The Power of Sports Specific Training

August 17, 2008 · Filed Under Volleyball Articles · Comment 

by Barry Lovelace

The human body is such an amazing thing. It is incredible what it is capable of when it is nourished and trained well. This is most obvious with athletes. Athlete training has come a long way. We live in a time where the awesome training techniques that professionals have used for years are finally becoming mainstream. I’m talking about sport specific training and it is without a doubt the way to go when training for a specific sport or activity.
With sport specific training you are actually training your body in the planes of motion and situations that mimic your sport. You train for endurance and power in conjunction to the skills you need in your sport.
Conventional training had athletes going to weight rooms and ‘lifting’ no matter what sport they were participating in. That makes absolutely no sense and unfortunately is still being played out at many high schools and colleges today. Also, very often the lifting that is being done is just aimlessly throwing the weight around and seeing how much you can lift. This serves no purpose except that you can then say how much weight you lifted, how does that help on the playing field?
Too many coaches just pass on to their athletes what they did when they were playing without realizing that there is a much better way. Things have changed and they have changed for the better. For example, coaches will have their football player’s bench press to train for football. Think about this, how often does a football player need this skill? When does he get down on the field and bench press another player? It doesn’t happen.    You may think this would help a lineman and it might if all he had to do was push his opponent away one time but that is not what he needs. He needs the strength and the endurance to outlast his opponent at the line and bench pressing does not help with that at all.
I get frustrated when I see the exercises that young athletes are told to do by their coaches, like the deep squat. I can’t believe people are still doing this dangerous and useless exercise in the year 2007. When you go below a 90-degree angle when you squat you are doing major damage to your knees and there again when in your sport do you need this skill? I can’t think of one sport where the player does this, can you?
Sports specific training is so much safer because you’re training your body for the demands of your sport so that when you are in the game your body is ready for those unique demands when they happen. The results are just incredible.
For example, I have athletes who have increased their vertical jump by 3 inches in just 5 sessions, I have seen wrestlers who couldn’t keep their opponent down become vice like on their opponent.
Core and balance training are also a big part of sports specific training. You may not even realize it but these components are necessary in every sport there is. It is unbelievable the difference it makes to have a conditioned core. Conventional training does not even address this at all except to maybe throw in some sit-ups and, trust me there are no sit-ups in core training.
Like I said, the body is an amazing thing and it is capable of amazing things but you need to work with it, not against it. You need to train it, not punish it.

Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized fitness professional specializing in the training of athletes. He is the creator of the HOT selling volleyball Training program – Training For Volleyball

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Girls Volleyball:Top 5 Ways To Get The Varsity Volleyball Coach To Notice You

May 21, 2008 · Filed Under Volleyball Articles · Comment 

Okay, some freshmen girls who play volleyball CAN rely on pure physical raw talent when it comes to being considered for the Varsity team but there are some things you can do if you are a little less physically endowed. To get the volleyball Coach to notice you just check out these tips and apply them to your next practice.

1. Come Early, Leave Late to Practice. For girls volleyball practice, I used to come to my High School gym one half hour before practice and lay in the middle of the gym and just visualize that the court was mine. Seriously, I convinced myself that anything that happened on that court, any ball that came on my side I was personally going to be responsible for. Nothing was going to fall in defense and no one was going to dig my hits. I think something worked because we made it to the California State Championships for the first time my senior year. I chose to to come early and/or stay late to exercise my mental skills but I also did it to practice serving and individual wall drills for setting and passing as well.

2. Become the most effective server on your girl’s volleyball team. Read the article the “Girl’s Volleyball: Top 5 Places to Serve After a Team Timeout” to learn how to become Your volleyball team’s most effective server.

3. Okay its not a movie about girl’s volleyball but still GO rent the DVD movie “Rudy” starring Sean Astin…Watch it …then adopt his “never quit” attitude. Period.Yeah, it’s a football movie - but it’s the best one you will ever see AND you’d be surprised how many conditioning drills in football are similar to the ones we do in girls volleyball. Just watch the movie.

4. Go After EVERY Ball in Defense. For your girls volleyball practice adopt the “Rudy” attitude in defense and make any ball in defense YOUR ball. Decide that nothing falls around you or in your immediate area. Take pride in TRYING to get every ball up so your team has another chance to play it and make a point or side out.

5. Become the Backrow Quarterback for your girl’s volleyball team. Talk to your teammates before, during and after the game and give them valuable information about what you see happening. Direct traffic by calling out plays you see developing. This isn’t difficult because many times a backrow player - if she’s concentrating can see a play developing just like the front row player or sooner. So if you see the Right Front player sliding over to run the “X ” Don’t keep this information to yourself! Call it out “Watch the X” Watch number 15 coming around” Say it Loud enough so everyone can hear it. If you see the fake “X” developing which is what alot of setters call after running the X “Call it out” out loud…”watch number 15 coming around for the fake X”. Let the blockers hear you, let your defense hear you…just commentate. Secrets?

There are no secrets on the court. Let your teammates know what to expect. If a player goes through the front row rotation and all the points she made were by wiping off the block or hitting cross court, the next time she rotates up to the Left Front YOU go up and out loud and tell YOUR front row blockers in a LOUD voice “Hey that #15 the last time hit everything Xcourt. Be ready for her Xcourt attack.” Besides this being a very good way of “getting inside” your opponent’s head it let’s your coach know that you are a smart volleyball player that is making yourself aware of what is going on in the game and is doing what it takes to help your team win. Question: How Tall do you have to be a good Backrow Quarterback? Answer: Size just doesn’t matter!!!!

April Chapple is a former USA National Team member and Volleyball Professional who created the first virtual volleyball mentoring community with volleyball information sites including http://www.top5volleyball.com and http://www.volleyballvoyeur.com for all females who play. Be sure to Subscribe to the free Volleyball Voices Newsletter!

source: www.Isnare.com

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