Like all things worth doing, practicing quality repetitions paves the way for success. This is especially true for pulling a bar from the floor in weightlifting. Pulling a bar from the floor without proper positioning, bracing, or tension places you in jeopardy of developing bad habits—or worse, running the risk of injury. Here are Coach Jace’s 3 Tips for getting your pull right.
Read MoreGuest author Devan McConnell is one of Volt's contributing strength coaches. Coach McConnell is the Head Sports Performance Coach for UMass Lowell's Division I Hockey Team. Today he shares his insights on how to plan out your team's pre-practice warm-up to be an effective factor in game-day performance.
Read MoreBeing "jacked" is in. The 80's bodybuilder-style action hero is back and dominating in blockbuster films. Even the action figures of children's toys are starting to take on comically collossal appearances in size and mass. And I'm not knocking it. In fact, I think this newfound popularity of a muscular appearance is pretty cool. But there is the key word, "appearance." There seems to be a slight disconnect between what being strong LOOKS like, and what being strong ACTUALLY means.
Read MoreYou've seen the t-shirts, right? "Strong is the new Skinny!" "Healthy is the new Skinny!" "Fit is the new Skinny!" At first glance, this seems like a really great trend. Emphasizing the function of your body over its appearance? I am ALL ABOUT that! Positivity trumping negativity? That’s my MIDDLE NAME! But on second thought, this “_____ is the new Skinny!” deal may not be the best thing for us, after all. In fact, I believe that this Fit vs. Skinny dichotomy is borderline harmful—especially to female athletes.
Read MoreThe shoulder joint is the most mobile joint in the human body. It's tasked with a variety of challenges in daily living that require both a large range of motion and high levels of stability. In sports like baseball, volleyball, and swimming, high degrees of force are generated through the shoulder. Well-developed and balanced musculature is needed to keep a healthy and fully functional shoulder for competition. The shoulder joint is highly predisposed to injury due to the demands placed on it in everyday life, throwing and overhead actions in sports, and performance training.
Read MoreBack in October 2012, the New York Times published a controversial article that just about blew up the blogosphere. It was called, “Why Women Can’t Do Pull-Ups.” But we're going to prove them wrong!
Read MoreWith enough training time under your belt, the gains seem to get harder and harder to come by. Eventually you'll have to implement more variation into your training to continue driving adaptation. If you haven't hit a PR on the squat in a while, a few specific squat variations can help you continue to improve without altering your training too much or interfering with your current program. The variations below are easily implemented and can be just what you need to mix up your training stimuli.
Read MoreSquats—or, if you’re Coach Jace, “skwatz”—are arguably the most fundamental movement in your training repertoire. When done correctly, the back squat recruits every muscle of the posterior chain, takes your hips and knees through their full range of motion (ROM), and can be performed by anyone who can sit down in a chair. So whether you are a quarterback or a cross-country skier or Beyoncé or my mother (who recently did her very first set of back squats!), you will benefit from squatting heavy and often. It’s science. Got squats on your docket today? Try these three easy tips to squat deeper, heavier, and with more confidence—right now!
Read MoreIn this "Tools of the Trade" series, we highlight important training tools, methods, and protocols to help improve performance and health. This post focuses on the quintesential staple of relative strength, upper-back development, and proper shoulder function: Pull-Ups.
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