Volleyball Coaching Info

Strength Training Part I

Some of the most often heard comments from college coaches about incoming freshmen concern their lack of strength. High school is the optimal time to develop good weight lifting habits in your players. Part I of Strength Training will introduce you to weight lifting concepts and Part II will give you direct application for your athletes.

Benefits:

• Helps prevent injuries by strengthening muscles, tendons and ligaments around often used joints.
• Provides strength for explosive movements (jumping, spiking, etc.) as well as good body control (passing, balance, etc.)

Some girls believe lifting will “bulk” them up, but 90% of the females do not produce enough testosterone to build large bulky muscles. Lifting will simply create stronger denser muscles in the majority of girls.

Keys in weight lifting:

• Establish lifting partners for safety spotting, encouragement and accountability.
• In order to prevent injury, execute each exercise with proper technique and use the first set of each exercise as a warm up.
• In order to maximize each exercise, the second & third set should be performed until 10 reps are completed or until the athlete is exhausted.
• Emphasize moving slowly through each repetition, pausing at the peak of the lift, and slowly moving the weight back to the starting position.
• Remember to breathe during the exercise, exhaling through the extension or contraction.
• Pain is not gain. If your athlete is in pain while lifting, they could have a serious injury and should consult a physician.

Important muscle groups and their uses:

• Shoulders: powerful arm swing, strong blocking and steady passing platform.
• Triceps: aid in arm swing, blocking and good platform.
• Legs: powerful jump for spiking and blocking, also aid in keeping players from falling when digging a low ball.
• Core muscles: contribute to lifting the body while jumping, aid in balance and add power to spiking motion.
• Biceps: strong biceps are not essential for most volleyball movements but help to maintain a good overall balance of strength in the arms.

A complete body workout utilizes exercises for each muscle group and should be sufficient for developing an all around strong body. Performing 3 sets of 10 repetitions for each exercise gives the body enough work to develop proper strength for playing competitive volleyball. The first set should be used as a warm up set using approximately 50% of the athlete’s maximum lift for that exercise. During the next 2 sets, the athlete should give maximum effort for each rep and perform 8 - 10 repetitions with 75 - 80% of their max. Depending on what exercises you decide to use, you will need to teach all your players to determine their maximum lift for each exercise.