A field guide to your reflexes

Ever wondered what it feels like to have the reflexes of a top athlete?

The drills they train every day look like superpowers. So what if you tried them, just to see what happens?

Join the betaComing to iPhone and Android.

Just you against goofy you.

No stress, no podium riding on it.

What Blobby is

A goofy companion to get less goofy.

Blobby is a training game for your body. Short drills for balance, reaction, hand–eye and your weaker side, with a gummy coach who cheers every round. He never talks. He doesn't need to.

3drills a day
10minutes or so
1phone, nothing else

The field guide

Every drill comes with its why.

Borrowed from the people whose jobs depend on it. Each drill tells you why athletes train it, and what the science does and doesn't show. Blobby teaches them step by step.

How we grade the evidence

Studied
This drill, or training very close to it, has been tested in published trials. We name the study.
Related research
Research on the skill behind the drill, not on this drill itself.
Coaching practice
Coaches use it widely; it hasn't been tested as a drill. We say so.

A tag only moves up when a study reports.

No. 01StudiedBalance

Single-leg stance

From boxing · dance · physio

The challenge30 s, eyes closed, both sides

“Fighters and dancers spend more time on one leg than anyone.”

The most studied drill type here (a review of trials with athletes).

Measured
Balance training, in trials with athletes.
Not shown
This exact drill.
Rivera et al. 2017 · J Athl Train ↗
No. 02StudiedReaction

Light Board 30

From racing drivers' reaction boards

The challengeBeat your baseline by 10%

“Racing drivers warm up on light boards before they get in the car.”

Measured
Lab reaction and attention tests: 24 racing drivers, six weeks.
Not shown
Driving on track.
Horváth et al. 2022 · Sports Med Open ↗
No. 03Related researchWeaker side

Off-hand wall toss

From surgeons · musicians · ball sports

The challengeWeak hand at 80% of the strong one

“Surgeons and musicians train the hand they don't favour, on purpose.”

Measured
Strength in the untrained limb, across 31 studies.
Not shown
Fine skill, or this drill.
Manca et al. 2017 · Eur J Appl Physiol ↗
No. 04Related researchHand–eye

Two-ball exchange

From juggling

The challenge20 in a row, weaker hand first

“The gateway to juggling: the first drill where each hand keeps its own time.”

Measured
Brain areas for motion changed while people learned to juggle.
Not shown
That it lasts: the change faded when they stopped.
Draganski et al. 2004 · Nature ↗
No. 05Related researchWeaker side

Tap Sprint

From drummers · pianists

The challengeBeat your weaker hand's best

“Drummers and pianists drill the same speed every day.”

Measured
Tapping speed is a standard measure with published norms.
Not shown
Phone scores are not clinic scores; compare only with yourself.
No. 06Related researchTracking

Blob Tracker

From sports vision training

The challengeBeat your top speed

“Sports vision coaches train players to keep track of several things at once.”

Measured
People get better at tracking tasks like this one.
Not shown
Carry-over into sport: two of three real-world tests found none.
Vater, Gray & Holcombe 2021 · Psychon Bull Rev ↗
No. 07Related researchHand–eye

Call-Catch

From ball-sport coaching

The challengeCatch 16 of 20 with the called hand

“A partner shouts a side while the ball is in the air. Here, Blobby does the calling.”

Measured
In athletes, the dip from adding a thinking task shrank over weeks of training.
Not shown
This drill itself; the studies were too varied to pool.
Wu et al. 2024 · Front Psychol ↗
No. 08Coaching practiceReaction

Self-drop catch

From boxing gyms

The challenge20 one-handed catches in 30 s

“Every boxing gym on earth runs a version of this. Nothing to buy, nothing to plug in.”

Not shown
Not tested as a drill. We say so.
No. 09Coaching practiceHand–eye

Wall toss

From every ball sport, week one

The challenge30 catches in 30 s

“The simplest hand–eye drill there is, from the first week of every ball sport.”

Not shown
Not tested as a drill. We say so.
No. 10Coaching practiceFootwork

Split-step

From tennis · padel · squash

The challengeLand on the cue 8 of 10

“Watch any professional receive a serve: a small hop, landing wide, just before contact.”

Not shown
Not tested as a drill. We say so.
1 / 10

Your phone is the timer, the counter and the cue-caller. Nothing to buy, nothing to plug in.

Always growing

New drills keep coming.

Ten today, about 18 at launch, and more after that. Eight are already researched.

Step by step

Every drill has levels.

Start easy, step up when you're ready: each drill has steps and three trophy tiers, and new levels keep coming.

Ways to play

Show them your new party trick.

Then challenge your friends.

Shuffle

Not in the mood for a plan?

Five surprise drills. Every skill, over time.

Deal me five

Together

Pass the phone.

Up to five players, one phone. Pick a colour, pass the phone, fight for the podium. Who has the fastest hands at the table?

Your progress

See yourself improve.

Blobby tracks every round, so you can see yourself improve. Clear a drill's target and Blobby is cast in a new material.

Example

Your weak hand is at 72% of your strong one, up from 55%.

Clay
Glass
Chrome
Gold
Holo

How Blobby teaches

Built on how skills are learned.

Blobby follows principles from motor-learning research. They describe how Blobby teaches, not what it will do for you.

Your result, after the round.

Blobby shows your score when the round ends, not a running commentary. A classic review found that knowing your results guides learning, and that feedback given too often can become a crutch.

Salmoni, Schmidt & Walter 1984 · Psychol Bull ↗
Rests between rounds.

Short rounds with breaks, a few minutes a day. A review and meta-analysis found that practice with no rest between attempts held back both performance and learning.

Lee & Genovese 1988 · Res Q Exerc Sport ↗

Under the hood

How the phone measures.

  • Light Board 30. Counts the lights you hit in 30 seconds. Wrong taps count against you; a tap too fast to be a reaction doesn't count.
  • Tap Sprint. Counts your taps in 10 seconds, strong hand then weaker hand. Your score is the weaker hand.
  • Balance (a pilot). The phone's motion sensors score sway and foot-down. The thresholds are still being tested on real phones.
  • Your targets. After your first three rounds, your targets come from your own baseline.

Phone timing differs from lab equipment, so Blobby compares you only with yourself.

Light Board 30: lights hit per roundExample · not real data
20242814812RoundYour baseline (first 3 rounds)Target: baseline + 10%Round 1: 22 lights (example)Round 2: 24 lights (example)Round 3: 23 lights (example)Round 4: 23 lights (example)Round 5: 25 lights (example)Round 6: 24 lights (example)Round 7: 26 lights (example)Round 8: 25 lights (example)Round 9: 27 lights (example)Round 10: 26 lights (example)Round 11: 27 lights (example)Round 12: 28 lights (example)
Example data, not real
Round123456789101112
Lights hit222423232524262527262728

Meet Blobby

Superpowers, shared.

These superpowers aren't only for great athletes. Blobby has them, and he can't wait to share them with you.

The habit

Three drills. Ten minutes.

One drill keeps your streak alive. Every week in a row earns a freeze for the days life happens. Blobby sends one gentle nudge a day, and never on a day you trained.

In the works

Bring what you're learning.

Practise what you're learning while you train. Learn your words in the breaks between drills, and Blobby brings each word back over the next days. We're starting with French.

We're testing whether learning between drills works as well as at a desk. We'll publish the result either way.

Honest science

What we know. What we don't.

Reaction

Racing drivers who trained on light boards for six weeks scored better on lab reaction tests.

Driving on track was not measured.

Horváth et al. 2022 ↗

You will get better at these challenges. We don't promise more than that, and we'll tell you what we learn.

Why Blobby

What makes Blobby different.

Made by a neuroscientist and a biomedical engineer.

10drills built
~18drills at launch
8more drills already researched
0trackers on this site
  1. Research drills, no hardware. One phone is the timer, the counter and the cue-caller.
  2. Made for everyone, not coaches. Three drills a day, in plain language.
  3. A whole habit system for the body. Streaks with freezes, a mascot with moods, trophies and a coach that adapts.
  4. Party mode on one phone. Two to five players pass one phone: a board game for the body.
  5. Honest science. Each drill says where it comes from, and what research does and does not show.

Private by default

Your results stay yours.

Roadmap

Where Blobby is going.

One hill at a time. Blobby stands on the first summit; the trail ahead is mapped.

A low-poly green mountain range with a dotted trail over eight summits, Blobby waving on the first
  1. 1Built · you are hereThe first summitTen drills, Blobby, trophies, kind streaks, a coach after every round, Shuffle and party mode. On our own phones today.
  2. 3LaunchBoth app storesAbout 18 drills, on iPhone and Android.
  3. 4LaterHome & deskFamily mode, to play together at home. Desk mode, a two-minute break that makes you stand up.
  4. 5LaterPatterns & parkPattern drills: abstract shapes made by maths; spot what’s the same and what’s different. Park mode: drills that need open space.
  5. 6LaterA research wing
  6. 7LaterOpen Blobby scienceResearchers will be able to design studies that run in Blobby.
  7. 8The summitEvery familyMore ways to play together, for every family.
  1. 1Built · you are hereThe first summitTen drills, Blobby, trophies, kind streaks, a coach after every round, Shuffle and party mode. On our own phones today.
  2. 3LaunchBoth app storesAbout 18 drills, on iPhone and Android.
  3. 4LaterHome & deskFamily mode, to play together at home. Desk mode, a two-minute break that makes you stand up.
  4. 5LaterPatterns & parkPattern drills: abstract shapes made by maths; spot what’s the same and what’s different. Park mode: drills that need open space.
  5. 6LaterA research wing
  6. 7LaterOpen Blobby scienceResearchers will be able to design studies that run in Blobby.
  7. 8The summitEvery familyMore ways to play together, for every family.

Also on the trail: study mode (in the works) and the phone sensing your balance (a pilot).

Your body has a mind of its own. Let's wake it up.

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