VOLLEYBALL. and How. Laura Buttermore, Head Volleyball Strength and Conditioning Coach, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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1 P ERFORMANCE VOLLEYBALL CONDITIONING A NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO IMPROVING VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS Volleyball Conditioning and How Facility Dictates Program Laura Buttermore, Head Volleyball Strength and Conditioning Coach, University of Nebraska-Lincoln A Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Laura Buttermore began working as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Nebraska Volleyball Program in Before obtaining certification for her current position, Buttermore was a two-time AVCA All-American volleyball player at Nebraska and three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American. As a former student-athlete, she excelled in the weight room where she was a two-time Husker Power Volleyball Lifter of the Year and the 2001 Husker Power Female Athlete of the Year. Buttermore was also the Big 12 Female Sportsperson of the Year and NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner. The University of Nebraska has just opened its new facility devoted to volleyball. This article focuses on how a facility dedicates program. Without the right equipment, an exercise cannot be performed. It a simple principle yet one in which a lot of coaches fail to fully appreciate. We hope this article reinforces this principle to help you in your program design planning. Ken Kontor, Editor. O Laura Buttermore ur new facility, which was dedicated October 20th, really isn t that much different than our previous facility as far as equipment is concerned. The big difference, however, is the sand court within INT ADV the facility and the layout that creates training efficiencies we didn t have before. Space Efficiencies Previously the sand court area was shared with the softball and baseball team s batting cages area so we were unable to have total access during certain times of the year. From January to March, when the sand court was covered, we couldn t do agility and plyo work or play doubles in the sand. Now we have the weight room and the sand court in the same area. In addition, we also have a medicine ball wall and a turf push sled area. From a conditioning coach s standpoint, the weight room was separate from the turf area so I could only manage one activity at a time. I had other sports to train so this limited the things I could do. Now if I have an athlete squatting I can have another athlete push a sled in the turf area. Another important consideration is that I can see everything from one location in the facility. The space also allows us to have more plyo boxes with more height variety so we can train more athletes at once, which is also a time saver. Time Efficiencies One piece of equipment that allows us to train more efficiently is the transformers. This power/squat rack system was designed by Mike Arthur the Director of Strength and Conditioning Coach here at UNL. With the press of a button this device adjusts to any height that the athletes need for any exercise traditionally done in a power and/or squat rack. This is a big time saver and offers almost unlimited exercise selection possibilities.

2 Equipment Efficiencies We have eliminated the bench press from our program and replaced it with the push pull circuit, which is done standing, thus making it more specific to the movements of volleyball including standing core work. We have also reduced lying down core work from the program as well. We still have dumbbells, single leg curls and modified pulley systems working the smaller muscle groups. Layout and Tour The layout and design of the weight room creates a flow that allows for athletes to train effectively. Let s take a tour. Area One, Warm-up Here we have ski machines, cable pulleys and stretching machines for cool down. We can expand this down our turf area where we can do dynamic warm-ups as a group. In addition, we do Postural Restoration exercises in this location. This is done prior to lifting so that symmetry is maintained in our volleyball athletes. Net Link #1: Click HERE for more information on volleyball posture. As to warm-up selection, we do dynamic warm-ups in the offseason because we go into conditioning right after. During the season I change the warm-up program every four weeks. Sometimes we might do just the ski machines, seated dips and shuffles. The next four weeks might be the first part of the dynamic warm-up sequence. I should mention that when lifting such as the squats, we always do a warm-up set prior to the programmed sets and reps. Also in this area, we do a shoulder-specific warm-up program. Area One Area Two, Hang Cleans/Squats Here we use the Transformers I mentioned earlier. In the off-season, we always do our explosive/heavy lifts first in our program (big muscles first). Hang clean is first and, depending on the day, squat jumps or squats are also a priority. These are the big 3 we do in this area. Net Link #2: click HERE for a great way to introduce explosive lifts to your athletes. Area Two Area Three, Ground Based Machines, etc. In our off-season program, after the Transformers area we move to the Ground Based Machines area, which includes Jammer/Push-Pulls. We start with Jammer rotation followed by extensions. Rotations are especially volleyball-specific since it trains a defensive first step move to the right or the left you have to be quick laterally. This also works the all-important core muscles from a standing position (we don t do a lot of core work lying down). Jammer extensions simulate the blocking motion somewhat with a counter movement back Area Three

3 then pushing forward. From there we do a push/pull circuit. We use regular and decline Push/Pull machines. This also works the core. We make sure we do two pulls to every push. Since volleyball is an overhead sport there a tendency of the shoulder always being forward. The objective here is to keep the shoulders back strengthening behind the shoulder blade lower and mid trap muscles. We also want to avoid the chest (pecs) tightening. As a side note, we don t do flat bench presses in our program instead we do DB incline bench press. We also do explosive push/pulls where speed of movement is increased. Area Four, Body Part Machines Seated Dips and Hamstring Curls are the two machines we use here. Seated dips can be part of warm-up. This works not only the triceps but also the lower traps. Emphasis here is to make sure the shoulder blades are not flared out to the side but rather down and back. This is important to avoid rounded shoulders so often seen in volleyball players. This is important for proper posture (see Net Link #1). The hamstring curl machines are specially designed to activate the hamstrings. Volleyball players are predominately quad dominant; therefore hamstring development is important in preventing ACL injury. The unique design of the machine has the right quad on as the left hamstring is pulling back and firing. Area Four Area Five, Jumping Area Here we have jump boxes and the VertiMax. These exercises can be in the beginning or middle of the off-season workout depending on the goals of the session. On an all-power day, the hang clean or box jumps come first. In volleyball we do rocket jumps, single leg jumps, box jumps, step close, depth jumps and approach jumps. I can make this as volleyball-specific as I like. We also do a landing routine to teach the players how to land. This is especially true with freshmen. Some of the keys are not landing forward but rather on the heels. We also teach how to jump up on a box avoiding the knees coming together, etc. We do single leg box jumps because even though I preach not landing on one foot, the athletes are going to do it so we train it. We have them jump off small boxes emphasizing proper techniques, especially landing. The coaches and trainers also emphasize two-footed landing so they are getting this from all angles of supervision. On the court we know that players will have either a three step or four step approach, and we emphasize the step close footwork because these two steps are the most important part of the approach. In blocking, coach Cook is doing more swing blocking so I incorporate that into our program. This is more like attack blocking rather than using a step over, so we adjust from there. It all goes back to close communication with the volleyball coach. Having the experience of playing volleyball for coach Cook is a big advantage for me. Although he has changed things over the past 10 years, I know his tendencies and expectations. The VertiMax is similar to squat jumps only I use it with athletes who have issues that arose out of putting a barbell on their back. We use it more in-season. Area Five

4 Area Six, Dumbbells We use dumbbells more than barbells because of their stability advantages. You can tell if an athlete has asymmetry issues by the way they use dumbbells in each hand. Dumbbells create more of a challenge and are better for shoulder stability. They are also versatile. DB Incline Bench Press and DB Row are the two main arm dumbbell exercises. We work legs as well doing things like bent over lunges, side lunges, single leg squats on a box, as well as step-ups with knee drive and lateral. We also have kettle bells in the area so we can be more explosive if we want. Finally, we have barbell plates in order to do rotating plate walking lunges. Area Seven, Turf and Med Ball Wall The med ball wall is great for standing core work, especially rotating. We do a variety of throws rotating from the front as well as the side. We also do throws from a spilt squat position. Beyond the throws we also Area Six do some tornado ball exercises, which is a med ball on the end of a rope. The ball swings and bounces off the wall. Beyond dynamic warm-up we use the turf for our Prowler (sled) pushes and sled pulls. With the pushes I can add weight depending on if I want the athletes to walk or run. The pulls we can do back pedaling and turn and sprint activities. We also do step backs which imitate the retro stairs movement that works the glutes/hamstrings. Area 7 Photo. Net Link #3: For more exercises click HERE. Area Seven Area Eight, Pulley System Blast Straps Here we do triceps push down with rope, triceps overhead and triceps kickbacks with one and two arms. In addition, we do standing low row, bicep curls and ball rope rotations using a stability ball. We also do shoulder strengthening and one armed exercises. With the blast straps we do inverted chinups. This is done rather than pull-ups because pull-ups work the lats thus creating shoulder issues where with this exercise we can focus on keeping the shoulder blades together. Area Nine, Sand Court The sand court is not used during the season. From January to March and June to August are the two eight-week off-season programs. We don t work sand everyday but there are advantages to using the sand court. It s a forgiving surface so it s easier on the joints although it also creates hard work. We ll only do a half hour at most in the sand. Because of the sand court surface creating speed and force is greatly diminished. So from this standpoint it s almost like recovery from the pounding of court activity. We start with plyo jumps but limit them because fatigue sets in very soon. Then we work agility by doing things such as pro agility, box and cone drills, and end with , which works endurance. Running the court up and back is one rep. Each group starts with 5 reps, then 4, etc. focusing on working the sprint muscles. Our sand is very deep and highly processed, which makes things even more difficult. During the off-season we don t go onto the court with the exception of July where we start to transition to the court. Finally, on the sand we play a lot of doubles. This works volleyball skills and communications with partners. The players self coach themselves learning strategies, etc. Players have to learn Area Eight

5 shots and play defense all on a surface where the net feels higher. I hope you have enjoyed our tour and have gained an appreciation of how facilities dictate program. The first thing coaches need to look at is what they ve got and how much time they have to get their team ready. Good luck and if you are in the neighborhood, give us a visit. Net Link: lbuttermore@huskers.com Area Nine