If you’re serious about taking your training to the next level, it’s time to rethink how you measure progress. It’s not just about how much weight you can lift—it’s about how fast you can move it. That’s where Velocity-Based Training (VBT) comes in. By tracking the velocity of your reps in real time, VBT helps you dial in your effort, adjust on the fly, and make smarter training decisions. Whether you’re trying to get stronger, prevent burnout, or just get a clearer picture of your progress, VBT gives you the data you need to train smarter, not harder. In this post, we’ll break down why VBT is a game-changer and how it can help you—and your athletes—unlock new levels of performance.
In this article, we will summarize the three basic applications of velocity-based training (VBT) so you can take your training, or your athletes’ training, to the next level:
- Real-time feedback to improve intent.
- Autoregulation of load and repetitions.
- Long-term progress tracking.
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Real-Time Feedback
For a long time, we’ve known that performing repetitions with maximum intent is key to improving the efficiency of strength training sessions (1). In our daily work as personal trainers, this is one of our simplest yet most important tasks. However, when athletes train on their own, they need a motivation that pushes them to move the bar as fast as they can. By simply encouraging athletes to measure their velocity and aim for maximum velocity on every repetition, we are already using VBT to enhance their performance. This can easily be done by viewing the velocity in real-time on your phone, Apple Watch, or by listening to the feedback from Spleeft on your iPhone when it’s placed on the bar.
Autoregulation of Load
As athletes, we are sensitive to various stimuli that can affect our energy levels. Whether due to a previous workout, a bad night’s sleep, or sometimes for unknown reasons, our state of fatigue and recovery varies from day to day. In the gym, which usually plays a complementary role in most competitive sports, we must adjust the load to accommodate this, so we don’t cause further fatigue. The load has two key components that we need to manage: intensity (bar load, as intent must be maximal) and volume, the number of repetitions.
To adjust the load, we can compare today’s fastest velocity with that from previous days. If it’s significantly lower, we might need to adjust the load to achieve the same stimulus without overdoing it. With Spleeft, you can easily make decisions because, right after finishing a set, you’re presented with a screen that shows insights like the Z-Score of the set and how far the velocity deviates from what’s normal for your load-velocity profile. There are three possible outcomes:
- Z-Score below 1: You might want to assess your feelings and decrease the load a little.
- Z-Score greater than 1: Your performance today is excellent, so consider increasing the load.
- Z-Score between -1 and 1: Everything is going as expected, continue with your training.
Always try to pair these numbers with your sensations. Let them assist you, but not dictate your actions.
To adjust the volume, we use velocity loss. Research shows that velocity loss helps equalize the stimulus between athletes, as the number of repetitions that can be performed to failure with the same relative load varies from person to person. There’s a strong correlation between velocity loss and fatigue markers. Therefore, you can continue performing repetitions until you reach your target velocity loss percentage.
The target velocity loss should also be individualized based on the athlete, goals, and body part. In upper-body exercises, a 10% higher velocity loss is needed to achieve the same internal fatigue. Guide for velocity loss in squats and lower-body exercises:
- Below 10% loss focuses on neuromuscular strength. Cluster sets may use as low as 5%.
- Around 20% results in moderate effort, i.e., exceeding 20% velocity loss means you’re doing half the reps possible to failure.
- Above 30% focuses on muscle hypertrophy.
Keep in mind that velocity loss can be influenced by intent, rest between reps, etc., so it’s crucial to also consider the effort’s quality when autoregulating volume.
Long-Term Progress Control
The simplest way to track your long-term progress is by observing how your fastest velocity for a common load improves over time. If your velocity increases, it means you’re improving. With Spleeft you can see how to track long-term performance improvement with velocity-based training.
However, creating load-velocity profiles helps better understand how you’re improving: whether you’re getting better with high or low loads, or if your power is improving. Ideally, you should re-evaluate this profile every month or two, depending on your training volume. Fortunately, thanks to our automatic tool, if you lift at least three different loads with maximum intent frequently, your profile updates automatically over time, without the need for specific test sessions. You can read more about this in our article on how to calculate your 1RM automatically with Spleeft.
References:
- González-Badillo JJ, Rodríguez-Rosell D, Sánchez-Medina L, Gorostiaga EM, Pareja-Blanco F (2014). Maximal intended velocity training induces greater gains in bench press performance than deliberately slower half-velocity training. European Journal of Sport Science, 14(8), 772–781. DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2014.905987
- González-Badillo JJ, Yáñez-García JM, Mora-Custodio R, Rodríguez-Rosell D. Velocity Loss as a Variable for Monitoring Resistance Exercise. International Journal of Sports Medicine. 2017 Feb; 38(3). doi:10.1055/s-0042-120324.
- Pareja-Blanco F, Rodríguez-Rosell D, Sánchez-Medina L, Sanchis-Moysi J, Dorado C, Mora-Custodio R, Yáñez-García JM, Morales-Alamo D, Pérez-Suárez I, Calbet JAL. Effects of velocity loss during resistance training on athletic performance, strength gains and muscle adaptations. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 2017 Jul;27(7):724–735. doi: 10.1111/sms.12678.
Iván de Lucas Rogero
MSC Physical Performance & CEO SpleeftApp
Dedicated to improving athletic performance and cycling training, combining science and technology to drive results.
