIRA products.

In my last article I spoke about the thermo reactive minerals in our fabrics and the 6 benefits that wearing KYMIRA products may provide the wearer. The thermo reactive minerals in our fabrics have been specifically selected for their emission spectrum, and are even cut to specific shapes to optimise the emission of our fabrics. These minerals are situated within the fibres themselves which prevents them from being washed out or wearing out with constant use.

The 6 benefits that I wrote about are all either supported by photobiological research into infrared (IR) or have been clinically tested with our products and KYMIRA fabrics details of which can be found below:

  • Increased blood circulation: IR causes an increase in the Nitric Oxide (NO) concentrations, which is a vasodilator. The increase in circulation has been studied using our fabrics (Vatansever and Hamblin, 2012; Vladimirov, 2004; Lavery, 2003).
  • Increased tissue oxygen levels (up to a 20% increase Vs standard compression products): The use of KYMIRA products increases the efficiency and uptake of oxygen into the cells within our bodies. Clinical studies have been conducted on some of our KYMIRA prototype garments using a Transcutaneous Oxygen Perfusion (TCPO2) study to measure the tissue oxygen levels of those wearing KYMIRA products compared to a standardised control (McClue, 2005; Lavery, 2003; Washington, 2013).
  • Muscle relaxation: As well as being a vasodilator, NO has an effect on Cyclic Guanine Mono- Phosphate (cGMP). The activation of cGMP by NO in skeletal muscle cells causes the relaxation of the skeletal muscle fibres (Stamler, 1994).
  • Increased cellular growth, repair and replication: Studies on full thickness wound healing have shown significantly increased rates of healing during non-heating IR exposure (Toyokawa et al, 2003; Whelan, 2001). Partly due to an increase in cellular metabolism, mitosis. In addition, transforming growth factor (TGF) beta1 expressing myofibroblasts and collagen content were increased which are indicators of wound healing taking place.
  • Increased energy production: The mechanisms of how IR results in increased energy production are not fully understood at present. However photobiological research has led to observations of increased levels of ATP production (Quirk and Whelan, 2011). It is thought that this is due to a response on the enzyme Cytocrome C Oxidase (CCO) and the effect on water molecules, which imparts energy onto the mitochondria with in our cells (Quirk and Whelan, 2011).
  • Pain relief: Caused due to a response of NO activating cGMP, which follows the same metabolic pathway as taking an opiate. Studies have been conducted on pain relief using the technology in our garments. (Burke, 2009; Gordon, 2008; Leung et al, 2008).

Does this give an unfair advantage?

A lot of people often ask whether using KYMIRA products is not akin to cheating, my answer to that is no, it is not. Wearing our products will not turn an average athlete into a world champion, and they definitely does not replace the need for hard work and commitment. KYMIRA products increase the wearer’s capacity for work, allowing you to train harder, for longer and then recover quicker between sessions if you continue to wear KYMIRA kit after exercise. All this means that if the wearer has the commitment to do so, the increased work capacity will improve their performance at a faster rate than if they were not wearing our products.

If after reading this you fancy buying some KYMIRA kit of your own, we are making the Rowperfect reader’s offer available again which will get you 10% off all orders over £50 and free shipping. At the end of February the free shipping will be removed but the 10% discount will remain.

To use the discount simply enter the discount code RowKYMIRA into the checkout when prompted to do so on our site.

Support Kymira Funding campaign

Get yourself some Kymira gear by supporting their funding campaing for development resources to build more products.  Get some thermal socks, shorts or a top by using the Indiegogo Link.

Personally I think £10 for a pair of thermo-reactive socks is a small price to pay for going faster in winter head races.

Tim Brownstone concludes

We are always looking for new ways to test our products and provide evidence for their efficacy. To keep up to date with any new research we or our third party partners are conducting:
Follow us on twitter: @KYMIRAsport
Or like us on Facebook: 
Thanks for reading!

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Tom

    Interested to read a bit more about the Clinical test behind the development of these tops which give the benefits listed above, do you have a link to them?

    As well as leggings/tops etc are there any plans to supply an All in One Lycra in the same material? to me a combination of a AIO and leggings would seem to be the best combination for rowers since it would be against the skin and cover the main muscule groups used (legs/back)

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