Volleyball Weight Training

Lower Reps at Higher Intensities for Strength and Power

When designing a volleyball weight training workout, possible training outcomes - Strength, Power, Hypertrophy, and Muscular Endurance need to be kept in mind.

Remember, when we are thinking about increasing sports performance, we should be looking at our level of volleyball strength and power. For most players, training to increase hypertrophy and muscular endurance is much less important.

Strength		1 to 6 reps
Power		3 to 5 reps
Hypertrophy		6 to 12 reps
Muscular Endurance		> 12 reps

Multi-joint exercises such as deadlifts and squats should ideally be in the repetition range of 3 to 5 for increasing strength and power.

Repetitions for power exercises such as hang cleans and snatches should also be in the 3 to 5 range, but the intensity (load lifted) should be much less in order to train explosiveness.

What are your training goals?

Are you a volleyball player that has developed adequate strength but lacks the explosive power to make quick movements and jump high.

Maybe you're strong enough and just lack the reactive strength and elasticity.

Or maybe you're someone that has developed the elastic strength and is just too weak.

This is often the difference between athletes that increase their vertical jump after just a few plyometric workouts, and the athletes that don't. The athletes that make the quick increases are strong or just aren't explosive to begin with. The athlete that is already explosive may not see as much improvement until further increases in strength are developed.

Periodization and exercise repetitions. Although 3 to 5 is typically the best range for sets and reps for increasing strength and power, it isn’t a good idea to stay in these ranges every workout all year long. For best results, a weight training program needs to be designed with periodization. Periodization is using the right set/rep scheme at the right time during training.

For, example, a player may decide to weight train with higher reps to increase muscular endurance to prepare themselves for an intense strength and power program.

Train for Anaerobic Power. Anaerobic means exercise recovery without oxygen. Aerobic means exercise recovery with oxygen.

Recovery from anaerobic activity occurs during the rest periods between the bouts of activity.

Aerobic recovery occurs during the activity.

Weight training exercises that involve low reps at a high intensity are more anaerobic in nature. They are more anaerobic because recovery occurs between sets. Exercises that involve a high number of reps at lower intensities are typically more aerobic, where recovery occurs during exercise.

Volleyball is considered an anaerobic power sport, where athletes perform strong explosive movements at a high intensity. Athletes recover from these intense explosive movements between plays and game interuptions such as timeouts, subs, etc.

The importance of sets, reps, and rest periods is becoming a common focus of players in the weight room when strength training.

Volleyball Weight Training Related Pages

Sport Specific Conditioning for Volleyball

Total Body Volleyball Strength Training

Dynamic Volleyball Flexibility

Plyometric Volleyball Exercises

Lower Rep Volleyball Weight Training to Workout for Volleyball

Lower Reps to Strength and Power for Volleyball