Specific Strength and Power Training for Volleyball

Volleyball is a unique sport consisting of quick, powerful movements and lightning fast reflexes. The sport involves incredible timing by each athlete for individual skills and for team related play making synchronicity. Strength training and power training for a sport of this nature introduces a fair number of variables directed at the requirements that must be met for the different playing positions on the court. Certainly, one cannot expect a middle blocker who is primarily used for the offensive attack and net defense (blocking) to be trained in the same fashion as the libero, a player who is primarily on the court for back court defense. Different training parameters must be considered and then analyzed to develop a strength training and power training program that can be successfully applied to each volleyball playing position. Yet, there are athletes that are skilled enough to play in both the front court and back court and they must be thought of as all around players which requires them to be trained as offensive attackers and defensive blockers in addition to being trained as passers and defensive specialists.

During the off-season, strength training is the primary focus. Training for muscle hypertrophy is not usually a primary concern for volleyball players. Although, there are some players with excellent skills that are extremely thin and muscle hypertrophy needs to be the main focus before strength training can seriously be administered. Additional muscle mass is necessary for such players to handle the rigors of high level volleyball. It is essential that all players with a desire to play higher level high school, club, and especially collegiate volleyball develop strength levels that will make them superior athletes and protect them from stress injuries.

As with all power sports, a strong strength base must exist before an improvement in power can be expected. It is true that volleyball athletes must have powerful arms to be successful as attackers and servers, but it is core, hip, and leg strength which requires the greatest amount of attention. Specificity in a lower body strength program for player positions is not that necessary seeing that all players need strong core, hips, and legs to either jump well, move in a lateral direction efficiently, squat low, or quickly dive outward. An effective program must be supplied with the following key strength building exercises:

Hip and Leg Strength - Both 2 legged and 1 legged squat variations
- Deadlift variations
- Lunges (forward, backward, side)

Core Strength - front planks, side planks, rotating planks
- Weighted walks
- Sit-ups and leg raises

In terms of strength training, the specificity must lie in the training of the shoulder complex. Attackers in volleyball are easily subject to swinging and attacking over 50 times in a match and many of these attacks are with top arm speed. As a result, it is necessary to provide excellent strengthening and stability exercises for the shoulder. All heads of the deltoids must be worked in addition to the pectorals and upper back muscles. Therefore, a combination of the following exercises should be included in the program:

Deltoids - Overhead presses, front raises, lateral raises
Pectorals - Bench press, inclined bench press, close grip bench press
Upper back - Upward rows, pull-up and chin-up variations, bent-over rows

Possibly, most important of all, should be the inclusion of shoulder stability and flexibility movements like halos and Turkish get ups.

The development of power needs to be addressed once an adequate strength foundation is in place. Power must be developed to supply the explosive component for volleyball and the primary attackers need the largest dose of power training. Most vertical power occurs off of two legs in volleyball with the exception of the slide approach. One legged and two legged plyometrics should be introduced at this time. Even though most jumping occurs off of two legs, one legged jumps insure that the athlete develops a balanced power output and also aids in one legged take offs. Plyometric progression from basic to advanced must be considered. Simple in place jumps can initiate the program and must evolve into multiple jumps, box jumps, bounding, and finally depth jumps. If a program is lucky enough to possess a Vertimax jump training apparatus, this would be a great time to utilize this dynamic piece of equipment. The Vertimax is outstanding for low resistance high velocity training.

Defensive specialists may undergo similar training with less emphasis on power jumping and a greater emphasis on reaction time and flexibility. Middle blockers must train for quick and power jumping along with powerful lateral movement. Later push offs and hip flexibility are important components to the proper training of this position. Although differences in training are required for various positions, the most important factors for all athletes are the development of strength and flexibility. These two training components are necessary for effective power and skill training and above all else reduce the likelihood of developing chronic injuries.