There are so many great
things you can do
with velocity based training in the gym
to enhance performance.
There are also some things
you probably don't need to be doing.
You don't have to get fancy
and it doesn't have to be complicated.
So here are three of
the most common mistakes
or missteps that I see coaches make
when they're just starting out
with velocity based training.
If you're using some of the methods
or concepts that I'm about to talk about
in this video as mistakes
and you're getting great results
and your athletes
are bought in, fantastic,
don't let me stop you
or tell you how to do your training.
This video is more for
those people who might have tried
some of these advanced
methods or these ideas
and didn't get great results.
If you're that person or you're
just starting out
the velocity based training,
hopefully this can provide
a clear, clean path
for you to move forwards.
So this might sound a bit
counterintuitive,
but the problem is really in the name,
I mean, sure, you can train
at high velocities
using velocity based training,
but it's not really
its best way to be used.
We need to take a step back and consider
what we're trying to achieve
in the gym with strength training
within the context of the entire force
velocity curve.
As a quick refresher,
we need to remember that
the force velocity curve
is a theoretical kind of idea
that covers all athletic movements
from your maximum force movements
to maximum velocity movements.
Don't confuse that with different load
velocity profiles that you might have
for given exercise
and the loads and velocity
you can achieve within that movement.
Let's take the front squat as an example.
It's great for strength,
maybe it's a power exercise,
but it's definitely not a high velocity,
speed based movement.
Earlier today,
I did a load velocity
profile of my front squat
across a range of weights,
starting with an empty bar,
I reached about 1.02 meters per second.
For my tops at 80 kilos,
the best I could get
was 0.47 meters per second.
The front squat has such
a constrained range of motion
that there's also a small
range of velocities
that you can achieve,
even on a light weight to a heavy weight.
When you take that movement
within the context of the entire force
velocity curve, it
probably fits in that top
one third of the curve.
All these velocities
need to be considered
within the context of the eight, nine
or even 10 meters per second
athletes regularly reach
at top speed sprinting
or even the four minutes
per second that someone
could throw a wall ball.
The idea that we should be
using weight training
to specifically target
speed is not a great use
of our training time
and not a great long term strategy.
So velocity based
training isn't actually based
on training at high velocities.
A better name, might actually be
velocity tracking.
What we're doing is we're collecting data
and we're using it,
creating real time feedback,
monitoring our changes over time
within the context
of an athlete's recent history.
So instead of trying
to train at high velocity
with your VBT in the gym,
just train like you normally would,
and use that velocity to create context
to make better training decisions.
One of the most common things
people will see or start studying
when they look into velocity
based training for
the first time is a chart
that looks something like this,
with a continuum
of five strength qualities
corresponding to
different velocity zones.
The idea being that if you lifted
those velocity zones,
you create those specific adaptations
within those certain strength qualities.
The problem is,
I think this chart
and the whole idea of training
such a specialized way
is such a complex and sophisticated
programing and training application
that's pretty much useless
for the majority of people
training in the gym.
This version of the velocity zones
were developed by Dr. Brian Mann.
He based them on two movements,
the conventional straight bar deadlift
and a powerlifting
regulation depth squat.
These movements are incredibly popular,
but they aren't the only exercises
we do in the gym.
And so while the speed zones work
well for these exercises,
they don't necessarily transfer
to other movements or modifications.
Here's a low velocity profile
of four different exercises
I did recently.
You can say that
these four movements
at 80 per cent fall
in really different categories,
meaning 80 percent
and the speed zones don't necessarily
match up for these different movements.
The same issue occurs
when we modify exercises.
Here are two reps of a front squat,
both with 60 kilos,
but done two different depths
one slightly below
and one slightly above parallel.
Notice the different velocities
between these movements,
and then think about how
that would be completely changing
the impact of these speed zones
on those two movements,
just based on a slight
change in the depth.
Now, in saying, well,
that I don't think
the speed zone concept
or a speed zone concept
is a complete waste of time.
You just need to understand that
this version isn't as universal
as it sometimes passed off as.
Instead, here's a simpler
alternative approach to speed zones
that might be of more help.
So for this version, instead of five,
we have three zones strength,
heavy powel, power plus and light power.
For intermediate athletes
to stimulate your strength adaptation,
you need to be lifting above
80 percent of your 1RM.
So that's where the strength zone
starts, roughly around
80 percent of your 1RM
or around a six or five RM weight.
Heavy power goes from that
80 percent of one arm point
down to the top of your peak power curve.
So whatever white allows
you lift at peak power
that is now your heavy powers are think
loaded jump's power cleans bench throws,
things like that.
Light power or sub power is any training
that uses a load
that's below
the load that allows peak power
down into the ballistic range.
That's important to note that not all
exercises are suited for this
ballistic range.
Think a lot of Olympic
lifts, particularly snatches
trap jumps with the light
load plyometrics, wall balls
or bodyweight ballistic movements.
These are all going to be better
for that sort of sub
maximal, high dynamic
explosive range of motion.
I think the overuse or the
misinterpretation of these speed zones
is actually a bit
of a product of this third
and this final sort of mistake
we see with early implementation
of velocity based training.
Velocity based training training
isn't some magical universal program
that can use any training.
It's a really handy tool
to help you get more
out of your training.
Like all tools,
you need to know when
and how to use velocity in your training.
It can be capable of motivating
or exhausting coaches and athletes alike.
So to wrap things up, here's
three tips to integrate velocity
into your training
in the least stressful way.
If you're just getting started
or if you've tried in the past
and it didn't work for you.
Number one, Just track
things that matter.
No one really cares
how fast your bicep curls are.
Make it the key movements
that really matter,
that are going to shift
the needle in your training,
maybe two to five exercises
in a training block.
If you're a powerlifter,
the squat, the bench
and the dead, just
the competition standard
lift is going to be
all you need to track.
Number two,
if you're time or resource poor,
don't worry about doing individualized
speed zones and profiling
or using the fixed velocity zones,
I think they're also a misdirection.
Instead, focus on contextual velocity.
Every athlete has a velocity history
and a velocity profile.
Use that data to motivate and set goals.
I particularly like the 30 day average
of your velocity
on a given exercise
and weight combination
so you can use that to motivate.
Last week, you scored 60 kilos at point
nine meters per second.
This week, can you do point nine to.
That's all we want to do each session.
Do a little better
than the last time
or that thirty day average.
And lastly, you don't have to go
and get your doctorate in velocity
based training to still get
great results in your program.
If you currently love working
with RPE or percentage based
programing systems, that's fine.
Just incorporate elements of velocity
tracking into the existing system
to see if you can get a little boost.
Maybe you just use that
contextual piece from before,
or maybe you just use velocity
to monitor percentage
drop off in your sets.
To control fatigue, that's fine.
That's a great use of velocity
to enhance your training process.
So to wrap this all up,
the key message is this
velocity based training
can be overwhelming.
I get it. So do less.
Keep it simple and I'll
see you in the next video.