What Training Do Volleyball Players Need?

  • June 10, 2022

The success of a volleyball player depends a lot on his/her training. It’s crucial for athletes to get the right type of volleyball training. The big question is – what type of training do volleyball players need? Now, it’s time to get the answer.

Athletes should develop basic volleyball skills such as hitting, passing, setting, digging and blocking. However, volleyball training also depends on player’s position on the court. It’s worth noting that blockers, hitters, setters and servers have to get the special training that meets their unique needs.

There are volleyball workouts that work well for every athlete. Today, we’ll dig deeper into training for volleyball players. We’ll describe the different types of volleyball training and explain how they affect athlete’s performance on the court. This will help you find out how a volleyball training program looks like.

So, let’s get started.

Warm Up Exercises

Volleyball practices always have to begin with warm up exercises. Volleyball players have to do warm up exercises for injury prevention. It’s a great way to reduce the risk of injuries. Doing warm up exercises helps volleyball players avoid injuries that have a profound negative impact on their performance and success.

Strength and Conditioning

Strength and conditioning also plays a very important role in volleyball player’s training program. Volleyball players need strength and power to perform well on the court. That means that strength and condition has to be incorporated into volleyball training program.

It makes sense for volleyball players to visit a gym and spend some time on building strength. Lifting weights help volleyball players build a lot of strength and power for volleyball. If you work hard in a gym, you’ll manage to improve your performance on the court and become a better volleyball player.

Hitting in volleyball requires a lot of power and strength. Let’s say that your volleyball team is prepared to carry out an attack hit. In this case, a hitter has to move quickly to approach to the ball. After that, a volleyball player has to jump high in the air. It’s worth noting that strength training allows volleyball players to develop the power they need to jump high. Finally, a volleyball player has to hit the ball with power. When the ball is hit, the power is transited from lower body to upper body. If power is transited effectively, a volleyball player can achieve a good arm swing. Obviously, all these elements of a volleyball attack require strength and power. That’s why strength and conditioning exercises have to be included in a training program for volleyball players.

The same can be said about blocking in volleyball. Blocking in volleyball also require a lot of power and strength. When blocking, volleyball players need to jump high in the air to be able to resist an attack hit of the opposing team.

It’s incredibly important to build strength in the upper body. As a result, volleyball players get stronger. This helps volleyball players hit the ball, block opponent’s attacks and dig the ball successfully.

Athletes also should have power in legs. This power allows volleyball players to jump high in the air and move in any direction on the court quickly when such a need arises. That’s why volleyball players should perform agility drills and make explosive movements as well as lateral movements on a regular basis. This type of volleyball training has a positive impact on foot speed, strengthens legs, increases volleyball player’s vertical jump and improves performance on the court. Building strength helps increase explosive power that volleyball players need.

It’s necessary for volleyball players to build core strength. Core strength makes it possible for volleyball players to achieve stability.

Strength and conditioning training results in the growth of muscles. If you strengthen your muscles, you will be able to prevent injuries from happening.

Jump Training

Jumping is a key element of a volleyball game. A volleyball player has to jump many times during games and practices.

Jumping is particularly important for volleyball blockers and attackers. A high vertical jump makes it easy for volleyball players to win additional points and contributes greatly to the success of a team.

The truth is that the game of volleyball is very unpredictable. That means that volleyball players must be prepared to jump high in the air anytime when such a need arises.

Jump training contains the exercises that help volleyball players strengthen the muscles of legs and hips. If you do the exercises of this type on a regular basis, your vertical jump will increase over time.

Agility Training

The speed is very important factor for volleyball player’s performance. Volleyball players have to be able to move quickly on the court. That’s why it’s so important for volleyball players to work on such important aspect as agility.

It would be great for volleyball players to do agility training exercises such as jump box drills, forward running, lateral running, lateral jumps, two jump forward and one jump back, high knee drills, ladder drills and many others. Doing these types of exercises help volleyball players increase their agility and improve their performance on the court.

The agility depends a lot on volleyball player’s legs. That means that volleyball players will be able to move quickly on the court if they have strong legs. That’s why a volleyball player has to do the exercises that strengthen his/her legs consistently.

When a moment comes, volleyball players should be able to explode and start moving fast in any direction. So, it would be better for volleyball players to do the exercises that improve lateral movements.

Volleyball players have to do the exercises that strengthen leg muscles and improve their leg power. Therefore, leg workouts have to be a key part of a volleyball training program.

Among the exercises that help volleyball players strengthen their legs are: calf raises, deadlifts, knee tuck jumps, squats, shuttle runs and others.

Endurance Training for Volleyball

It’s crucial for volleyball players to perform well on the court for a long period of time. That’s why it would be great for volleyball players to focus on endurance training.

There are many ways to improve endurance for volleyball. For example, it’s a good idea for volleyball players to run. If a volleyball player runs several miles every day in the morning, he/she will manage to improve endurance over time.

Another good way to improve endurance for volleyball is to do the so-called sprints. When performing this type of exercise, volleyball players should aim to run as quickly as possible. Also, you should make pauses between sprints. The pauses between sprints should last about 15 – 30 seconds. Such pauses allow volleyball players to have a rest.

It can be difficult for volleyball players to do sprints at the beginning. So, start doing this type of exercise slowly. Initially, volleyball players can do 10 sprints. If you perform sprints on a regular basis, then you will be able to improve your endurance over time. Later, you can increase the number of sprints and do up to 30 sprints.

It’s no surprise that jump rope is used in many sports. For example, jump rope is used in boxing. Also, it would be great to add jump rope exercises to a volleyball training program. What is great about jump rope exercises is that they strengthen legs and have a positive impact on volleyball player’s endurance.           

Stretches for Volleyball

Stretches are a great way to relax muscles after a volleyball game. Stretches increase muscle strength and help volleyball players with injury prevention. So, it would be great for volleyball players to spend some time on stretches after games and practices.

It’s a good idea to do yoga if you play volleyball. Yoga has many good stretches for volleyball players. Volleyball players can do yoga to relax and get energy they need to perform well on the court.

Of course, volleyball players should do every single thing possible to prevent injuries from happening. Stretches minimize the risk of injuries significantly. Nevertheless, injuries can happen from time to time. If a volleyball player does yoga, it takes him/her less time to recover from injuries.

Final Thoughts

Thank you so much for reading this article. As you can see, volleyball players can improve their performance on the court in many different ways. It’s crucial for volleyball players to get the right type of training. That’s why athletes should aim to train smart, train hard and most importantly train on a regular basis. Sooner or later, you’ll be able to improve your performance on the court and achieve better results.

Best of luck!