This blog was written to be very basic in nature to help volleyball players choose the right exercises during their workouts. The format I give would be best used in a 3 days/week. If you’re still practicing a lot of have tournaments you’ll want to tone down the intensity at times, especially when it comes to the plyometric/jumping activities.
Obviously if you have the ability to work with me directly that would likely yield much better results because I will be able to choose sets/reps/weights for you that will best guide you to success. Please click here if you are an athlete at Pittsburgh Elite and want to train at Pittsburgh Elite in Emsworth or at our main facility in Bethel Park. We also do remote program writing and you can email me here for more information on that.
So here is the format: (read below for the actual exercises you can use)
1a. Lower Body Plyometric/Jump/Power Exercise
1b. Upper Body Power Exercise
2a. Main Leg Strengthening Exercise
2b. Main Upper body Pushing Exercise
3a. Leg Accessory Exercise
3b. Main Upper Body Pulling Exercise
4a. Core - leg lift emphasis/”lower core”
4b. Shoulder Accessory
5a. Core - Plank variations
5b. Core - Crunch Variations
6. Conditioning (optional)
Now to explain… When there is an a + b together (i.e. 1a and 1b) that means you do those back to back until you finish all sets, then you move on to the next groupings. You do not always need to combine exercises into A + B, but it does help save time. “Main upper body pushing” can be easily switched with “main upper body pulling. You do not always need to do 3 “core” exercises every time. I normally mix in 1-2 with most programs. Like I stated earlier, the focus of this article is not on sets and reps, but in general doing 3 sets of everything will be enough. I also prefer rep ranges of 3-6 for main exercises and 8-12 for accessories. Again, that is a general recommendation. Newer athletes will generally have a higher rep range and experienced ones who can safely lift heavier will likely use towards the lower side more often. Depending on the time of year this format would change slightly too. If they were not playing any volleyball, and therefore not jumping a lot, we would likely do more sets of 1a and 1b, or even add a couple exercises. Also, if they are in the middle of high school season and playing every day, then we likely wouldn’t jump at all (much like we do at Pittsburgh Elite during their sessions in practice).
Here are a list of exercises I would recommend for each heading above. Obviously there are 100’s to choose from, but these are the ones we use most often. Click each exercise for a demonstrating/explanation. I apologize that a few of them don’t have links.
1a. Lower Body Plyometric/Jump/Power Exercise
1b. Upper Body Power Exercise
Push Press - no video
Rotational Ball Throw - no video
2a. Main Leg Strengthening Exercise
Step-up - can also be accessory
Any Lunge Variation - can also be accessory
2b. Main Upper body Pushing Exercise
Push-up - and all variations
3a. Leg Accessory Exercise
Balance Calf Raise
3b. Main Upper Body Pulling Exercise
Chin-Up
Pronated Pull-Downs - no video - palms away
TRX Row - or ring
4a. Core - leg lift emphasis/”lower core”
4b. Shoulder Accessory
Ring Fall-Out
5a. Core - Plank variations
5b. Core - Crunch Variations
6. Conditioning (optional)
I prefer any kind of interval work. For example, biking 30s on and 30s off for 6-10 rounds. I do not typically like my athletes ONLY running long distances. Running a few miles will help build some base endurance, but interval work will be better in the long run, especially if you can use multiple modalities such as: Sleds, Rowers, Ropes, Bike, Ski Ergometers, etc…
In conclusion, this is meant to be a basic article to give some examples/reminders of exercises you can do during your workouts and how to structure the workout in general. At the very least you have links to exercises and how to do them. In the future, I may write more information on sets/reps, but largely that information can vary quite a lot from person to person.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to send me an email. And of course, if you want your child to come train with me this summer click here for more information.
Thank you!