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Overload
Basic to the improvement of strength, endurance (muscular and circulorespiratory) and flexibility, is the overload principle. The overload principle states that the particular activity being performed, whether
designed to improve cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, strength, or flexibility, must be such that it exceeds in intensity the demands normally made on the individual. It is obvious that an
individual is not going to increase strength, for example, unless greater demand is put on his present strength capacity.
To improve strength, the resistance (i.e. weight used) should be such that the player is unable to carry out the exercise more than 12 times consecutively. If he can exceed 12 repetitions then gain in strength
will be minimal but gain in muscular endurance will result.
Improvement in circulo-respiratory endurance is obtained by imposing a work load such that in general the heart rate is raised to over 160 beats per minute. When the heart rate is less than this, no improvement
in endurance occurs.
To improve flexibility, the overload point is that at which the tissues surrounding the joint offer resistance. Care must be taken to see that too much stress is not applied and damage to tissue results.
Working at or above the overload level will result in some improvement of the relevant performance factor under training. However, the intensity of the performance is also an important determinant of the rate
of improvement. The aim should be to reduce the amount of time needed to perform a certain amount of work.
The improvement of these performance factors and the subsequent maintenance of the improvement is affected by the frequency of training.
Strength training should be carried out on alternate days. Daily training is not recommended unless the muscle groups receiving training are changed.
Training to develop other performance factors should be carried out at least five times a week.
As the training effect increases, the threshold which must be reached before improvement will result also increases. This means that the training programme must be increased either by increasing the amount of
work carried out in the same time or by carrying out the same amount of work in a shorter time.
The volleyball player must develop strength in his legs to aid jumping, in his wrists to aid volleying and in his arms to aid smashing. He must also improve the endurance of each of these muscle groups and the
speed at which they work. The faster he can take off, the more difficult the smasher is to block; the longer he maintains a high vertical jump, the longer he will be able to smash and block effectively.
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Principle of Training
