Dr. Dan Baker's VBT Masterclass - Chapter 1

With a PhD in Sports Science and extensive experience in testing and training, Dr. Baker, an Output ambassador, utilizes his scientific knowledge and practical expertise to teach you all about velocity-based training. You can watch the full workshop above and below, we'll break it down for you!

**What is Velocity-Based Training?

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"I actually don't like the term velocity-based training. We use velocity, my training is based on %1RM, RPE and all sorts of things so, it's not totally based on velocity… but VBT is a term that's around now, so we'll just use it. Think of it as you using velocity to improve how you're actually writing your programs, you don't have to change how you program. If you've got a beautiful way of programming successfully, stay with it. Simply use velocity to help you to make it slightly better".

Why do we want to measure velocity during training?

"Velocity in the first rep or best rep in a set tells you your strength levels, in comparison to the last time you live for that same weight. So, if your velocity is up by a certain amount, you're stronger, if it's down by a certain amount then you are probably fatigued and lost a little bit of strength. It's directly linked to your existing, at-that-time strength level and even within a workout if you're starting doing three or four sets and your velocity starts to drop off on your first rep we can see how much you are fatiguing or what's the strength loss across these three or four or five sets. Velocity tells us our strength. The velocity of the last rep in a set tells you how fatiguing that set was and how close you are to muscular failure whether you want to go there or not go there. Basically if we think about VBT, we think about two things; the best velocity in a set and the last rep velocity. They're the two things we really look at so if we look at them, we're halfway home".

Overview of Velocity measurement devices & why Output is a good choice

"There's different devices and different technologies. We have these things called inertial measurement units (IMU), so think of Output, it's got an accelerometer but it's also got a gyroscope (the thing that's in your iPhone that tells you it's upside down). We have position transducers such as Gymaware, Tendodyne, Vitruve and also either 3D filming systems like EliteForm or sometimes cheap things you can put on your iPhone that just uses the camera. They're not as good and they take a lot of time etc.

We've got different methods and there's different brands of these things for IMUs and position transducers that have been around for a long time. I was using PlyometricPower System back in 1993. So, that's how long velocity training's been around, for 30 years now. There's Digital Optical Systems - people say “oh this is the best system". What I say is, if you've got swimming athletes, then a pull-up is an important exercise. Certain systems/devices don't work well for pull-ups. We can put the Output system on our forearm or bicep attached to a strap, we can measure pull-ups, we can also measure dumbbells. Certain devices that I've showed you don't work well with certain exercises. The good thing about Output is it works well on lots of exercises. Barbell exercises, dumbbells, med balls.

I really like it because it has other functions - we can measure range of motion and we can put the sensor on our shoulders and look at that external range of motion. We can see there's a difference in my range of motion on each shoulder and we can get the exact angle. We can look at stability, one-legged holds, you know a physio may say “return to play… it's going to be 90% or she's gonna be 90%”. How am I measuring that? Output gives us those things. It gives us objective numbers for these tests such as range of motion, stability, balance and that's why it's great, as well as the velocity-based training."

Chapter 2 - Coming Soon!

1. When to use Peak or Mean Velocity

2. Normative Velocity Scores - Lower & Upper Main Lifts

3. Velocity Scores - Individual Differences