On Reflection: Volt Athletics Pairs Fitness Coaching with Cloud Technology

In this Fitbit-crazy universe, its one thing to know how many steps we took today. Its another thing entirely to know what to do with that information.

We can close that loop, says Dan Giuliani. Wearable technology is telling us what we did but not necessarily telling us what to do.

Giuliani and his best friend from high school, Trevor Watkins, began changing that dynamic in 2009, when they formulated the idea for what would ultimately become Volt Athletics, a Seattle company whose mission is to take the guesswork out of athletic training. Volt works mainly with coaches at high schools and small colleges, tailoring online fitness programs for athletes in a variety of sports. But it also provides individual accounts for $25 a month at voltathletics.com.

Giuliani has a masters in sport administration and leadership and is an adjunct professor of sport performance at the University of Washington. Watkins, whose degree is in computer science and business, has been in the information technology field for eight years, including five at Accenture.
This combo plate of athletics and technology is the foundation of Volt, Giuliani explains.

Were half in the tech world, with engineers experienced in aerospace and software tech who keep us pushing forward, he says, but we also have this side of the company deep in the athletics world.

Officially launched in 2013, Volt Athletics is still small it has 11 employees in its Fremont office but it maintains a large corps of advisers and recently secured its first round of outsider investment: $900,000.

Volt now provides training regimens for 800 teams representing some 25,000 athletes. It recently became the official strength and conditioning provider of USA Football and will deliver a strength and fitness program via a cloud-based platform to high school teams across the United States.

With no real competitor in the market, Volt Athletics is poised for growth. The fitness tech industry is blowing up in a good way, says Giuliani. What we love about Volt is that were occupying a specific area thats mostly untapped.