Partnership will see YOUR Personal Training coaches develop their skills in Velocity Based Training and explore how technology already established across elite professional sport can enhance mainstream personal training.
YOUR Personal Training has entered into a landmark partnership with performance technology company Output Sports, bringing one of the industry's leading Velocity Based Training (VBT) ecosystems into its personal trainer network as part of a wider drive to narrow the gap between elite performance practice and coaching on the commercial gym floor.
Output Sports combines VBT, athlete testing, monitoring and programming within a connected performance platform, giving coaches objective data across areas including strength, power and movement. Its technology is already used within some of the world's highest-performance sporting environments, with customers and partners including England FA, Arsenal FC, the Irish Rugby Football Union, MLB's Texas Rangers, HYROX365 and the University of Colorado. Output also reports that its technology is used by more than half of Premier League teams.
What the partnership gives trainers
The new partnership will give YOUR PT trainers exposure to the technology and its practical coaching applications, with an initial programme of trials already underway to explore how performance testing and VBT can be integrated effectively into personal training.
Central to this work is Output Sports' test-retest approach, giving PTs a simple way to assess a client's strength, power and movement, understand where they may need to focus and then use that data to inform their training plan. By repeating tests over time, trainers can also track changes objectively and demonstrate progress beyond traditional measures such as weight and repetitions.
What Velocity Based Training measures
Velocity Based Training uses the speed at which a movement is performed as an additional measure of performance, allowing coaches to look beyond load and repetitions when assessing an athlete or client's training. Among its applications, velocity data can be used to inform loading, monitor changes in performance and fatigue, create individualised training targets and encourage greater intent during strength work through immediate feedback.
Education before technology
Rather than introducing technology for technology's sake, the partnership will focus heavily on trainer education and practical application, helping coaches' understanding of how testing and VBT can enable informed training decisions and give clients with new and tangible ways to understand their progress.
YOUR Personal Training is now testing a range of these applications with trainers from its network, with the findings set to inform a programme of educational, trainer-led and consumer-facing content designed to make VBT and performance testing relevant and accessible beyond professional sport.
James Smith, Group Business Development Director at YOUR Personal Training, said:
“The significance of this partnership is not that we're simply giving trainers access to another piece of technology; it is that we are giving them the opportunity to understand and work with tools and principles already being used inside some of the world's leading performance environments.
“Personal training is evolving, and our view is that great trainers should have access to the very best thinking from every corner of the fitness and performance industries. Output has made sophisticated performance data incredibly practical, and we see a real opportunity to explore what happens when that capability is combined with the coaching skill and client relationships of our trainers.
“We're already trialling the technology in real training environments and that is particularly important to us. We want to show trainers what VBT means in practice, where it adds value and how it can create a more measurable, engaging and individualised experience for clients.”
Taking performance data beyond elite sport
The partnership comes as Output Sports expands the application of its technology beyond elite sport and into the wider commercial fitness market. Its portable wireless sensor can be used across movements including barbells, kettlebells and other strength and power exercises, with data captured and analysed through its connected software ecosystem.
Hanna Lewin, Head of Marketing at Output Sports, said:
“There is a major opportunity to take the principles and technologies that are now embedded within high-performance sport and make them genuinely useful to coaches working with people every day. That doesn't mean making personal training unnecessarily complicated; it means giving good coaches objective information that can help them demonstrate progress, individualise training and make more informed decisions.
“YOUR Personal Training gives us an opportunity to work with a large and engaged community of trainers, learn from how they apply the technology with their clients and help bring performance-led coaching to a much wider audience.”
For YOUR Personal Training, the agreement adds another specialist organisation to a growing portfolio of partnerships spanning multiple areas of the fitness industry, reflecting a strategy centred on giving its trainers access to education, technology, media opportunities across the PT profession.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Output Sports?
Output Sports is a performance technology company that combines Velocity Based Training, athlete testing, monitoring and programming in a single connected platform, using a portable wireless sensor that attaches to a barbell, kettlebell, trap bar or wrist. It gives coaches objective data on strength, power and movement without the force plates and laboratory testing that measurement used to require. Its technology is used in elite sporting environments including England FA, Arsenal FC, the Irish Rugby Football Union and MLB's Texas Rangers, and Output reports it is used by more than half of Premier League teams. YOUR Personal Training has partnered with Output Sports to bring the same technology to trainers working on the commercial gym floor.
Is Velocity Based Training only for elite athletes?
No. Velocity Based Training started in elite sport, but the principles apply to anyone lifting weights, because the speed of a movement tells a coach something that the load on the bar cannot. It shows whether someone is producing more power, how fatigued they are on a given day and whether they are training with real intent, which is as useful for a general client as it is for a professional athlete. The technology has also become portable and affordable enough to use in a normal gym session. YOUR Personal Training is trialling Velocity Based Training with trainers from its network through its partnership with Output Sports, specifically to establish where it adds value for everyday clients.
What is a test-retest approach to fitness assessment?
A test-retest approach means assessing a client against the same set of measures at the start of training and then repeating those exact tests at intervals, so changes can be compared like for like. The first test establishes a baseline for strength, power and movement and shows where a client needs to focus. Each repeat test then shows objectively what has changed, rather than relying on how someone feels or looks. It is standard practice in professional sport and is now practical in a personal training session. YOUR Personal Training trainers are applying this approach with Output Sports technology to inform training plans and evidence progress over time.
How is technology changing personal training?
Technology is changing personal training mainly by making progress measurable, giving trainers objective data on strength, power, movement and fatigue in place of estimates. That changes two things: coaching decisions become better informed, and clients can see evidence of improvement that weight, reps and the mirror do not show. The best applications support the coach rather than replace them, since the value still sits in the relationship and the judgement of the trainer. YOUR Personal Training invests in partnerships that put this kind of capability in its trainers' hands, including its partnership with performance technology company Output Sports.
About the author
Published by Iva Boneva.
Iva Boneva is Marketing Manager at YOUR Personal Training, where she leads the brand's marketing and its technology and product partnerships. She holds a Master's in Communications, Media Practice and Public Relations and a degree in Medical Genetics, combining a background in health science and fitness with hands-on experience across content, video, web and social media.