P ERFORMANCE CONDITIONING

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1 Improved Jumping AND Volleyball Skills - How They Can Be Done TOGETHER Charles H. Cardinal, consultant in planning, Actiforme Consultants Professor, University of Montreal, Department of Physical Education Alain Delorme, senior consultant, Actiforme Consultants Strength & Conditioning consultant for Team Canada Women's Volleyball Meet Mary: Mary plays volleyball for the high school and club team. During the school year they play volleyball twice a week and practice four days. Practices are one and one half hours. Games are Tuesday and Saturday. Sunday is off. At the end of the year, the team qualifield for district play losing in the second round. During the transition and off season Mary weight trains twice a week, Monday and Wednesday. She does plyometric training Tuesday and Thursday. During the club preseason practice is conducted five days a week in sessions of one and one half hours. During the season, league play is once a week on Wednesday, with tournaments or intra club competitions held almost every weekend. During the summer Mary plays pick up games at the beach every week end, working a job during the week. Questions: 1 How can she improve her vertical jump? 2 How can she improve her training and schedule her work load without causing too much conflict with volleyball training? What adjustments would be made if Mary was a college player? Mary's first challenge improving her vertical jump. P ERFORMANCE CONDITIONING A NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO IMPROVING VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS To adequately develop explosive power, you must train the following components: Slow velocity strength (Slow/controlled speed of muscular contraction) High velocity strength (Quick and explosive concentric* muscular contraction. For a sport like volleyball, the intensity varies from 50 to 80 percent of the absolute strength ( 1 M.R.**) Rate of force development (Rapid and explosive concentric and eccentric*** muscular contractions done at a lower intensity (10 to 40 percent of 1 M.R.) Stretch shortening cycle (plyometric training) Intermuscular coordination and skill (Game skills done with a light resistance ( surgical tubing). * Concentric: Shortening of the muscle. **1 M.R. or the absolute maximum is the maximum weight the athlete can lift once through the complete movement. ***Eccentric: Lengthening of the muscle Before beginninng a program to improve jump height you must consider: Mary's training status which includes: Biological age Medical status and history (injuries) Experience with weights or conditioning program Anthropometric measurements (height, weight etc.) Tests results of muscular qualities (strength ratio, flexibility ) Motivation VOLLEYBALL

2 Jumping task analysis which includes: Mechanical analysis of the movement Muscle group involved in the action Muscular qualities ( strength/endurance, maximal strength, speed/strength, flexibility) Organic qualities ( aerobic and anaerobic energy systems) Sport related injuries Weekly agenda Volleyball training and competition/week School schedule Availability of the student The method chosen to improve Mary's jumping ability must rely on a careful analysis of all the above mentioned factors. The individual is considered first, then the specificity of the sport. This means that when deciding the training strategy, the first priority is injury prevention, then working toward strength performance development. An athlete generally reaches peak performance in her volleyball career in the post university years while playing for a National Team or in a professional league. Therefore, a solid strength base must be in place before moving towards specificity of training (explosive power). Short cuts are not allowed. Weight training which improves sport performance is a long term process. At the higher level, a complex and harmonious blend of the five training factors helps guarantee success. If Mary has no weight training experience and/or lacks a strength base, she should start with strength endurance 3 times per week, with 48 hours rest between sessions. Why the rest? So the joints can adapt to the training load, proper execution of exercises can be mastered, and volleyball training can be sustained and combined with a long competitive season (scholastic/club model). The competition structure is characterized by two matches per week and/or marathon type tournaments over the weekend. Athletes can push back fatigue by developing strength endurance through various methods. Circuit training is a good example. This can be done in a gym using body weight resistance, making use of the equipment available at school or in a weight room. Strength endurance training can be done before an athlete is completely recovered. Therefore, strength endurance training can occur after volleyball practice. See table 1 for a suggested strength endurance protocol. The next step recommends introducing maximal strength, at a slow velocity until a good strength base is reached. What is a solid strength base? A strength base for jumping activities has often been related to the amount of weight which can be lifted once (1 M.R.) using a closed kinetic chain exercise (where the force is applied through planted feet). For example, squatting 1.5 times your body weight (12) is believed to be an indicator of a good strength base. Based on previous experience with Team Canada women, we recommand evaluating maximal strength using a predicted absolute maximum (see table 2). In this case study, we recommand choosing for Mary a weight (subjectively, through trial and error). She can lift for more than 6 repetitions but not more than 12 repetitions. The leg press is choosen because most female volleyball players are tall and stronger in the lower body than in the upper. Therefore, using squats to evaluate maximal strength could be dangerous because the upper body isn't strong enough to support the amount of weight needed to reach muscle failure, even at 12 repetitions. The development of maximal strength is accomplished by increasing muscle mass (hypertrophy) and/or by developing optimal motor unit activation and synchronization (getting the most muscle to do the work in proper sequence. Table 1: Strength endurance (muscular endurance) training protocol for a weight room Method for young players starting a weight training program Intensity: 20 to 65 percent of 1 M.R. Repetitions: more than 15 reps Sets: 1 to 3 Rest: 0 to 60 seconds between sets Tempo of execution: Moderate Number of exercises per session: 6 to 12 Frequency: 3 x per week Overcompensation: 48 hours Table 2: Example of a chart predicting the absolute maximum (1M.R.) starting from a number of maximum repetition lower than 12. Maximum repetitions Squat Bench press Jerk To use the chart, you need to know the exercise performed, the amount of weight lifted and the number of repetitions completed. Example: Exercise: Squat Amount of weight lifted: 150 pounds No of reps: 8 % of 1 R.M. (from the chart): 75.4% 1 R.M. = (100 x 150 pounds) / 75.4 = pounds An athlete who can lift 8 times 150 pounds should be able to squat a single maximum weight of pounds Note: The predicted absolute maximum can vary greatly depending on the exercise performed, the gender and the weight training experience of the athlete. Select charts that is take readily into consideration.

3 Functional exercises are selected which are related to muscle groups involved in the jumping action. They are: Buttock muscles 30% Hamstrings 25% Quadriceps 15% Extensors of the foot 15% Shoulder girdle (pectoralis, biceps, deltoid) 20% Others (stabilizers, fixers) 5% Closed kinetic chain exercises (multi joint exercises where to push off the ground to generate force) such as squat, lunge, deadlift and leg press are good examples of functional exercises. See tables 3 and 4 for examples of maximal strength training protocol. By first working at a slow speed of contraction, the eccentric strengthening of the muscle is emphasized. This helps prevent injuries and provides the foundation for developing explosive muscular power through ballistic exercises. High velocity strength exercises are than introduced in which the acceleration is the key stimulus (see table 5 for an example). Once a solid slow and high velocity strength base has been acquired, development is focused on 1. The rate of force and 2. stretch/shortening cycle (plyometric) exercises. Research shows that strength increases are specific to the velocity at which one trains. If you train at a slow movement velocity, you tend to increase strength at that velocity. Since the purpose of the training is to increase explosive power, resistance training should also be performed at high/sport specific speed. An example of the rate of force development is squatting at a maximum speed with 30 percent of 1 R.M. within 10 seconds. Plyometric training should be introduced at this stage since Mary's goal is an improved vertical jump. Plyometric training is not synonymous with drop jumping. All forms of hops and bounds from ground level with two foot or one foot contacts can be used. Progression, moving from low intensity (low volume of floor contacts and/or low impact) to high intensity (high volume of floor contacts and/or high impact) should be carefully monitored to prevent injuries and to develop explosive power with the right jump resistance. Many experts provide good guidelines to follow when designing a plyometric program. The concept to remember when doing plyometric training is to minimize the time of foot contact with the floor. Imagine landing bare footed on a red hot plate. Wham! You're off. If Mary has a solid foundation in strength development all five conditioning components may be trained. To improve her vertical jump utilize a mixed method that maintains the strength base and helps prevent injuries. Emphasize training the rate of force development, introduce drop jumping in plyometric training and use special exercises to link strength development with skill execution. We are fully aware that strength development is specific to the movement pattern, speed and type of muscle action used in training. Yet, our philosophy on strength development over several years reflects that in its early stages resistance training is not sport specific but focuses at the overall increase in muscle size and strength. Once a solid strength base is established we move to more specific power training. Further research is required to determine whether the gains from general strength training contribute to the performance developed during movement specific power training. SEQUENCING TRAINING UNITS/WEEK When athletes train every day and often twice a day, what guidelines steer the coach's weekly planning? What factors must be known to adequately sequence the major training tasks within the week? According to Martin's hypothesis, the recovery/regeneration process may occur simultaneously as a new work load is introduced, without causing too much conflict, if the following principles are applied: Training loads are of different amplitudes (vary the volume and/or the intensity and/or the rest period during your weekly training ). Training loads have different objectives ( Each training session should be characterized by the pursuit of different goals: weight training or aerobic en Table 3: Maximal strength training protocol (hypertrophy) INTENSITY:70 to 82 percent of 1 M.R. REPETITIONS:7 to 12 SETS: 3 to 6 REST: 1 to 3 minutes between sets CONCENTRIC TEMPO: 1 to 10 sec. per repetition ECCENTRIC TEMPO: 3 to 10 sec. per repetition DURATION OF SET:40 to 70 seconds NUMBER OF EXERCISES/SESSION: 8 to 12 FREQUENCY: 2 to 3x/week OVERCOMPENSATION: 48 hours Table 4: Maximal strength training protocol (For relative strength) INTENSITY: 85 to 100 percent REPETITIONS: 1 to 6 SETS: 4 to 12 REST: 3 to 5 minutes between sets CONCENTRIC TEMPO: 1 to 4 sec. per repetition ECCENTRIC TEMPO: 3 to 6 sec. per repetition DURATION OF SET: Less than 20 seconds NUMBER OF EXERCISES/SESSION: 1 to 4 FREQUENCY: 2 /week OVERCOMPENSATION: 72 to 84 hours Table 5: High velocity strength training protocol INTENSITY: 50 to 80% of 1 M.R. REPETITIONS: 1 to 10 SETS: 5 to 10 REST: 5 to 10 minutes between sets TEMPO OF EXECUTION: Quick, explosive, dynamic NUMBER OF EXERCISES/SESSION: 2 to 7 average of 4 to 5 FREQUENCY: 2 x/week OVERCOMPENSATION: 72 hours Note: The nervous system needs four to five times more recovery time than the muscular energy reserves. This explain why more recovery time is allowed to avoid fatigue. From Cardinal Adapted from KULESZA

4 durance, attack from serve/receive patterns or defense and the transition game, etc.). Training loads are located differently ( Upper body or lower body, net play or backcourt defense ). Weekly planning involves fitting the training units together logically and coherently favoring athletic development. To reach this objective, successive training units must be sequenced in a state of complete recovery (overcompensation) as well as in a state of incomplete recovery. Frequency of training of major tasks is determined by the time span required to reach complete recovery (overcompensation). Adequate sequencing of training tasks is critical to achieving the proper training effect. Training tasks must be properly sequenced so that maximal performances of strength, power, linked with motor coordination (skills) must be done when the athlete is in a state of complete recovery (overcompensation). On the other hand, basic endurance, strength endurance and speed endurance (specific volleyball endurance) performances can be done in a state of incomplete recovery. Performance capacity is undoubtedly developed through training tasks coupled with the appropriate load. But, rest intervals allowing RECOVERY are also a major factor influencing performance. METHODOLOGY July and August, the off season or transition period, is an ideal time to develop solid foundations for energy sources and muscular qualities (strength and flexibility). Mary, our sample athlete, works during the week and plays pick up games at the beach on the weekends. This exposure to beach volleyball is great because it keeps the player in contact with the sport. Without this, her skills could deteriorate and she would have to start off at square one every fall. Mary must to train after work following one of two options. If she is young, has little or no weight training experience and a strength base that is low or average, she should train three times per week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. At the start of a strength training program, females need a higher training frequency than their male collegues. For the first eight weeks, three sessions per week yields better results than two sessions per week. Strength endurance and general strength are emphasized to prepare the athlete for the two week club pre season training camp. As far as energy sources are concerned the athlete should train the aerobic system because aerobic endurance is the foundation which allows training at high intensity levels in September and during club competition. Furthermore, a solid aerobic base facilitates and accelerates recovery between training sessions and between matches, Gionet (6). See the example in table 1. If Mary is an older athlete (University), has solid strength base and has weight trained regularly for several years, see the example in table 2. This athlete has four weight training sessions per week. The lower body is trained Monday and Thursday, the upper body Tuesday and Friday. A mixed protocol emphasizes low plyometrics impact from ground level, high speed strength and slow speed strength. Aerobic endurance is done on Tuesday and Friday morning before work and Wednesday after work. From September to December Club season The first thing registered on the weekly plan are competitions, represented by intensity peaks. Can a training intensity peak be included in the training week? Planning principles reveal that complex motor skills, coupled with optimal speeds of execution must be 72 hours apart for the athletes to reach overcompensation. In the present framework competitions are held Wednesday and Saturday, which is just great. It is not possible, however, to add a training intensity peak to the weekly structure as athletes have insufficient time to fully recover for the game. The other training task which must be done in a state of complete recovery is maximal strength and strength/speed. We recommend strength training on Monday and Thursday, 72 hours between sessions and at least 48 hours before a match. Upper and lower body are combined in the same session. The training tasks emphasized must be introduced in the following order: 1 plyometrics, 2 high speed strength, 3 slow speed strength and 4 prevention of athletic injuries. Training at this weekly frequency and under a mixed protocol, Actiforme Consultants have had a certain success with the Canadian Women's National Team. N.C.C.P. reading material recommends six hours between the strength training session and volleyball practice. The scholar athlete often has trouble meeting these conditions. Therefore, strength training can be done after volleyball pratice if the latter was done at submaximal speed with rest between drills and sets/series of the same drill. The athlete cannot be fatigued if he or she is to strength train. Regarding energy sources, aerobic endurance should be trained twice weekly during the competitive season to maintain what has been developed through the summer months. Aerobic endurance can be done on Tuesday and Friday after volleyball practice if the volleyball session does not exceed 60 to 90 minutes of practice time with a high rest ratio. Training emphasizes synchronization running, tactical combinations and the transition game. The aerobic endurance training time should not exceed 30 minutes beause volleyball competitions are held the next day. See the example in table 3. Speed (anaerobic alactic system) and specific endurance are trained while performing technical tactical tasks at the volleyball practice. To meet these objectives, the training conditions and load must meet the appropriate requirements. Optimal speed in a drill is characterized by the greatest strength speed relationship exerted by the athlete to successfully accomplish the training task. The drill must be done with a high success rate and without any skill deterioration. Specific endurance is characterized by an optimal effort lasting about 7 to 12 seconds with a rest period of approximately 10 seconds before the next effort. This continues the entire practice session. It is important that the drills be game like to satisfy the principle, of specific adaptations to imposed demands. From January to June, high school season.

5 Competitions are Tuesday and Saturday. These two intensity peaks are more than 72 hours apart in the training week. Two options may be considered depending on Tuesday's match, whether or not the competition was physically and psychologically demanding. If it was a hard fought match that went the limit, then Wednesday's practice is light, focusing on technical/tactical corrections. However, if Tuesday's match was relatively easy and the players were not extended to their performance capacity limits, then Wednesday practice should be an intensity peak training session. The drills used, as well as the training load, should reflect game conditions. Naturally, Thursday's practice is directly influenced by Wednesday's training session. Tables 4 and 5 present examples. With this weekly training and competition structure, the problem is, "when can we do strength training?" Since we are preoccupied with volleyball match performance is impossible to develop strength (twice/week) in this context unless we use Sunday as an optional weight training session. This means that players who did not play in Saturday's match or who were used sparingly can weight train on Sunday. Those who played the entire match may benefit from a complete rest depending on how hard the match was. The decision is up to the coach. Furthermore as Wednesday's practice may be an intensity training session, Thursday is left as the only possible day to do weights. Fortunately, we are still 48 hours away from Saturday's match with 72 hours between weight sessions. To maintain aerobic endurance train twice per week Gionet. Train on Monday and Friday if the volleyball practice is short (60 to 90 minutes) with a high rest ratio between drills. Because of all the jumps in volleyball training, aerobic endurance training should be done on an ergocycle or other exercise that reduces stress on the knees. The effort required should not exceed 30 minutes. Players who were highly involved in Tuesday's and Saturday's matches should do active recovery on a stationary bike to eliminate lactic acid and facilitate recovery. On the other hand, players that played briefly or did not get any court time should do some sort of heavy training after the match since competition days are considered intensity peaks. They could do a maximal aerobic power type of workout. CONCLUSION Planning is not an end in itself. Rather, it is a tool used to reach our goal, which is preparing the team to perform in competition. Your weekly plan is a guideline for projected actions. Do not begin an activity without first clearly defining the objectives as well as the use of time and resources. Planning, monitoring and evaluating are a trilogy that cannot be separated. They are interwoven and form a whole. O We would like to acknowledge the following authors used as references in the writing of this article: T. Bompa, D. A. Chu, N. Gionet, I. King, A. Kulesza, D. Martin, R.V. Newton and W. J. Kraemer, C. Poliquin, M. Yessis and W. Young.

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