The type of fitness needed to develop your volleyball game includes vertical jump power, stamina, speed as well as explosive strength. A range of different exercises and training is needed to excel at these skills.
Power training for volleyball
Strength training is essential to your volleyball game. Exercising to establish a powerful vertical jump to be able to spike, set, block and dive quickly and with accuracy over and over during a game involves increasing your explosive strength.
Training to increase your explosive power could include a program of lifting weights. It’s important to gradually build up your weights over a period of weeks to avoid injury.
Plyometrics workouts
Plyometrics workouts involve specific high intensity exercises to build up explosive strength and speed.
These exercises are ideal for the speed and power needed in volleyball’s fast paced game. They teach your muscles how to react fast and with force. Some examples of a plyometrics exercises are:
For legs
- Drop Jumping – dropping of a step, landing on the floor and immediately jumping up onto another step or box
- Bounding – over sized strides are used in a running action
- Standing based jumps – jumping on the spot with a leg tuck or splits when jumping
For arms
- Chest pass – quickly passing a medicine ball between two players, beginning the throw pushing off from the chest and drawing the ball into the chest when catching.
- Press up hand clap – press up with a hand clap at arm extended position
A good warm up is essential before carrying out plyometrics exercises.
Volleyball player cardio conditioning
Increasing cardio stamina with high intensity interval training (HIIT) enables you to stay on top the whole game. HIIT cardio training 3 or 4 days per week will increase lung capacity and staying power. One of the great benefits of HIIT is that the period of exercise is usually short but the fitness pay off is substantial.
HIIT is a group of exercises performed at high intensity for a short period with a rest in between exercise of less than a minute. An example of a HIIT workout is:
- 30 seconds of jumping jacks – 10 second break
- 30 second wall sit – 10 second break
- 30 seconds of push ups – 10 second break
- 30 seconds of ab crunches – 10 second break
- 30 seconds of step ups – 10 second break
- 30 seconds of squats – 10 second break
- 30 seconds of triceps dips- 10 second break
- 30 second plank – 10 second break
- 30 seconds of high knees running on the spot – 10 second break
- 30 seconds of lunges – 10 second break
- 30 seconds of rotational push ups – 10 second break
- 30 second right side plank – 10 second break
- 30 second left side plank – 10 second break
The pay off for all this hard work is your performance on the volleyball court will become more responsive and increased over all fitness means you’ll still have energy and power to give it all in the last minutes.
