Learn velocity-based training.
A growing library of articles, guides and reference material. Everything from your first setup to advanced programming and the science behind the numbers.
Coaching a roster? Start with the 30-day playbook.
The week-by-week plan for switching a group to velocity, then testing days, dashboard reads and athlete buy-in.
The essentials for every new ORCA owner.
Getting started with your ORCA sensor
Unbox, charge, pair, mount, and run your first session. Full step-by-step manual.
ORCA app user manual (athlete)
Complete tour of every screen and feature in the ORCA Strength athlete app, including Pro-only capabilities.
Behind the numbers.
Why two IMUs beat one
The sensor fusion behind ORCA's ±0.02 m/s accuracy: two 6-axis IMUs cross-referenced at 200 Hz to reconstruct the true 3D bar path.
Why a cable tether lies to you
Tethered systems are accurate on a strict vertical pull, and silently biased everywhere else. The failure mode, in detail.
Calibrating against a lab reference
How ORCA was validated: reference standard, sample-by-sample protocol, and what ±0.02 m/s actually represents.
From silicon to screen
PCB layout, hardware-timed firmware, on-device fusion, and the app pipeline: engineering the full data path at 200 Hz.
Designing a 38-gram sensor that survives a barbell
Coupled multiphysics FEA, joint material selection and drop testing behind a 38 g housing built for real gym use.
Velocity-based training from the ground up.
What is velocity-based training?
The core concept, its history, and why it changed strength training forever.
Why VBT beats percentage-based programming
The limits of %1RM, daily fluctuations in strength, and how velocity accounts for readiness.
Understanding velocity zones
Strength-speed, speed-strength, accelerative strength: how to prescribe by intent, not just load.
Mean vs. peak velocity: which one matters?
When to use each metric, and why most coaches get this wrong.
Put velocity to work in your programming.
Estimating 1RM without maxing out
The load-velocity line, the minimum velocity threshold, the protocol, and how to program off an estimate you can refresh monthly.
Programming with velocity-loss cutoffs
The 10 / 20 / 30% rule with a decision table, a worked set, and how cutoffs behave across a whole roster.
Autoregulation with VBT
Three levers, one decision table: load from warm-up velocity, intensity from target velocity, volume from velocity loss.
Readiness monitoring with bar speed
Build a baseline, read the bands, and tell an individual problem apart from a programming problem.
Running velocity with a roster.
Your first 30 days with a roster on ORCA
Week by week: what to baseline, what to only watch, what to act on, and what to tell your athletes.
Running a testing day
Station maths, load ladders, run of play and the rules that protect the data. A full roster profiled in 70 minutes.
Reading the Coach Portal dashboard
Every alert and flag, the decision each one should trigger, and what to deliberately ignore. Ten minutes a week.
Getting athlete buy-in
The two numbers athletes should own, the 90-second introduction, every objection you will hear, and how to sell it upward.
How velocity applies to your discipline.
VBT for powerlifting
Peak blocks, opener calls and meet-day loading, with a sample week written the way it goes on the calendar.
VBT for Olympic weightlifting
Peak velocity thresholds for snatch, clean and jerk, programming the pulls, and a sample preparation week.
VBT for team sports
Force-velocity profiling and correction for football, hockey, rugby and cycling, plus a sample in-season week.