If you’re a coach, you’ve probably led training sessions where athletes start off energetic and focused…but end the session sluggish and distracted. We’ve been there — and it’s frustrating! Luckily, Volt guest author Josh Heidegger, CSCS, is a strength and conditioning coach at the University of Southern California, and has some D1 strategies that coaches at any level can implement to help end your next session on a high note!
Read MoreLife in the NBA is a grind. And with athletes playing for 9 to 10 months straight—or even longer, if they make the Playoffs—it’s not surprising that the NBA is plagued by an injury epidemic. A $350-million-per-year epidemic. Volt’s Head of Sports Science, Joe Eisenmann, PhD, addresses the underlying causes behind this influx of injuries and asks: What if it’s related to how youth basketball is structured in the U.S.? Read on to learn more about the state of youth basketball in America, and how several organizations are working diligently to turn it around.
Read MoreDespite 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.
Read MoreEach 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.
Read MoreWe 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.
Read MoreConfidence 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.
Read MoreVolt 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!
Read MoreWhat 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.
Read MoreFor 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.
Read MoreEvery 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?
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