Do we really need our volleyball players to be better runners?

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I continue to see volleyball coaches put their players through hours and hours of aerobic conditioning.

VOLLEYBALL IS NOT AN AEROBIC SPORT!

Volleyball is a strength and power sport. Movements in volleyball are quick and explosive. Players want to quickly get into the best position to perform various volleyball skills.

For example, when a player is moving to get in position to pass, they want to get in position as quickly and as efficiently as they can.

When approaching to hit, the attacker that has the ability to adjust their approach and get to the ball quicker is the one that is going to be successful hitting.

There probably ISN'T an activity that expresses explosive athletic ability MORE than a vertical jump. In order to jump high an athlete needs to be quick and explosive.

Aerobic training is essentially the opposite of training to be quick and explosive.

A 40 yard race tells us who "the fastest of FAST runners are".

A long distance race tells us who "the fastest of the SLOW runners are".

Is the goal really to have our volleyball players to be the fastest of the SLOW runners?

Should we really care how fast our players run a mile?

The truth is, we may actually be training our athletes to be slower by training them SLOW.

If you want to be SLOW, train SLOW.

To be fast, you must train fast using anaerobic energy systems, not aerobic energy systems.

To perform well anaerobically, you need to train anaerobically.

Weight training, sprinting, and speed agility drills are all methods of training anaerobic energy systems.

Follow the link to learn more about getting in shape with conditioning and discovering important anaerobic training methods for volleyball players.