Velocity Based Training in Professional Baseball

CC 2023

In this lecture from the NSCA's 2014 Coaches Conference, Dr. Bryan Mann addresses velocity-based training (VBT) in sports. Dr. Mann defines VBT as "the use of various devices that measure displacement and time" as he describes each device and its ability.

Building athletes who are strong, healthy, and resilient requires more than sets and reps, starting with a shift in mindset. Christi Edson, Head of Performance for the Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), shares how she integrates strength and conditioning with sport science to sustain athlete health and performance. She reflects on the field’s evolution from the well-known “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” program to a training culture emphasizing resilience, active recovery, and durability. Drawing from her experience coaching high school athletes to NWSL professionals, Edson highlights the adaptability and creativity coaches need. Those qualities help her to develop athletes who can thrive through a demanding 11-month season. She details how tools like GPS, force plates, and velocity-based training sharpen communication and reshape expectations in the gym. Her story points coaches toward the future of athlete development: collaboration, precise load management, and long-term health as the foundation of strength. Connect with Christi on Instagram: @christiedson and LinkedIn: @christiana-edson | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Read the article, “A Creative Mind in the Professional Development of a Strength and Conditioning Coach,” from NSCA Coach, 11(1), February 2024 — referenced in this episode’s return-to-play discussion. NSCA Members enjoy full publication access. Interested in bridging coaching and sport science? The Certified Performance and Sport Scientist (CPSS) credential can help you expand your qualifications, open new career paths, and strengthen cross-department collaboration.

This article explores the concept of how lifestyle behaviors encouraged at the high school-level could affect fitness during adulthood, with a focus on both sport and strength and conditioning participation.

A Performance-Based Approach to Pre- and Post-Natal Training

In this lecture from the NSCA's 2016 Coaches Conference, Caitlin Quinn discusses how to implement simple techniques for creating a disciplined (yet enjoyable) team lifting environment. Quinn talks about how to hold athletes to a high standard of knowledge and movement accountability, how to teach simple physiology to achieve desirable technique, how to instill a level of ownership within each athlete, and how to place a large emphasis on an athlete's mental engagement throughout a lifting session.

Coaches can use drills to improve quickness and agility. The training session can improve the specific areas needed to increase performance results by setting up appropriate intensity levels, duration of drills, recovery periods, and volume of drills.

Flexibility training is important because of the role that flexibility plays in improving movement performance and reducing the opportunity for injury. Learn more about the role of flexibility training in this exclusive excerpt from the book NSCA's Essentials of Personal Training, Second Edition, published by Human Kinetics.

This infographic explains how to build a load-velocity profile for velocity-based training (VBT), and is the second of a three part series explaining the theory behind and application of VBT.