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Volleyball Training Journal, Issue #011

March 4, 2008

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In this issue -

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1) Volleyball Weight Training Myths Part I

2) Clean for Explosive Power

3) Vote for Karch!

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1) VOLLEYBALL WEIGHT TRAINING MYTHS PART I

Perhaps the biggest misconception about lifting weights is,

"Weight training leads to big muscles."

or

"Women should avoid lifting weights because weight training leads to a bulky masculine looking body."

If you lift weights you won't necessarily get big. In fact, for most people it's very difficult to put on muscle.

Weight training is not synonymous with weight gain.

It is true that by strength training you will likely add muscle, but this is actually the best way to burn fat.

Many coaches make the mistake of running their players to death and avoiding the weight room.

Generally, volleyball conditioning should be made up of

1) Resistance Training such as free weight exercises (squats, deadlifts, push ups, pullups, etc) and power exercises (cleans, snatches, medicine ball throws, etc)

and

2) Anaerobic Exercise such as sprints, suicides, and plyometics (jump training, speed training, agility drills, reaction drills)

Many coaches and players don't realize the importance of strength training not only for volleyball performance but also for the impact strength training has on weight loss.

Your body responds to strength training much differently than if you would just perform traditional cardio exercise such as running.

In fact, weight training can give you the same cardiovascular benefits of traditional cardio aerobic exercise.

Why Squats and Deadlifts should be a part of everyones program

If done correctly, the traditional deadlift is one of the biggest bang-for-your-buck exercises you can do. Deadlifts strengthen pretty much every muscle in your body. In order to successfully do deadlifts and squats, you must use very large muscle groups which in turn means you're using a lot of energy which results in burning many calories.

Many people don't like to do squats and deadlifts because they're hard or difficult to learn.

Squats and deadlifts can be very intense exercises that are very neurologically demanding. It's the really hard exercises that make a difference. It's worth the effort to learn them because they're actually what you need to get results.

Learn more on volleyball weight training myths and how you should train and condition to lose weight for volleyball.

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2) CLEAN FOR EXPLOSIVE POWER

We know that the Olympic style weight lifting movements (hang cleans, power cleans, clean and jerk) are physiologically the most powerful movements athletes can perform.

Strength and conditioning coaches prescribe the power clean for those sports whose primary movements closely mimic the mechanics of the exercise.

The downside to the Olympic style lifts is it takes time to teach and learn the exercises. The power clean is complex and difficult. The power clean is a technical lift and if you want to learn it you should find a qualified strength coach or trainer that is properly trained to teach it.

Why Power Clean?

There is somewhat of a learning curve involved to being an explosive athlete. For example, if an athlete never learns to “turn on” their explosive power, they would be much less likely to do so during athletic movements that require great explosive power, for example, explosively jumping off the ground when approaching to hit a volleyball. Power cleans teach you to be more explosive.

The power clean is similar to the vertical jump in that it involves the quick explosive triple-extension movement of the hip, knees, and ankles.

To see the power clean and a detailed description of how to do the exercise, visit the members area.

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3) VOTE FOR KARCH!

Karch Kiraly is a candidate for the 2008 United States Olympic Hall of Fame. Help Karch get inducted into the USA Olympic Hall of Fame by voting here!

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That's all for this issue.

As always,

get strong and explosive,

Dennis

NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist,
President, Strength and Power for Volleyball LLC
strength-and-power-for-volleyball.com

P.S. Do you know who Sean Rosenthal and Emanuel Rego are? In my next Volleyball Training Journal you'll get my analysis of why these professional volleyball "high flyers" jump and hit so well. If you apply these same techniques to your hitting you'll have a big advantage because you'll be "hitting like the pros".

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