Shoutout Coach Carmen Bott for talking with me about VBT the other day. This all started with a tweet on X where she was wondering/saying VBT isn't needing. I bit on the bait and messaged her and we scheduled a debate. For those not familiar with Carmen and I relationship she has been on the CMW 3 times now, presented 4 webinars in our membership library, and presented inside Fundamentals. Needless to say, we are close. We just disagreed on VBT prior to the convo. By the end of the chat she understood why I am such an advocate of VBT and i bet $50 she uses VBT by the end of the month! Watch the video above and then read my thoughts/summary.
Different VBT Devices
Also, some of you will say I am biased. I am. My bias does not mean I am wrong that Vitruve is the best VBT tool on the market. I was on the phone mentoring a coach through CSCS exam prep the other day and one of their assistants came into the office asking for a certain camera VBT company's rep phone number because this companies unit broke again. This coach I was mentoring was not the original person to get this camera VBT company, they inherited it from the prior staff. This coach will be getting Vitruve.
Moreover, check out the research from Pérez-Castilla, A. et al 2019 which showed: Devices were ranked by reliability as follows: (I) VITRUVE (II) Velowin™, PowerLift™, T-Force™, Chronojump™ (III) PUSH™ band, and (IV) Beast™ sensor." This image from the study shows how the devices were compared.
Cody Hughes also compared 4 different VBT devices at Mason Academy before finally using Vitruve. You can learn about his tests on this episode of the CMW.
Recapping the Debate
That was a good talk right? I got distracted after Carmen said the point about eccentric measurement. You CAN measure the eccentric portion of a lift with VBT (well with Vitruve you can). Check the image below to see an example.
Form Still Matters With VBT
Now this is the biggest thing I was shocked about. Any coach who says technique doesn't matter just hit the speeds is WRONG.
How can you say that? Seriously? If an athlete has knees caving in, rounded back, but got 0.82m/s on the squat that is NOT good. Fix his or her movement. If anything you can use VBT to help correct movement flaws. Athletes can now see EXACTLY when they technically set up the right way for a lift when they have VBT on.
For example, if an athlete puts on their Vitruve encoder and performs a back squat without remaining tight in their upper back and torso. Nor do they pull down on the bar and keep their elbows underneath them. As the coach with Vitruve on the bar I now have objective numbers to show the athlete, hey when you do things that way look how slow and weak you are.
On the flip side, when I coach them up on the exact things I just told them to do, they haver their Vitruve on the bar, they do all the things I just coached them up on, and their velocity improves on all the reps - now I have proof that I was right. Not that I want to rub the athlete's face in that I was right and they were wrong. But let's call a spade a spade. Athletes will doubt you. Just like your own kids. We are the "authority" we know nothing.
But now when you give athletes coaching cues, they apply these cues, their technique and speeds increase, now they add more weight, get bigger, stronger, faster, etc...and you have proof to your cues being right. Check out this example from training an athlete:
See how much better set 6 was compared to sets 4 and 5. I let him try to figure stuff out on his own in set 4 and 5. After he didn't I went in and provided the coaching he needed. He applied it, and now I have "textual evidence" that I was right.
If you want more help with VBT you can watch this webinar that Rodrigo and I did together on the topic of in-season and off-season VBT use with athletes. Or you can watch this webinar from Cody Hughes on the topic of how elite coaches use data to build champions.
You can also watch CMW episodes with Antonio Squillante right here, or you can watch this episode with Cody Hughes right here. In both episodes we dive deep into VBT rabbit holes and best practices with athletes. Finally, you can also ask us questions directly about how we use Vitruve VBT at service@strengthcoachnetwork.com
