Check out this review of our Next Level ATHlete training program from Nicole Vogt, Team USA Women's Winter Olympics Bobsled Athlete. Learn how Nicole preps for bobsled season, hear tips on how to build confidence in your sport and her advice for anyone starting their performance journey.
Good luck Nicole! It's been an honor to train you!
Follow Nicole's journey on Instagram - @vogt4nic
The people. The encouragement and friendly competition between the trainers and other athletes pushed me far beyond what I would have believed I was capable of. They brought out the best in me and gave me that sense of being part of a team while I'm away from my bobsled teammates.
Talk about your experience with training at ATH.
Finding a gym that trains Olympic and professional caliber athletes and doesn't require an NFL salary is not an easy task. The United States is one of the few countries that doesn't provide any government funding to its athletes or National Governing Bodies. Most Olympic hopefuls are working full or part-time jobs while training for their sport. I work full-time as an engineer during the off-season. My job, along with sponsors, helps support me so I can compete and represent Team USA each bobsled season. ATH has allowed me to train at a very high level for a reasonable price and worked around my job schedule. I can't say enough about the people and community. Brock, the trainers & several of the athletes at ATH this summer made my time at the gym enjoyable (no matter how hard the workout was).
How has ATH helped you with your Performance goals? Did you feel like your training with ATH helped adequately prepare you for the physical aspects of your Bobsleigh season?
Physical testing for bobsled has gone really well this off-season. I set a few personal bests in my combine and at push championships. The Olympic team isn't named until January 2022, so the next few months of competitions are crucial to qualify for Beijing. I'm the strongest I've ever been and am excited to see all the hard work from this summer come together on ice this winter.
What has changed in your life from training with us?
I recently heard the quote, "Confidence is like a muscle. You have to practice and exercise it for it to grow." Brock and Ty have been great about pushing me to accomplish more than I thought possible in the weight room and on the track. As your skills and competency increase with each training session and you hit new personal bests, you can't help me grow in confidence.
What advice would you give a fellow athlete starting their performance journey?
Everybody has to start somewhere. Give yourself the space and grace to fail and don't give up when things get hard (because they will get hard at some point). Find a coach you trust and be patient with yourself as you learn. I started playing sports in elementary and middle school, and I was recruited to Kansas State to be on the women's rowing team even though I'd never rowed before. The only regatta I'd ever seen was watching the Olympics on TV, but I jumped in with both feet and learned a brand new sport at a Division 1 level. Talk about intimidating with plenty of humbling failures! That gave me the confidence to try out for the bobsled team and learn another new sport when my collegiate career was over. This will be my 11th year on the bobsled team, and I'm still learning and improving each season.
What were you most excited about after seeing your Evaluation results?
Looking forward to seeing how all this hard work transfers over to pushing a 400 lb bobsled down an icy hill. Being fast and explosive at the start is crucial to winning races. Bobsled is a very unique sport. We only have ice on the track from mid-October to late-March. Experts say it takes 10,000 hours to master something. Each bobsled run takes roughly 60 seconds. We hope to get 10-15 runs a week throughout the winter. All that adds up to about 2 hours of actual seat time driving a bobsled each season. We study the ice, track notes, and POV videos, but it's tough to master a sport you get so little time to actually do. So we depend on all the dry-land training during the summer months when there's no ice to put ourselves in the best position possible when it comes to race day. I'm looking forward to seeing how much my push times improve this season.
Is there anything else that ATH can do to help you reach your goals?
I will continue working with the ATH trainers throughout my bobsled season as I travel and compete around the world. I joined the bobsled team in 2011, and this will be my 3rd Olympic cycle. I was learning to drive a bobsled in 2014, and fell short of making the 2018 Olympic squad. Olympic seasons are full of extra pressure and emotion that comes with trying to represent Team USA on the world's biggest stage. I'm happy to have such a great team supporting me from home as I work toward making the 2022 Beijing Olympic team.
Want to train like an Olympic athlete? Let ATH be your hype squad! Our Next Level ATHlete program provides personalized training from the best performance coaches in the business. Contact us today to get started.