May 25, 2018

3 Reasons Baseball Players Should Strength Train

May 25, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Christye Estes

Despite a well-recognized need for strength and power development (and injury prevention) in baseball, some coaches are still hesitant when it comes to the weight room—never allowing players to bench press, for example, or only utilizing bands as resistance. That’s what makes properly designed baseball strength and conditioning plan so important. Here are our top 3 reasons why baseball athletes need to strength train, and what a good baseball-specific program should look like.

May 14, 2018

The NBA Combine, Correlation, and Tryouts: Individuality Matters!

May 14, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Joe Eisenmann, PhD

Each May, the NBA invites top college basketball players to participate in their annual Combine, a series of physical measurements and athletic tests that can help determine a player’s fate in the NBA Draft in June. But combine performance doesn’t necessarily correlate to performance in the NBA (just look at Kevin Durant’s failed combine bench press attempt!). Breaking down the research on the validity of the NBA Combine, Joe Eisenmann, PhD, examines the statistical concept of correlation and how it relates to combine testing, and shares some valuable lessons for coaches about tryouts at the youth and high school levels.

April 23, 2018

LTAD Part 2: Is Early Specialization Good or Bad for Athletes?

April 23, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Joe Eisenmann, PhD

We live in an age of youth sports where our kids' schedules are jam-packed with practices, camps, private coaching sessions, and pay-to-play leagues—all specific to a single sport. But we also live an age of research, and studies are now showing that athletes who participate in a variety of sports have fewer injuries and play sports longer than those who specialize before puberty. Volt's Head of Sport Science, Joe Eisenmann, tackles this issue as part of his series on long-term athlete development (LTAD) and unpacks the research about early specialization, and what parents and coaches should do.

April 09, 2018

Cultivating Confidence with NBA Strength Coach Bill Burgos

April 09, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Bill Burgos, MS, CSCS, RSCC

Confidence is key when working with athletes, and no one knows this better than the President of the National Basketball Strength & Conditioning Association (NBSCA), Bill Burgos, MS, CSCS, RSCC. In this exclusive article, Coach Burgos shares why he thinks confidence is the most important attribute a coach can possess—and what you can do to attain it. Special thanks to our partners at NBSCA for bringing this content to the Volt Family.

March 30, 2018

The NSCA Foundations of Coaching Lifts Course, Powered by Volt

March 30, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Dan Giuliani

Volt is proud to power the National Strength and Conditioning Association's new hands-on course for coaches: The Foundations of Coaching Lifts Course. This course is designed to equip coaches with the practical tools they need to properly coach athletes in foundational weightlifting movements. Scott Caulfield, Coaching Education Manager and Head Strength Coach at the NSCA, shares details on the course—and how Volt Family coaches can receive a 50% discount on registration!

March 19, 2018

LTAD Part 1: Definition and History

March 19, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Joe Eisenmann, PhD

What is the purpose of youth sports? Are we trying to produce 8-year-old city champions—or healthy, active adults who can give back to the game? Volt's Head of Sport Science, Joe Eisenmann, kicks off his series on long-term-athlete-development (LTAD) in this new article, which unpacks the definition of athleticism and the history of athlete development—from Ancient Sparta to JFK's America to today.

March 06, 2018

How to Get Your Athletes to Buy in to Recovery

March 06, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Christye Estes

For athletes, "going hard" is usually pretty easy. Whether it's a heavy lift or tough conditioning session, most athletes will face difficult challenges head-on and attack them with gusto. So then why is it so hard to get athletes to "go easy" on recovery days? Coach Christye shares an easy analogy to help your athletes understand the importance of recovery-focused training sessions, and explains why "sweat equity" culture can actually hinder performance.

February 23, 2018

The Science of the NFL Combine: What High School Coaches Should Know

February 23, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Joe Eisenmann, PhD

Every February, 300 or so of the country's best college football athletes gather in Indianapolis to participate in the NFL Combine: essentially a job interview consisting of a battery of physical, medical, and psychological tests in advance of the NFL draft. So what does the Combine measure? How do those measurements correlate to on-field performance? And—most importantly—should high school coaches test their players the same way? Volt's Head of Sport Science, Dr. Joe Eisenmann, unpacks the research and takes a hard look at the purpose of testing, asking: are we measuring what really matters?

February 16, 2018

It's Not About the Squat: Lessons from an NBA Strength Coach

February 16, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Christye Estes

Lifting weights won’t automatically make you an elite athlete, but it can enhance your ability to compete at your sport. In other words, it’s not about the squat—but what the squat can do for your game. No one knows this better than Hall of Fame NBA strength coach, Bill Foran. Coach Foran, now in his 30th season as strength coach for the Miami Heat, recalls training the Heat’s first-ever draft pick—and how he learned to teach athletes that it’s not about the squat. We’ve teamed up with the National Basketball Strength & Conditioning Association (NBSCA) to bring this exclusive interview with Coach Foran to the Volt Family.

February 07, 2018

Long-Term Athlete Development: From Cradle to Grave with Dr. Joe Eisenmann

February 07, 2018/ Volt HQ/ Joe Eisenmann, PhD

How should we be training young athletes? Issues around youth fitness and sports—like whether early specialization in a single sport is beneficial for young athletes—are becoming more prominent. That's why we're excited to team up with Volt's new Head of Sport Science, Joe Eisenmann, PhD, to address these topics in an article series on long-term athlete development, or LTAD. In this initial article, Dr. Eisenmann outlines his approach on "cradle-to-grave" physical development, and why parents and coaches should pay attention.

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