Strength Profiling Part 2: Build the Load Velocity Relationship
In the first article dedicated to Strength Profiling we went over a strategy to obtain immediate feedback and more informations about the readiness of the athlete during warm up or leading up to the training loads.
Let's review two main ideas that will be useful now:
- Always use the same loads during warm ups or building up to the final traning loads. Also remember to exert maximum intention and to accelerate the latest warm up sets as fast as you can. Check Table 1 for the complete warm up example.
- Refer to the latest loads of your warm up to evaluate Readiness. Usually the heaviest loads are the most useful.
WARM UP TABLE TO EVALUATE READINESS
in this case, assume a 1RM between 150 and 180 kg (330 to 400 lbs)
To be able to build a Load Velocity Profile just during your warm up sets is another plus for this huge time saving approach: we can avoid dedicating rare time to test our athletes.
WHAT IS A STRENGTH PROFILE?
Strength Profiling aims to describe all the different Strength Traits for a specific exercise, it is athlete-specific and exercise-specific. Since, as we learned, Strength is made by Speed, it is made by two main charts describing the relationship between loads, bar speed and power. These relationships come from very simple mathematical models: any coach or athlete can use them 360 degrees to gather the main informations to program and prescribe training sessions, but also to monitor progress:
- choose Training Loads or Target Speed once the training goal is set. S
- evaluate progress session by session
- evaluate strength and weaknesses and make decisions regarding periodisation
- Predict 1 Rep Max (1RM) and Max Power Output
Two easy mathematical formulas describe the relationship between Load and Velocity (or Bar Speed) and between Load and Power.
The Load Velocity Profile is represented by a line, defined by steepness and a starting value: it is a linear relationship:
Bar Speed = m * Load + b
where m represents the steepness of the chart. I know we're getting a little bit nerdy right here but I'll come back to these important parameteres and you might want to remember those for later: they are juicy.
B is the intercept instead, or the Speed value when the Load is zero. The higher, the fastest the athlete: great parameter to describe explosiveness.
The same relationship can be inverted:
Load = m* Bar Speed + b
In this case b represents the load at zero bar speed and you might already connect this to a 1RM or to a maximum isometric load.
Which differences between the two versions?
We can rapidly predict Bar Speed for a specific Load and relate or compare to the daily performances with the first version. The second version help us predicting the heaviest load moved at a specific Speed (or for a specific Strength).
Don't worry, there are tools available more than your Beast Sensor that can take care of building and predicting this relationship.
The Power profile is a little bit more complex, being a quadratical relationship: the chart is a convex parabola. Yes, there is a belly in the chart and it is facing downward. This is very important as the vertex of the parabola describes the conditions of Maximal Power Output, one of the main parameters.
Power = A * Load ^2 + B * Load + C
LOAD-VELOCITY CHART
POWER-LOAD CHART
