Volleyball Fitness

Training the Right Energy Systems for Volleyball

An athlete needs a high level of volleyball fitness to deal with the physical stress that occurs during long grueling practices, matches, and tournaments.

Appropriate energy system development allows volleyball players to perform stronger and more powerful without undesirable fatigue.

All athlete’s need energy for volleyball training and competition.

Biological Energy Systems

At the cellular level, the high energy molecule ATP provides the energy for muscular contraction and thus human movement.

The replenishment of ATP in muscle is accomplished by 3 basic energy systems:

1. Phosphagen Energy System



2. Glycolytic Energy System



3. Oxidative Energy System

Every sport relies on energy from these 3 energy systems to some degree.

Metabolic Demands for Various Sports
Sport	Phosphagen System	Anaerobic Glycolysis	Aerobic Metabolism
Baseball	High	―――	―――
Basketball	High	Moderate to High	Moderate to High
Boxing	High	High	High
Football	High	Moderate	Moderate
Gynastics	High	Moderate	Moderate
Golf	High	―――	―――
Ice Hockey	High	Moderate	Moderate
Soccer	High	Moderate	High
Tennis	High	―――	―――
Volleyball	High	Moderate	―――
Wrestling	High	High	Moderate

From Essentials of Strength Training & Conditioning (2000)

Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Conditioning

The two primary anaerobic energy sources are the phosphagen system and glycolytic system. While these two energy systems provide most of the energy used in anaerobic activities, aerobic metabolism plays an important role in maintaining power output and energy recovery. (2)

Effect of Event Duration on Primary Energy System
Duration of Event	Intensity of Event	Primary Energy System(s)
0-6 seconds	very intense	Phosphagen
6-30 seconds	intense	Phosphagen and fast glycolysis
30 seconds-2 minutes	heavy	Fast glycolysis
2-3 minutes	moderate	Fast glycolysis and oxidative system
>3 minutes	light	Oxidative system

From Essentials of Strength Training & Conditioning (2000)

How do we train these energy systems?

There are many common methods of training used to increase volleyball fitness. A few are...

• Line Drills. Running lines (often called suicides) during volleyball practice is a common method of energy training for volleyball.



• Speed Agility Drills. A good strategy may be manipulating the intensity and duration of your speed and agility training. Training can be more time-efficient because you can improve volleyball quickness and multi-directional speed while at the same time train for energy development.



• Resistance Circuit Training. Volleyball weight training is anaerobic and should be part of every volleyball player's training. Weight training trains anaerobic energy systems and can be modified to more specifically target ESD. Simply adjust the work to rest ratios by performing exercises in circuits.

  Common resistance used for circuit training include...

  1. Body weight
  
  
  
  2. Free weights
  
  
  
  3. Resistance bands
  
  
  
  4. Sand bags
  
  
  
  5. Kettlebells

Short sprints, agility drills, and circuit weight training that fall into the proper work to rest ratio are most common methods to train energy systems for strength and power sports.

Unlike traditional cardio, your volleyball fitness training should focus on quality of training, not quantity.

Usually there is no need for traditional cardio because Energy System Development can be used to improve the function of the entire cardiovascular system while also developing volleyball fitness.

Volleyball matches are long, but play isn’t continuous. Volleyball fitness training should consist of energy system development specific to increasing or more importantly maintaining a high level of volleyball performance.

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Volleyball Fitness Related Pages

Sport Specific Conditioning for Volleyball

Workout for Volleyball

Dynamic Volleyball Flexibility

Static Volleyball Flexibility