Stop Guessing Your Gains: How I Hacked Muscle Growth
Look, I'll be honest with you - I used to be that guy who'd walk into the gym with a perfectly calculated spreadsheet, knowing exactly that I needed to hit 82.5% of my 1RM for 4 sets of 6. Felt super scientific, right?
Except half the time I'd feel like absolute garbage and that weight would move like I was lifting through molasses. Other days, I'd crush those reps and feel like I left gains on the table. Sound familiar?
That's when I stumbled down the rabbit hole of velocity-based training (VBT). And before you roll your eyes thinking this is some overengineered nonsense for Olympic athletes - hear me out. This stuff actually works for regular humans trying to build muscle, and I'm gonna show you exactly how.
The Problem With Playing the Percentage Game
Here's the thing about those neat little percentage charts we all love: they assume your 1RM never changes. Which is... well, kinda ridiculous when you think about it.
Your strength fluctuates daily based on sleep, stress, whether you had that extra cup of coffee, or if your boss was being particularly annoying that week. Yet we're all out here using a 1RM we tested 8 weeks ago like it's some unchanging law of physics.
I learned this the hard way during a particularly brutal training block last year. My program called for 80% for 5 reps, which should've been around 185 lbs on bench. Some days it felt like 70%, other days it felt like 90%. I was either sandbagging my workouts or grinding myself into the ground. Not exactly optimal for, you know, actually building muscle.
Enter the Velocity Revolution
So here's where things get interesting. Researchers have found that there's an almost perfect relationship between how fast you move a weight and what percentage of your max it represents. We're talking about a 0.98 correlation - that's basically as close to perfect as you get in exercise science.
What this means is that if you want to train at true 80%, there's a specific speed (velocity) that weight should move at, regardless of what the barbell actually weighs that day.
For bench press specifically, 80% of your 1RM should move at about 0.48 m/s on your first rep. If it's moving faster than that, you're probably working lighter than intended. If it's crawling slower, you're going heavier than planned.
Now, I know what you're thinking - "Great Marcus, now I need some fancy $500 device to tell me how fast I'm lifting." And yeah, there are tools like PUSH bands or apps that can track this stuff. But honestly? You can get a lot of mileage just understanding the concept.
The Sweet Spot of Velocity Loss
Here's where VBT gets really practical for building muscle. Instead of just focusing on how fast your first rep moves, we can look at how much slower you get throughout the set.
This "velocity loss" is basically a real-time fatigue meter. And get this - different amounts of velocity loss target different adaptations:
- Less than 20% velocity loss = mostly speed and power
- 20-40% = strength with some hypertrophy
- 40-60% = hypertrophy zone (that's what we want!)
- More than 60% = you're probably grinding too hard
Let me paint you a picture from my own training. Last week I was doing squats, aiming for that hypertrophy zone. My first rep moved at about 0.6 m/s (don't get hung up on the exact number). By my 8th rep, I was down to 0.25 m/s. That's roughly a 58% drop - right in that sweet spot for muscle growth.
The beautiful thing? I didn't have to guess whether I was working hard enough or if I should've stopped two reps earlier. The data told me exactly where I was.
Volume: The Unglamorous King of Gains
Okay, let's talk about something that doesn't require any fancy tech at all - tracking your total volume. This is probably the most underrated tool in the muscle-building toolkit, and it's literally just multiplication.
Volume Load = Sets × Reps × Weight
Sounds basic, right? Because it is. But here's why it matters: every single jacked person you know has moved progressively more weight over time. Not necessarily in single reps, but in total volume.
I started tracking this religiously about 18 months ago, and the insights were pretty eye-opening. Some weeks I thought I was crushing it, but my total volume was actually down 15% from the previous week. Other times I felt like I was taking it easy, but I'd actually moved 10% more total weight.
For example, if I do:
- Week 1: 3 sets of 8 at 135 lbs = 3,240 lbs total
- Week 2: 4 sets of 6 at 145 lbs = 3,480 lbs total
- Week 3: 3 sets of 10 at 140 lbs = 4,200 lbs total
Even though Week 3 had lighter weight than Week 2, I actually moved significantly more total volume. That's progress, even if it doesn't feel like it in the moment.
Real Talk: Making This Actually Work
Look, I'm not gonna lie to you - I went through a phase where I was obsessing over every decimal point of velocity data. It was exhausting and honestly counterproductive. Here's what I learned works in the real world:
If you have access to velocity tracking: Use it to dial in your loads for the first 2-3 weeks of a new program. Once you know what weights move at the right speeds for you, you can feel confident in your load selection even without the device.
If you don't have fancy tech: Focus on consistent velocity loss. Pick a rep range (say 8-12 for hypertrophy) and aim to finish your sets when you're moving noticeably slower than your first rep, but not grinding. You'll develop this intuition faster than you think.
For everyone: Track your volume load. Seriously, just do it. Use a notebook, an app, whatever. The goal isn't to increase it every single week (that's impossible), but to see an upward trend over months.
The Stuff Nobody Talks About
Here's where I'm gonna get real with you about some mistakes I made so you don't have to:
Mistake #1: Chasing perfect velocity numbers every single rep. Some days you're just off, and that's fine. The trends matter more than individual data points.
Mistake #2: Thinking more velocity loss always equals better gains. I spent about 6 weeks hitting 60%+ velocity loss on everything and just burned myself out. The 40-50% range is usually plenty.
Mistake #3: Ignoring how I actually felt. Data is awesome, but if you feel like garbage and your velocities are way off, maybe it's a deload day regardless of what your program says.
Your Action Plan (No Matter Your Setup)
Alright, let's make this practical. Here's what you can start doing today:
Beginner to VBT: Start tracking volume load for your main lifts. Calculate Sets × Reps × Weight after each workout. Look for trends over 4-6 week periods.
Ready for the next level: Focus on velocity loss. Time your first rep and your last rep of each set (even with a stopwatch). Aim for your last rep to be 40-50% slower than your first for hypertrophy work.
Full send mode: Invest in some velocity tracking tech and dial in your individual load-velocity profiles. But remember - the tool should inform your training, not control it.
The truth is, most of us are way better at this intuitive training stuff than we give ourselves ourselves credit for. VBT just gives us the language to describe what good lifters have always done - adjust on the fly and listen to what their body is telling them.
I'm curious - have you ever noticed how some days a weight just feels different, even though it's technically the same percentage? That's your body giving you velocity feedback without the fancy equipment. Start paying attention to that feeling, because it's probably more accurate than any number on a spreadsheet.
And hey, if you start experimenting with any of this stuff, drop a comment and let me know how it goes. This training nerd always wants to hear about what's working (or not working) for people in the real world.
Now stop reading about training and go actually train. But maybe grab a notebook first - you're gonna want to start tracking that volume load.
