February 04, 2015

Hot Off the Press! Should You Stretch Before Training?

February 04, 2015/ Volt HQ/ Christye Estes

It’s been a long-held belief that static stretching (holding a stretch for longer than 30 seconds per muscle) should be done prior to training to reduce injury risk and promote greater range of motion for activity. While these tenets hold true, opponents of static stretching argue that it impedes and decreases athletic performance, and should be considered an outdated method of warming up. This debate tends to get pretty heated, pretty fast, and has resulted in many an ugly comment war in forums across the Net. But a study published in the December 2014 issues of Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research might just be the tipping point in this battle.

February 02, 2015

Active Recovery 101

February 02, 2015/ Volt HQ/ Jace Derwin

Recovery is the unsung hero of performance development. Ask any NFL player on a bye week: maximizing your recovery times so that you can get back in the weight room or out on the field is a huge advantage. Managing when to rest, when to take it easy, and when to get back out there and go 100% is a product of how well you manage your post- and pre-training maintenance.

January 29, 2015

Hamstring Talk with Christye: Part 2

January 29, 2015/ Volt HQ/ Christye Estes

While our quads get a lot of love in the gym, our hammies are often neglected—partially because we sit so much, under-train our posterior chain, and just plain forget about them because they're on the back of our bodies. In the conclusion to this two-part series, Coach Christye explains the RIGHT way to train and maintain your hamstrings—and how to avoid catastrophic hamstring injury during competition.

January 22, 2015

The Safest Way to Teach the Deadlift

January 22, 2015/ Volt HQ/ Jace Derwin

If you plan on asking other people to pick things up for you for the rest of your life, feel free to skip learning how to deadlift. On the other hand, if you plan on being a strong, capable, powerful athlete, the deadlift is an essential tool in your movement toolkit. Even for non-athletes, the deadlift is worth learning in order to develop the mechanics to interact with objects in your environment—furniture, luggage, etc.—in a safe and efficient way. To learn the safest way to progress athletes into the deadlift, read on.

January 19, 2015

3 Easy Tips for Improving Grip Strength

January 19, 2015/ Volt HQ/ Jace Derwin

The benefits of having a strong grip go beyond just making a good impression when shaking hands or opening jars of tomato sauce. There are serious performance benefits from developing some good, old-fashioned “old-man” grip strength. Sadly, a direct focus on increasing grip strength is often neglected in strength training programs—and more grip strength can translate to better sport performance. Increasing grip strength for sports like baseball, lacrosse, and hockey helps improve the force transfer from the arms through the bat or stick. And contact/combat sport athletes can benefit from having hands like vices, which make tackles and take-downs much harder to escape. Adding focused grip work into your program doesn’t take much time or planning, and can keep your workouts fun by challenging new areas of improvement.

January 14, 2015

Hamstring Talk with Christye: Part 1

January 14, 2015/ Volt HQ/ Christye Estes

How many athletes have you seen tear a quad muscle during competition? I'm guessing it's probably not as many as you've seen injure a hamstring. But why is that? Why are the hamstrings more injury-prone than their opposing muscle group, the quadriceps? Coach Christye unpacks the reasons why your hamstrings are more susceptible to injury in Part 1 of this two-part series, and explains why our forward-facing culture needs to pay more attention to the posterior chain.

January 08, 2015

Tools of The Trade: Weight Belts

January 08, 2015/ Volt HQ/ Jace Derwin

A weight belt is not there to protect you. It's not a back support and it won't keep you from damaging your spine if you're lifting with bad mechanics. The only thing that keeps you safe in the weight room is lifting properly. While weight belts definitely provide a great service in the world of weightlifting and powerlifting, what about athletes weight-training specifically for their sport? Should all athletes use weight belts while lifting—or can a weight belt actually cause more harm than good?

December 24, 2014

Your Guide to X-MASS

December 24, 2014/ Volt HQ/ Jace Derwin

If you’re still working last minute to find that one perfect gift for the Volt Athlete in your life, rest assured it's not too late. We have a few gift ideas that every athlete will love!

December 18, 2014

An Early Holiday Gift for the Volt Family

December 18, 2014/ Dan Giuliani

At Volt HQ, we love the holiday season. It's a great time to reflect on the year, spend time with family, and exchange gifts with those around you. So in the holiday spirit, we wanted to give our Volt Family an early gift for this holiday season: a revamped Volt platform!

December 16, 2014

Volt Athletics Appoints Strength Coach Legend Boyd Epley as the Chair of the Inaugural Volt Athletics Advisory Board

December 16, 2014/ Doug Buser

Seattle, WA – Tuesday, December 16, 2014: Volt Athletics Inc., the global leader in technology solutions for sport performance training, announced today that Boyd Epley, Founder of the National Strength and Conditioning Association, has been appointed the Chair of the Volt Athletics Advisory Board.

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