Volleyball Weight Training - How to Gain Strength for Volleyball?

Volleyball weight training may not be familiar to volleyball players, even though most athletes go to gym regularly.

Getting the high jumps and hard hits needed to make winning plays is a matter of training. While many training regimens are suggested to meet this challenge, one of the most efficient methods is found in basic weight training.

Volleyball Weight Training - Classic Exercises

The classic moves are the best and most important: squats, dead lifts, snatches, clean and jerk and bench press are exercises not to be skipped in the weight room by any serious volleyball player.

Volleyball Weight Training All Year Around

But as any good, knowledgeable coach will tell you; it’s not the exercises or the workout that get you in shape, but the long-term program that deliver the ultimate performance. Conditioning should be an important part of volleyball player's training all year around.

It Really Matters What You Do in the Weight Room

Anyone who believes that working out in a weight room everyday will be enough is off course. It really matters how athlete works out in the weight room! 

Serious volleyball players plan their weight training very carefully to match the needs of the sport. Periodization plays very important role in the planning process.

Volleyball Weight Training – Creating Explosiveness through Periodization

The ideal program for the volleyball player's weight training creates the maximum explosiveness at the end of the program.  The classic linear periodization scheme is optimal for this.

What is Periodization?

For those of you unfamiliar with linear periodization, it’s very simple: It refers to a weight training macrocycle (program lasting a few months) that gradually decreases the number of repetitions per set while increasing the intensity of each set.

Changing Reps and Sets Important!

So where the beginning of a linear periodization cycle might have you doing sets of 15 repetitions, the end of that cycle would likely have you completing 5 repetitions per set or less. This means you are doing a lot more weight per set at the end of the cycle and taking much longer rests.

Tempo and Rest Periods

Exercise tempo and rest period are important to talk about as well. If you try to shorten your rest time, it limits the muscle recovery in between sets and will diminish your overall performance per set. Making them too long, however, can limit your muscle exhaust, which is particularly beneficial during a hypertrophy phase. Try to keep the rests at a disciplined consistency.

Layout for Volleyball Weight Training Program

So here’s a basic layout of what your sets, reps, rest, intensity and tempo should look like three months before the season starts for volleyball:

                         Month One             Month Two          Month Three
                        (Hypertrophy)          (Strength)             (Power)

Reps Per Set            10-15                  5-10                     1-5
No. of Sets               3-5                     3-5                      1-6
Rest                       60 sec.                 90 sec.              120+ sec
Intensity                  Low                    Medium                  High
Tempo                   Medium                   Fast                  Explosive

Use Olympic Lifts to Build Explosiveness

One suggestion is working your way into Olympic lifts such as the snatch and the clean and jerk gradually throughout this three-month period.

Before even attempting a working snatch as opposed to practicing with an empty barbell, you should be able to squat double your body weight for a one-repetition max. This may take six months to a year of weight training, but if you don’t have the core, leg, and lower back strength, these exercises will be dangerous during the power phase as you should be performing them with about 80-90% of your one-repetition maximum. Approach with caution.

It is OK for the beginner to perform Olympic lifts with an empty barbell or stick by learning the techniques. Safety first!

Volleyball Player's Weight Training during the Season

When you hit peak power and explosiveness at the end of your macrocycle and the start of the volleyball season, I suggest moving to an undulating cycle that emphasizes a different part of this phase each week.

So, one week you’re training hypertrophy, the next you’re training strength and finally back to power. This will help prevent any loss of muscle strength (synergist muscle hypertrophy) gained throughout the past three months and keep you at peak performance for a longer period of time.

Volleyball Quote to Remember

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