Aylesbury Vale Volleyball Club
Volleyball Conditioning
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Still Work in Progress
Conditioning Menu
| Stretching Proprioception Plyometrics Speed Agility & Quickness Weights & Resistance Exercises |
Stretching
Vale's stretches to come - for now see Ottawa Valley Physiotherapy's Volleyball Stretches.
Proprioception
Proprioception, or kinesthetic awareness, is the sense of the relative position of different parts of the body. Improved proprioception will reduce the incidence of ankle sprains and strains as well as improve jumping. Two simple exercises to improve balance are Single Leg Deadlift and Single Leg Medicine Ball Catch.
Single Leg Deadlift
Stand on one leg. Bend forward at the waist, raising your other leg behind you until torso and leg are horizontal. Touch the ground in front of you with your hands and then return to your starting position.
Single Leg Medicine Ball Catch
With a partner, play catch with medicine ball whilst standing on one leg.
Plyometrics
Plyometrics is a type of exercise where muscles are lengthened prior to contraction using the stretch shortening cycle to develop extra explosive force. Plyometrics are best combined with strength exercises in complex training. Tom Wilson's Volleyball Files Plyometrics webpage provides a brief introduction to plyometrics with some examples. Brian Mackenzie's Sports Coach Plyometrics webpage has a more detailed scientific explanation and further webpages on arm plyometrics, leg plyometrics and complex training with an example programme. The normally execrable 3Touch Volleyball magazine had a good knee conditioning article (pdf file at LDVC) with London Docklands' Albrecht Glitz performing knee exercises (pictures).
Speed, Agility & Quickness
Weights & Resistance Exercises
There are good weights and resistance exercise programmes for volleyball in the books Complete Conditioning for Volleyball by Al Scates and Mike Linn and The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Volleyball by Robert G Price. See Tom Wilson's Volleyball Files Weight Training and Joe DeFranco's Vertical Training Programme and his Top 15 Exercises for Higher Vertical Jumps for programmes described on the web. There are descriptions of individual exercises with video clips at Bodybuilding.com Exercise Guides, ExRx: Exercise Prescription on the Net (including a comprehensive exercise and muscle database and an exercise search facility), University of Idaho Strength Training, and Ball State University Strength Laboratory.
