Training Repeated Effort Ability in National Team Male Volleyball Players
in International Journal of Sports Physiology and PerformanceClick name to view affiliation
Purpose:
This case study evaluated the effect of repeated lateral movement and jumping training on repeated effort ability in a group of national team male volleyball players.
Methods:
Twelve volleyball players were assessed on their volleyball-specific repeated movement and jumping abilities using a volleyball-specific repeated effort test (RET) before and after 12 weeks of training. The athletes performed between 8 and 9 volleyball training sessions per week, with 5 to 6 of these sessions including specific training aimed at improving repeated effort ability. Typically these training sessions involved 8 to 12 repetitions of 2 to 3 block jumps over a 9-m lateral distance (ie, the athletes had to perform jumps and lateral movements, typical of front court play in volleyball). Population-specific repeatability data were used to determine whether any changes that may have occurred in this study were beyond the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for this testing procedure.
Results:
Improvements in all variables of the RET were observed for each athlete involved in the study, with a small-to-moderate magnitude observed for the mean changes in each variable (Cohen’s d, 0.21 to 0.59). All of the improvements in the results exceeded the MCID.
Conclusions:
These findings demonstrate that the RET is sensitive to training-induced changes. Lateral movement speed and repeated lateral movement speed, as well as jumping and repeated jumping ability are trainable qualities in high-performance volleyball players.
Sheppard is with the Australian Institute of Sport, Belconnen, Australia, and the School of Biomedical and Exercise Science, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia; Gabbett is with the Queensland Academy of Sport, Brisbane, Australia; and Borgeaud is with the Australian Institute of Sport, Belconnen, Australia.
© 2023 Human Kinetics