least time under load instead of high...there’s a big difference between training the neurological...

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Copyright © 2008 Strength-and-Power-for-Volleyball.com. All Rights Reserved.

By Dennis Jackson, CSCS www.Strength-and-Power-for-Volleyball.com

■ 1. Train the core.

■ 2. Train the neurological system. ■ 3. Follow the correct program structure.

■ 4. Use a good warm up.

5. Train to increase stabilization strength. ■

6. Recover for your next training session. ■

7. Train for least time under load instead of high time under load session.

■

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http://www.strength-and-power-for-volleyball.com/volleyball-training-programs.html







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For more information, please contact:

Dennis Jackson, CSCS

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.strength-and-power-for-volleyball.com

Do You Have The Latest Cutting-Edge Volleyball Training Program?

▪ get strong and athletic without relying on great genetics and athletic talent... ▪ improve first step quickness and stability that is so important for getting in position to make plays in volleyball… ▪ develop hamstring and deceleration strength so many volleyball players LACK and is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL to help prevent ACL and other volleyball related knee injuries… ▪ work your neurological system WAKING UP SLEEPING MUSCLES and training your body to approach faster and jump higher… ▪ master CUTTING-EDGE techniques that work the scapula stabilizers... key muscles to developing healthy shoulders…

To learn more, visit… http://www.strength-and-power-for-volleyball.com/volleyball-training-programs.html

http://www.strength

http://www.strength




















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7 Keys…

1. Train the core. Why is core strength so important? Developing core strength (movement that involves muscles around the hips, lower back, torso, abs, and shoulder blades) is not only essential to improving power, but also preventing physical problems in the future. It’s not just the abs. The abdominals are an important part of the core, but core strength isn’t all about the abs. The abs work in coordination with the muscles of the hips and lower back. In movement, the abs aren’t ever used in isolation, so it’s not best to use them in isolation when training. The core is the common denominator. It’s best for the strength of the extremities (i.e. arms and legs) to not exceed the strength of the core. Almost all movement in volleyball requires energy to transfer through the core. Core strength is the foundation for speed, strength, and power which allows your body to operate at its maximum ability. A strong core helps you resist injury and you’ll be less likely to develop the types of hip and back problems that commonly plague athletes.












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Don’t overlook the core with regards to knee health. Getting and keeping core muscles strong could go a long way to preventing knee injuries, especially in female volleyball players. My volleyball strength program is loaded with core strength exercises that are essential for volleyball players. Since many volleyball players aren’t familiar with core training, it’s common for these athletes to instantly improve volleyball explosive power after just a few workouts.

2. Train the neurological system. Volleyball isn’t a sport where you need to be big and muscular. In volleyball, as a frontline player you want to jump high and hit hard. The vertical jump is often seen as the ultimate test of explosive power. A volleyball player that jumps really high demonstrates explosiveness. It’s important to understand that in order to improve explosive power, you need to focus on training the neurological system. There’s a big difference between training the neurological system and training the muscular system. Understanding the neurological system Basically, the brain processes incoming information from within the body and outside the body by way of the sensory nerves. The spinal cord is the main pathway for information connecting the brain and peripheral nervous system.


















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Basically, electrical impulses travel through the nerves and allow the brain to communicate with the rest of the body. The efficiency of the neurological system is key to being an explosive athlete. Many athletes and coaches only focus on training the muscular system. This is a mistake. Being explosive and powerful isn’t a function of muscular size, it’s a function of neurological capacity. For volleyball, always think of training movement, not muscles. You want to increase neurological capacity and not necessarily increase muscle size. Again, when training for power, you want to train with the least time under load. A higher time under load leads to bigger muscles, and generally, this kind of training will hinder your neurological efficiency. Certain exercises train the neurological system better. Certain movements innervate the most motor units and optimal firing order to get the desired result. Generally, multi-joint movements (deadlifts, squats, cleans) are better than single joint movements (leg lifts, leg curls, and leg push presses). Pull ups are better than lat pull downs. It may appear these two exercises train the same movements, but they don’t. Glute ham raises are better than leg curls and single leg hypers are generally better than glute ham raises. Single leg hypers are a great exercise because when done explosively, electrical impulses for the muscle contractions travel up your leg, which is very important.








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Tension release exercises (i.e. the medicine ball exercises in my volleyball strength program) are better than weight training exercises where the weight isn’t ever released (i.e. the barbell back squat).

3. Follow the correct program structure. It’s important your workouts be designed with good program structure. Many factors that go into a well design program include… ○ Exercise order ○ Exercise selection ○ Rest time between sets ○ Manipulating training with cycles or phases ○ Proper recovery for the next workout ○ Time of year (inseason, pre-season, or off-season) Workouts that are poorly designed could result in many problems. For example, when you’re in-season, you should cut back training volume. The in-season is when you want to perform at your peak, so this isn’t the time for a very intense workout that takes days to recover. Generally, for in-season, keep the workouts shorter but very intense. Movements should be performed at a high level like you would in a game (not in a fatigued state).












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Your ability to balance 1) training (working out) and 2) recovery (recovering from training) dictates the gains you make in strength and explosive power.

4. Use a good warm up. Warming up properly is critical. Your warm up prepares your body to move. A good warm up prepares you to become stronger, faster, and more athletic.

The correct way to warm up…

A. Dynamic exercises

B. Activation exercises

Dynamic and activation exercises wake up your nervous system and prepare your body for movement.

C. Exercise that gets you warm. Basically, you’ll benefit from anything that gets you to break a sweat.






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Having your team sit on the ground forming a circle and hold stretches for 30 seconds isn’t warming up! What you shouldn’t be doing… Generally, it’s not best to static stretch right before you train. Static stretching puts your nervous system to sleep. I like to do static stretches at the end of the workout when my body is still warm or before I go to bed because it relaxes the muscles. These are the times you want your muscles to relax, not right before you train. Performing static stretches right before your workout or practice doesn’t make sense (unless the muscles are tight and need to be lengthened). Static stretching can hinder the neurological response. Also, static stretching can stretch the muscle past resting length which will likely result in maximal muscle force decreasing. Basically, to have the best muscle contractions and jump high and be explosive, you want your muscles to be at the optimal resting length. Static stretching that takes muscles past optimal resting length will result in less force production and power output. With that said, static stretching is an important part of long-term injury prevention and recovery. I just wanted to make the point it doesn’t make sense to static stretch before you train. Static stretching doesn’t warm you up!



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5. Train to increase stabilization strength. The benefits of stabilization strength are very much like core strength. Think of stabilization as watering your garden. You can either water with a spray, where the pressure of the water diverges outward in many directions, or you can make the water shoot farther and more powerfully in one direction. Increased stabilization strength allows you to channel your force through a specific alignment. Stabilization strength allows you to move more powerfully and efficiently for a longer time. Think about when you take an approach to hit. The better you can stabilize, the more efficient your steps will be and the higher you will jump (water shooting powerfully out the hose in one direction).

6. Recover for your next training session. There are always two things you should be considering when it comes to training… 1. Overtraining and 2. Under-recovery Overtraining is excessive training with the lack of proper rest and recovery. It’s important to realize the same two athletes can do the same workout, but that doesn’t mean they will recover at the same rate. How quickly your recover has to do with many things such as… ○ Correct exercise warm up and cool down ○ Improving flexibility (both dynamic and static)













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○ Soft tissue therapy (massage) ○ Nutrient timing (consume the right foods at the right times) ○ Active rest on your days off ○ Hot/Cold Contrasts Obviously, it’s very important to get you ready for your next workout as soon as you can. The more frequent you are able to train, the sooner you’ll get the results you want. It takes discipline to balance training and recovery. Culture has confused and has been misleading athletes into thinking more is better. This no pain, no gain mentality has many athletes so overtrained they’d be better off cutting back on strength training and just perform body weight exercises focusing on learning correct movement patterns, practicing regeneration techniques. This is a big reason why I have so many exercises in my volleyball strength program that focus solely on using your own body weight as resistance. What’s important is learning how to move, not throwing a bunch of weight on the bar and taking your athletes through a grueling strength and conditioning session.










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7. Train for least time under load instead of high time under load. A common mistake athletes make is wasting time and effort by working out with too much time under load. This results in increased muscle size, not power. An example of a least time under load exercise is the maximum height jump. Generally, any time the resistance isn’t being released (for example, performing a barbell back squat), then it’s a high time under load exercise. This is the least effective way to improve power. For example, with the barbell back squat, at no time is the bar released from the back. With the barbell squat, you’re also progressively accelerating slower throughout each repetition (because the bar doesn’t come up off your shoulders). This is opposite to what you should be doing to improve power. You want to be progressively accelerating faster throughout the movement, not slower. This is another reason why tension release is so important. During volleyball, players make quick explosive movements (i.e. approaching to jump and hit, lateral movements then jump to block, lunges to the side making quick defensive plays, etc). When you jump or make an explosive play, you bare no weight (time under load). Like volleyball, in most team sports load is released regularly throughout the game. High time under load is a common way to increase strength and muscle mass. It’s not good for increasing the power necessary for mobile athletes.






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Never train to muscle failure. Training to muscle failure induces more time under load which likely will result in increased muscle size. Adding muscle may prevent you from jumping higher and becoming a faster volleyball player. Training to failure can also thwart the neurological facilitation process. Remember, your ability to be fast and jump high isn’t a function of muscle size, it’s a function of neurological capacity. Training to failure risks your neurological efficiency and you’re likely to decrease athletic explosive power. Training long and hard doesn’t equal training smart. The goal of your training should be to accelerate progressively faster during a given movement. You can’t do this if you’re tired. Many coaches make the mistake of working their kids really hard and continue to work them when they are tired. They think this how you should “condition” volleyball players. This is just flat out wrong. For volleyball, think of conditioning as “being able to more quickly recover for the next play you need to make”. For volleyball, the focus of conditioning should be on your ability to recover quickly from explosive efforts. As an outside hitter, don’t you want to be able to jump just as high at the end of the match as you did at the beginning?

Shouldn’t this be the goal of volleyball conditioning?














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Don’t think it’s ok to run your players into the ground. This isn’t how to condition for volleyball. Volleyball isn’t an endurance sport. It’s a strength and power sport. Remember, think of “being in good condition” as being able to more quickly recover for the next play, next match, next workout session, etc. Being in good condition is all about being able to recover effectively. For example, to perform just as explosively at the end of the match as you did at the beginning, the goal should be to INCREASE how quickly you recover between plays. If you can recover quickly for the next play, you won’t wear down as fast. This is KEY. So how do you train to increase how quickly you recover? You improve your ability to recover faster by decreasing the length of your rest periods during training. But remember, you are training anaerobically. For instance, in my volleyball strength program, you could shorten the rest time of the In Place Jumps from 20 to 15 seconds. A shorter rest period trains your muscles to replenish ATP faster, which means, you’re training to more quickly reload the fuel you need to make quick and explosive movements. By being able to replenish ATP faster, it will take a longer time (or more intense effort) to experience fatigue during the game. This should be your goal when conditioning for volleyball.













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"Discover Volleyball Training Secrets That Maximize Volleyball Leaping Ability And Explosive First Step Quickness..."

Have you mastered the FIVE “Volleyball Explosive Factors”? Are you ready to learn... ▪ what specific techniques you must be doing to improve power ▪ the RIGHT conditioning for volleyball ▪ what you’re doing right now that’s wasting your time ▪ how to get faster results by working out less ▪ how to TURBOCHARGE your recovery leading to faster gains in volleyball strength and power

To Learn more about the FIVE “Volleyball Explosive Factors”, visit… http://www.strength-and-power-for-volleyball.com/volleyball-training-programs.html

Have a question? Then please contact…

Dennis Jackson, CSCS

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.strength-and-power-for-volleyball.com

http://www.strength

http://www.strength





















least time under load instead of high...there’s a big difference between training the neurological...

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