Professional Volleyball Speed, Agility & Quickness Annual Periodization Model 

By: Sean, M, Freitas © 2021 All rights reserved.

Figure 1: Professional Volleyball Annual Periodization Model 

        Professional Volleyball is a fast-paced, rapid change of direction and hard-hitting requiring athletes to execute large volume of jumps making athletes susceptible to jumper’s knee and patellar tendinopathy with over 44% of players reporting symptoms (Skazalski et al., 2018). Excessive training volume increases these risks by 3.9-fold per extra set and 1.7-fold per hour extra the athlete trains (Skazalski et al., 2018). Sports skill work should limit added jump trainingunless the athlete is being fully measured and monitored by individual training load with a Sport Scientist which is absolutely essential for addressing musculoskeletal compensation patterns. With a total of more than 129 173 total jumps (Table 1.5) performed during 142 sessions injunction with 108 practices, 7 pre-season matches, and 27 matches setters performed the largest number of jumps on average of 121 (Skazalski et al., 2018). Jump demands are very high in professional volleyball and performance periodization models with the ability to match weekly jump count variability. Foot speed, reaction time, proprioception, dynamic postural control and kinesthetic awareness are key technical factors when developing the overall performance of the volleyball player (Dawes, 2019). 

Table 1.1: Professional Volleyball Speed, Agility & Quickness Annual Periodization Model (August-January)

Table 1.2: Professional Volleyball Speed, Agility & Quickness Annual Periodization Model (February-July)

Table 1.3: Microcycle Structure for Professional Volleyball Player Annual Periodization Model

Figure 1.4: Microcyle Structure for Professional Volleyball Player Annual Periodization Model

Table 1.5: Jump Variability (Skazalski et al., 2018).

    Program design will follow a 2–3-day training split for speed and agility weeks with transitional periods (Table 1.2) and (Table 1.3) will show a reduction in agility and quickness training but see an increase in strength training to allow the athlete to small tapers in guidance to achieving peak performance. Agility exercises such as lateral line hops, pro-agility, modified T-Test, shadow drill and scissors shall be programmed for 3 sets and last for a 5-10 second duration utilizing a work-to-rest ratio of 1:5-1:7 multiplier. These work-to-rest ratios are based upon match play with longer rallies and shorter sets (Dawes, 2019). The strength training and agility/speed work shall never be done on the same day. Endurance training is mixed on some days with strength training, but I like to keep the agility drills to their own day in order to make sure that the athlete is not over training. The program is meant to be able to adjust to meet the demands of sport, especially with professional volleyball players playing anywhere from 25-50 games. If there is a game agility drills will be moved to those off days, again that requires that the athlete is a proper sports scientist monitoring their training program. For endurance workouts I would like to take as much load off of the body as possible if available the upper body ergometer is ideal for aerobic development with a continuous run of 10 minutes at 120-140bpm, 25 minutes 155-16bpm and finally 10 minutes 115-130bpm should be done on one endurance day. The other endurance day shall constitute of a steady state run on the bicycle for 20-30 minutes at 145-150bpm followed by a cool down. With the competitive season of professional volleyball being so long I broke up the periodization model up over the course of three competitive phases (Table 1.1) and (Table 1.2) each phase should last 7-9 weeks follow by a short transitional period of 1-2 weeks where a taper can be placed for the athlete in order to prevent over training from occurring. Technical and tactical training was also very important to consider using internal training load you can use the session rating of perceived exertion (SRPE) and impulse of heart rate (Skazalski et al., 2018).  Utilizing heart rate specific zones (Table 1.6), we can accurately program the annual periodization model (zone 3) 80% of heart rate maximum for technical training and tactical training programming at 70-90% of heart rate maximum (zone 3-4) (Duarte et al., 2019). (SRPE) was measured at the end of training sessions by simply asking the athlete how they felt after their training session between 1-10 on the RPE scale.

Table 1.6: Type of Training and HR Zone (Duarte et al., 2019).

     Change of direction is highly prevalent in volleyball and should be programed during all sport-specific phases leading into agility training. Eccentric braking focus during the middle of the season is imperative to keep injuries at rest and again following that up with change of direction and agility training. During the competitive seasons the athletes are going to need to maintain their performance levels for 7-9 weeks which Is why those built-in transitional periods are so important.  Extensive tempo for endurance shall follow the steady-state cardiovascular program while the intensive tempo shall follow the heart rate variability establishment beforehand. Pre-competition should focus on anaerobic and aerobic conditioning while the first transitional period shall focus on aerobic threshold. Strength training focusing on maximal strength and power shall follow the 90-degree eccentric isometrics technique style using less weight, lower joint loading and more core activation.

         Resources: 

Bompa, T. O., & Buzzichelli, C. (2019). Periodization: theory and methodology of training. Human Kinetics. 

 Dawes, J. (2019). Developing agility and quickness. Human Kinetics. 

Duarte, T. S., Alves, D. L., Coimbra, D. R., Miloski, B., Bouzas Marins, J. C., & Bara Filho, M. G. (2019). Technical and Tactical Training Load in Professional Volleyball Players. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 14(10), 1338–1343. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2019-0004 

French, D. N., & Ronda, T. L. (2021). Nsca's essentials of sport science. Human Kinetics, Inc. Haff, G., & Triplett, N. T. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Human Kinetics.

 Jeffreys, I. (2013). Developing speed. Human Kinetics. 

Skazalski, C., Whiteley, R., & Bahr, R. (2018). High jump demands in professional volleyball-large variability exists between players and player positions. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 28(11), 2293–2298. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13255 

Skazalski, C., Whiteley, R., Hansen, C., & Bahr, R. (2018). A valid and reliable method to measure jump-specific training and competition load in elite volleyball players. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 28(5), 1578–1585. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13052