Velocity Sports Performance Official Website

Do you have knee pain? Has it lasted more than a few weeks? The safest course of action is to see your medical doctor and Physical Therapist for a correct diagnosis of the problem.  Correctly identifying the cause of knee pain will decrease down time away from your sport or activity.   There are many contributing factors to knee pain. Back, hip and the sciatic nerve can contribute to knee pain. Other common factors are muscle strength imbalances and over use from participating in sports. In any situation it is always best to prevent injuries.

1. Mental training can't replace physical training and talent. We haven't seen any Olympic Athlete who succeeded without doing the physical and technical work, even though we have worked with some of the most mentally talented athletes in the world. The reality is that even an exceptionally talented athlete who has not prepared well physically loses confidence and is vulnerable in competition. The best and easiest confidence is that which comes from the knowledge that you are as prepared, or more prepared, than your competitors, and that you are physically capable of a winning performance.

As I watch my children play sports I often end up laughing at some of the other parents and coaches.  They get way to excited over outcomes in the game; win or lose, one on one battles, was the call by the ref correct, how hard some hit, etc…   To watch these parents you would think this was the Olympics or the Stanley Cup.  It’s not.  I’ve coached athletes at high levels here in the US and abroad, so the perspective is different.

Day after Thanksgiving - Christmas Break    Learn the techniques used by Pro & Olympic athletes to increase your speed & agility.  Improve your performance in any sport by increasing your: First Step Quickness Top End Speed Explosive Power Flexibility Coordination Injury Prevention  

Start training now and get the edge over your competition for next year.  Come try a free session of Velocity Sports Performance Training.  We'll take you to the next level!

Don't wait to set a New Year resolution to get in shape and lose weight..... START NOW with Velocity Adult Fitness. 

Last month’s article covered how much to eat, by calculating basal metabolism rate (BMR) and adjusting caloric intake based on activity level. Understanding how much to eat is the first step to healthy nutrition, but it is only one part of developing healthy eating habits. This article will introduce the three keys to nutritional success: quality fuels, proper timing, and maintaining consistency.

Non-contact knee injuries are a common and potentially devastating injury in soccer players, and even more common in females.  Research and experience have shown that we can use simple exercises to help prevent them. To better understand how to prevent these injuries, first understand why they happen.

Sometimes, though, you are “on-the-go” and are in a bind about where to get high quality fast food. This month’s article will address some simple tips to help you when you are out and about and unable to prepare a home cooked meal.

Eating fat does not make you fat. Fat is a necessary macronutrient that helps keeps you satisfied between meals and helps balance hormones. Some types of fat help reduce inflammation and contribute to keeping the skin youthful. Eliminating or dramatically reducing intake of fat can lead to unnecessary hunger pains, unpredictable mood swings, premature aging and unhealthily looking skin. You need fat, but you need the right kind of fat in the right amounts.

The Question   What is sports performance coaching? Art or Science? It's both, and that's the problem. Some coaches are scientists. They test and measure and make calculations. They understand the mechanics and mechanisms of human movement. They can design the optimal program based on their knowledge. Other coaches are artists. They inspire and challenge and connect. They understand how to communicate with the athlete and tap into the athlete’s motivations and personality....   Read More...

Coaches occupy multiple roles in children’s lives as sport participants. Coaches must be excellent instructors so that youth learn and improve skills, increase knowledge of strategies and tactics, and achieve their goals. Coaches can also inspire children to maintain motivation for participating in sport and, in so doing, allow them opportunities to accrue such benefits as positive self-esteem, enjoyable experiences, long-lasting friendships, and a positive attitude toward the value of lifetime physical activity....

Once a month at Velocity we have a fitness week. The focus during fitness week is for the athletes to work hard but not have to spend as much time on the technical aspects of performance training. Our coaches’ want the athletes to get as much as possible out of every session, but it is nice for athletes of all levels to have the opportunity to think less and just push themselves and compete with each other.     During fitness week when a coach takes the athletes into the weight room the goal is to make them work but still keep them safe. Therefore a coach may decide to pick a series of exercises that the athletes know how to do very well and just ask them to do a lot of repetitions with a lighter load. This is where a barbell complex can come in handy. A coach can put together a series of 3-5 exercises that they will perform in succession without putting the bar down. The exercises should not be too complicated or technical because when the athlete becomes fatigued it is easy for them to get hurt doing something incorrectly. In the video you will see a Velocity Coach performing a barbell complex. The exercises used are good mornings, behind the neck press, back squat, and push press. In a training seesesion they will do a specific amount of repetitions for each exercise and will try to finish as many sets as possible (with proper technique) within 20 minutes.     Click here to watch video...

As summer approaches and the temperature rises, hydration becomes a point of interest for all those associated with athletes. Especially in the heat of Utah , athletes should take special precaution during the hot summer months to ensure that dehydration doesn't keep anyone from performing at their best. Dehydration can compromise performance and impair mental performance.

Coaches are often frustrated and puzzled. They look back over their careers and realize that some of their most talented athletes—athletes who seemed to have everything-- never achieved success. Why? The answer is that these athletes didn’t have everything. They didn’t have the right mindset.   Read More....

The deadlift is a total body exercise used primarily to strengthen the lower body, but more specifically the posterior chain. There are a lot of debates as to whether the sumo (wide stance) or conventional (close stance) style of deadlift is better for athletes.   Read More... 

Over 16 years of working in the field of sports performance as a coach, I have often heard from players, parents and coaches; “Soccer players need speed, not strength.”  This is a conclusion that comes from watching the game where speed is such a crucial components to success, and comparing it to a sport like football or wrestling. It comes from the idea that “strength” means bulky bodybuilders.  Here’s the trick though, your speed depends on certain strength qualities.   If you want an edge, let your opponents believe that’s true while you get stronger and faster...

At Velocity Sports Performance we pride ourselves in educating athletes on how to improve their overall athletic performance and reach their athletic potential. A lot of our program is based on the science of sports performance. We teach athletes about the biomechanics of running technique, the exercise physiology of conditioning, and also the psychology of thriving under pressure. All of these sciences are implemented in the drills, weightlifting and conditioning that is the foundation of our program. This article is going to address another scientific aspect of sports performance – nutrition.

More and more, coaches and parents are asking the question, "when is it safe for my child to start strength training?"  Several other questions such as "What exercises should young athletes perform?" and "How often should they engage in strength training?" quickly follow.  This article is designed to shed some light on these and other questions and dispel some common 'myths' surrounding youth strength training.

Professional Volleball player and Olympian, Logan Tom, shows exercises to help increase hitting power.

Women are more prone than their male counterparts to specific injuries — namely knee injuries like tears of the ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament. A prevention program at the University of Cincinnati is aiming to curb these injuries in women.

Justin Tuck, defensive end for the reigning super bowl champ New York giants, discusses his training at the Mahwah, NJ Velocity Sports Performance.

The Va. Beach native who caught that incredible, game winning Super Bowl pass, was in Va. Beach Monday to help his mentor, Cadillac Harris, teach kids on the football field at the Velocity Sports Performance camp. 

The production of power has been well documented in regards to the importance of athletic performance. Power is the mechanical quality that expresses the rate of doing work and is largely dependent on the ability to exert the highest possible force. An athlete’s optimal performance in competition relies on developing maximal strength during the off season training period, then being able to transfer that strength into power development as the competition season approaches.

Derrin Horton takes an in-depth look a the intense preparation NFL prospects go through to prepare for the combine.  These NFL prospects prepare in Velocity Sports Performance centers throughout the country with over 70 prospects training for the 2008 combine. 

Velocity Sports Performance athlete and Michigan QB Chad Henne performs at the 2008 combine featuring an impressive effort in the passing drills. 

Velocity Sports Performance athlete and Michigan QB Chad Henne stops by to chat with Scott Hanson about his NFL combine experience.