Volleyball and Vertical Jump

Principle #1. Maximal efforts performed in a fun and competitive environment

Through my articles and writings, this aspect of training is always the focal point. Psychological factors are vital to any high performance athlete, and will signfiicantly improve performance. In a volleyball game, those factors are always present, while when training on your own, they are not. Research by Rhea and colleagues (2003) found that recreationally trained subjects could lift 13% more weight when lifting in a presence of an audience than those who only lifted with the presence of a researcher. When I was younger, I always used to wonder why I could never lift as much weight in my basement vs. a gym filled with lifters, and this is due to the presence of an audience. Dynamic performance is very much the same way, having an audience present will also boost your ability significantly. You will be able to consistantly jump higher in a competitive environment than being all by yourself. On top of this, the spirit of playing a game can be another helpful stimulus, both on the physical and psychological level.

Principle #2. Number of maximal efforts performed in a session

Training volume and work capacity are very important when it comes to the mastery of a particular sporting skill.  For some reason we look at the world of strength training and think of 5 sets of 5 with the last couple of sets being the “money sets”, and we then think that vertical (or sprint) training should be the same way. Well, on the beginner level, sure, you can make great progress by performing lower jumping and plyometric volumes, but in order to maintain improvements eventually you will have to raise your total training volume.

High level athletes will also carry with them a high  work capacity.  Also, in order for the body to move in on perfection for any  movement, thousands of reps are required. Remember, training is never only based on the central nervous system, the muscle, or muscle-tendon interaction, but rather a meshing of all three aspects. In order to optimize performance, you need to tune every system in your body in with your primary sporting movement. An example that reminds me of how important this is would be the training of Finnish javelin throwers, and that of famous thrower, Tero Pitkamaki in particular. In order to reach his high level of performance, Pitkamaki takes around 12,000 throws a year (not all with the javelin, many with weighted  balls/implements), and this dwarfs the amount that many, less successful or lower level throwers will engage in. Pitkamaki, or course, reached that mark through gradual adaptations over time as a beginner level throwers could never hope to hit 12k throws in a year.

Principles #3. Average time  lapse between maximal efforts

According to the popular  text, “Science and Practice of Strength Training”, the distribution of the  training volume into smaller units will produce a more effective adaptation to  exercise rather than training based on smaller rest periods. Most elite  athletes, with Olympic weightlifters as an example, will tend to break up their  training volume into several small sessions throughout the day.  Taking more  time between sets is also critical for power development, as lifters in the  1970s become more successful than lifters in the 1960’s based on spending an  extra hour worth of rest for the same amount of training sets. Bottom line, if  you are training the Central Nervous System for power, take more time between maximal efforts. Just because you think you are completely rested doesn’t mean  the maximal benefit for the nervous system.

In volleyball, and other  jumping based sports, the maximal jumping efforts will typically involve one or  two maximal jumps and then a modest rest period. The main difference between a sport like volleyball and basketball is that, during volleyball, more jumps will be performed, and they will be performed in a fresher state, due to not having to run up and down the court. Mixing heavy conditioning with power training is quite detrimental, and this is why volleyball has a distinct advantage on  vertical development over something like basketball.

When I was in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, we had great strength programs for our varsity teams.  One comment I remember hearing was how many  players grew their vertical leaps to the point where they could dunk before the  beginning of the season, and then they could no longer dunk a few months into play. The reason for this is simple… a higher amount of conditioning (wind  sprints, intense practices and games) took away from the power capacity of the players. Of course, there are many basketball players who can jump extremely high, but a lot of these guys… especially many “youtube dunkers” reach their  level because they will play a pickup game or two for warmup purposes and then spend the rest of their gym session with intense dunk practice.

Bottom line of this section:

Lots of maximal efforts with a decent amount of space between them = good. Too much conditioning thrown in the mix = bad…. if your  goal is to jump higher. Obviously, if you are a basketball player, having a higher conditioning level is probably a little better for your game than having an extra couple of inches on your vertical leap.

How to apply this to your own training:

The application is simple really…. maximal efforts in a fun and competitive environment. Don’t expect as much if you are always training by yourself. Watch your conditioning levels if all you care about it vertical power (although it may help you if you are carrying a few extra pounds). Finally, longer workouts are typically better workouts if you do have the time to spare.

Until next time!

Reference:

The Effects of Competition and the Presence of an Audience on Weight Lifting Performance RHEA, MATTHEW R.; LANDERS, DANIEL M.; ALVAR, BRENT A.; ARENT, SHAWN M.

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2003.