Maximizing Athletic Performance: The Benefits of Velocity-Based Training - Episode 49

Velocity-based training is a modern method used to build strength and power. It uses advanced technology that tracks the speed of each exercise, providing athletes with feedback on their performance. This helps them improve their motivation, optimize their skills, and gain an advantage over competitors.

Velocity-based training (VBT) has been rapidly gaining popularity in recent years. This cutting-edge method of fitness is a highly versatile and effective approach to strength training, power development, and performance enhancement. We will take an extensive look at the benefits that VBT can offer you, along with practical tips for getting started with this training method - making it accessible to anyone looking to push their fitness goals to new heights.

For aspiring athletes and coaches alike, velocity-based training may be the way to go. It can help both on and off the field. Be sure to invest in top-quality equipment, carefully research the best brands, and work with a certified coach to get the absolute most out of your training. Happy lifting!

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Transcript

**Speaker 0** (00:00:01) - Hi, right guys. Welcome to another episode of HansenAthletics Radio. I'm excited to be putting this out for you guys. Today we're gonna talk about velocity-based training. We just did a series of videos on Instagram, um, at Hanson athletics, uh, breaking down a, a long-form and some short-form kind of velocity-based training and how we've been using it at the gym and with our youth athletes. So excited about today's episode. Um, we're gonna have a video version as well on Spotify. So if you wanna watch my ugly mug talk about it, go ahead and tune in. And a quick plug for hands athletics, if you're looking for onsite or online training for either active adults or athletes, we are a performance-based gym, and you're gonna get an insight into that as we dive into some of the technology pieces we're using to track and work with our athletes, uh, via velocity based training.



**Speaker 0** (00:00:49) - Obviously, remotely that's a little bit harder because you don't necessarily have the equipment or the technology pieces, but onsite we have the technology needed to implement this and ha have enough of it available for all the athletes to get access to it. So first and foremost, I wanna clarify, uh, as we talk about velocity-based training, uh, for us at the gym, we primarily use this with our older, more developed athletes. So we're talking, uh, pretty much juniors and seniors in high school and potentially some, uh, athletes that are a little bit ahead in their younger years at high school as well. But middle school kids, we just work on, uh, building a base level of strength and we don't get too much into, uh, the velocity of their movements or dive as deep into it. So I just wanted to make sure that was clear before we got into, uh, what, uh, velocity-based training is.

**Speaker 0** (00:01:38) - So, V B T, I'll just refer to as V B T, so I don't have to say velocity-based training so much. Um, it's a type of training that uses an athlete's velocity of the barbell. Um, for example, barbell. Uh, this can be done, uh, in multiple different movements and by attaching straps to different types of equipment or actually the body. So there's a lot of different ways to look at the velocity, but today we'll talk probably primarily about the barbell as, uh, want to get into some points that we've found beneficial with youth athletes with the barbell. So again, we're measuring how fast they move or the barbell moves, and this helps guide our training. So, um, this type of training has been shown to be effective. Um, and then more traditional methods, uh, a k a keep it simple. Uh, lift slow, be slow, lift fast, be fast.

**Speaker 0** (00:02:24) - So if you're looking for adaptations that are gonna carry over more to the field or to sport, uh, versus just lifting as much weight as possible, that's where velocity-based training can really help you, deep dive, as a coach or an athlete. And make sure you're working in different zones within, uh, velocity-based training to improve your performance or where your weakest on the field. So for example, now basically you have max strength. Everybody's familiar with max strength, that's lifting basically as heavy as you can, doesn't really matter how fast it is. Then you have speed like sprinting where uh, the movement is as fast as it's gonna get and there isn't any external load on that. But in, in between that, um, is where power comes in. And there's two different kinds of modes you can play, play with, uh, in programming when you're trying to get into the power, uh, area and developing power with athletes.

**Speaker 0** (00:03:08) - And they call 'em speed, strength, and strength speed. So simply breaking down speed strength is an emphasis on moving the bar fast will be obviously lighter loads. You'll still develop some strength, but the emphasis is speed. And then strength. Speed is, you're still working on loads that are in your head. Think about if you lift 75 to 85%, um, probably a little bit less than that based on the athlete, just depends on where you're at. But you're trying to move that bar, um, as fast as possible, but it's going to be slower because the load's heavy. So you're getting a little bit more of a strength stimulus while working on speed. And by playing around in these two zones, programming them, and working through them in our different blocks, athletes are able to develop different qualities outside of just max strength. Everyone knows the athlete or has seen the athlete that's a weight room warrior, as we call it.

**Speaker 0** (00:03:53) - So they're really good in the weight room, they're really strong, but they aren't necessarily the guys getting, playing time or, uh, having that, that strength actually carry over to the field. So that's like a brief overview, of velocity-based training and how it can be applied to some barbells. Um, and again, we have found it to be more effective in increasing our athlete's speed. They're vertical and uh, actually still getting stronger. So a lot of our athletes are absolutely getting stronger and making progress with this method. Um, I want to dive into, uh, what I've found, uh, with the velocity-based training and what I like better than percentages, because with these athletes, I think, uh, necessarily getting a max, uh, rep of something and then just trying to program percentages is not the best way to drive performance or the safest way. So what's really cool about the well way, we, we use velocity-based training is mostly to prescribe, uh, work zones for the day.

**Speaker 0** (00:04:48) - So it kind of ties back into fluid periodization, which is where an athlete can kind of maximize when they come in when they feel good when they feel bad, and the weights are gonna adjust based on, uh, recovery levels and, uh, how the athlete is that day. There are a lot of different factors that come into that and it gets even more confusing with female athletes in their cycle. So this allows athletes to maximize what they have that day and also back off if they're under-recovered or not filling very well. Um, so instead of using percentages, we will program, uh, or give the athletes a speed to hit with the bar in meters per second. So we'll say you need to be within this range and that day they might, they might pr on their three rep max or they might be a lot lower, but that feedback instantly from doing each rep, they'll be able to see the feedback, uh, literally instantly as they do the rep and the coaches as well.

**Speaker 0** (00:05:37) - And that allows us to make ONF fly, uh, modifications, lower the weight, raise the weight, and get that athlete to where they need to be to achieve the adaptation for that day again, and take into account all the other factors or how recovered the athlete is. So instead of just using percentages and load and just expecting the athlete to fit into that mold, we're actually going through and creating, uh, the opportunity for the athlete to either overperform that day or still get work done, uh, at a lower level based on where they're at. So, um, that's one of the ways that we use it and one of my favorite ways to talk about it is, is using it to help those athletes, uh, get performance and drive that to their maximum intent. Hi, jumping back in, had a brief interruption so hopefully, there's not too much jump around in the conversation, but, uh, wanted to dive back just and emphasize that, um, this allows, using this meth method with the velocity based training and letting the athletes fluctuate, uh, where they're at on that day and drive specific adaptations has been great for reducing the risk of injury as well because we're not, like I said, boxing those athletes into a certain weight, uh, that they have to hit.

**Speaker 0** (00:06:46) - And, uh, if they are under-recovered, technically overloading 'em and having a higher risk of injury. So that's, that's a huge benefit of it outside of just the performance, uh, perks of what, of what's going on with the velocity-based training. And now if you're asking yourself, well, how can I get started in velocity-based training? So if you have no equipment, you can always spend some time learning, uh, potentially find somewhere that has equipment that you can start to get an eye for what those different speeds look like. And then emphasizing with athletes, uh, to move fast, right? So moving fast will be, the lowest hanging fruit, getting your athletes to move weights, choose a weight so they can implement and drive quickly through and move the bar with speed. Uh, number two would be investing in some equipment. So we use output sports.

**Speaker 0** (00:07:29) - Uh, there are a lot of different brands out there. If you just put in, you know, velocity-based training, you'll see a lot of different options, uh, in terms of technology and then you can kind of decide what's the best fit for you. Um, as an athlete, there are even some individual options that an athlete could buy on their own and implement into their own training without having to get a whole system. So, uh, again, output sports. We like output sports. There's a lot of different things we test with it, uh, outside of just, uh, bar velocity. So you can really get pretty deep and create, uh, custom training programs and, and find out kids' weaknesses and where they need to improve to reduce their risk injury, but also drive their performance to the next level. So, uh, lastly, when you do have these, these monitors, it's awesome and you're able to, uh, track an athlete's progress a little bit more in-depth, uh, and, and a little bit more, uh, insight-driven into what you're gonna do with your athletes and where they need to improve and how you can an ultimately get them to perform better on the field and faster on the field, which is huge.

**Speaker 0** (00:08:29) - We truly believe speed is king. Uh, sports are played quickly now and the faster you are, uh, the slower the game feels and the more you're able to dial in and stay relaxed during the game versus trying to run full speed the entire time, you're gonna make bad decisions a and you're gonna fatigue quickly. So if we can drive athletes top speed up over, over, uh, what their competitors are at, typically they're able to play at a more relaxed, calm state, make better decisions and perform

**Speaker 1** (00:08:54) - Better on the field. So if you guys have any further questions, send them over. Hope you guys enjoyed this podcast. Uh, you can always support us by following us on enhanced athletics, engaging with our content, uh, and check out our website. Uh, you can follow me personally on Twitter, coach d Hansen, I appreciate you guys taking the time to listen. If you guys have any interest in diving further into the topic, you can, uh, send me a message and let me know. And if there are any, uh, topics you'd like me to cover, go ahead and send 'em over. So have a great day, guys.