Volleyball Workout – Strength Training Basics

This volleyball workout section gives you some of the most common volleyball conditioning drills and introduces you to the basics of volleyball conditioning.

CORE, LEGS AND UPPER BODY IN VOLLEYBALL CONDITIONING

CORE STRENGTH IMPORTANT

The volleyball player, like any other athlete needs strong core muscles

• lower back
• abdominals
• hips
• glutes etc

• Strong core enables the player to have a better control over her body.
• Strong core adds power to spike and jumpserve
• Strong core is needed to perform strength exercises like squat, deadlifts, cleans and jerks safely.

CORE ON THE JUMP

One volleyball training example in which a volleyball player needs a strong core is the jump (to be specific hip extension, which pushes the athlete up).

• When a player places her foot to the ground (the plant) before taking off, her stomach and chest are should be leaning towards thighs, so she is able to use strong core muscles to generate a higher jump.
• When player lands to “the plant”, she should start a powerful ”lift up” with lower back and hip extension (in other words pushing her hips forward) to assist the powerful leg push.

Volleyball Conditioning to Train Core Strength

• Abdominal crunches, v-ups
• Back Extensions
• Romanian Deadlift, straight leg deadlift
• Good Morning
• Medicine Ball Throws

VOLLEYBALL WORKOUT- POWERFUL LEGS

The volleyball player needs powerful and explosive legs for jumping and moving quick on the court.

Volleyball Conditioning to Train Legs

• Squats
• Leg Press
• Romanian Deadlift
• Hanging Clean
• Power Clean
• Snatch
• Step ups
• Hurdle jumps, drop jumps, box jumps

VOLLEYBALL WORKOUT - UPPER BODY STRENGTH

• on powerful arms swing when spiking the ball
• and also when lifting the player up during the take off.

Volleyball Conditioning to Train Upper Body Strength

• Pull Over
• French Press
• Push Press
• Bench Press
• Push ups, explosive push ups
• Pull ups, horizontal pulls
• Medicine Ball Throws

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PERIODIZATION

An athlete needs to divide the volleyball strength training program into the few shorter periods:

1. to work on different qualities needed in the specific sport and
2. to give the muscles different stimulus every once in a while

CHANGING THE STIMULUS

If the same strength type (for example explosive power) or the same exercises (for example squat) are repeated, muscle gets used to the same exercises and stops developing. When stimulus is changed, muscle gets upset and reacts to it by getting stronger or faster etc.

One certain period should last between 4-8 weeks, depending on each individual and the purpose of a training period. Inside the period athletes often have easier training weeks, which help to recover for the upcoming harder training week.

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