Strength for the Court: Greg Herceg & Miles Partain Break Down Volleyball Performance
transcript
show notes
VBSC Podcast — Joint Episode with Greg Herceg & Miles Partain
In this special joint episode, volleyball strength coach Greg Herceg sits down with professional beach volleyball player and Olympian Miles Partain for a wide-ranging conversation about training, performance, and what it actually takes to maximize your game on and off the court.
About the Guests:
Greg Herceg (@the.volleyball.strength.coach) is a former D1 All-Conference Opposite at Ball State University with a master's degree in sports performance. He's trained over 1,000 volleyball players — from high school to the pro level — and runs an online strength and conditioning business focused on volleyball-specific training for adult players.
Miles Partain (@milespartain) is a former D1 All-American Setter at UCLA and a professional beach volleyball player who competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He's based in Los Angeles and works as a high-performance coordinator, helping junior and adult athletes maximize their potential through strength, skill, and mobility development.
What We Cover:
- Muscular vs. elastic jumpers — understanding the two types of force production and why it matters for volleyball training
- The fascia training debate — is it overhyped, or are traditional strength coaches just protecting their brand?
- Sand vs. hard surface jumping — how beach volleyball changes your elastic qualities over time and what to do about it
- Standing jump vs. approach jump — why the gap between the two reveals your jumper type (Miles shares his shocking 14" standing / 39" approach split from UCLA)
- Jump counts and training load — drawing parallels to baseball pitch counts and how to think about weekly jump volume
- The Vert wearable — how Greg uses it with clients to track jumps and measure max effort height
- The "pick two" principle — you can have health, skill improvement, OR vertical jump improvement — but not all three at once
- Total recoverable volume — the framework for understanding why you can't train everything at max intensity all the time
- Off-season vs. in-season programming — triphasic training blocks, GPP phases, French contrast training, and how to peak for playoffs
- Conjugate vs. triphasic periodization — which approach works best for athletes who are always "in season"
- Full depth vs. partial squats — when to go deep and when sport-specific range of motion is what you actually need
- Upper body training for volleyball — the role (or lack thereof) of arm isolation work, and why reducing it has Miles jumping the highest he has in years
- Eliminating weak links — why ankles, calves, and wrists matter more than most athletes realize
Connect & Resources:
- Greg Herceg: Instagram/YouTube — @thevolleyballstrengthcoach | TikTok — @vbstrengthcoach
- Miles Partain: Instagram/TikTok — @milespartain | YouTube — @milesjpartain
Resources & Links:
- VBSC Coaching Application (Link to apply for personalized volleyball coaching)
Connect with Coaches:
