Sunday I did a Q&A on Instagram and got a lot of question regarding how I set up our weekly training in the off-season with teams. Two years ago I would have told you that we follow a pretty simple approach by changing up our emphasis each phase (high reps, eccentric, contrast work, etc) through total body lifts.

But I’ve changed some things a little bit since then. It started with Anthony Donskov getting my wheels turning a little bit with his thoughts on weekly programming in his talk at the NSCA Hockey Clinic and through his social media. I implemented some of those thoughts and concepts with our 🏒 and 🏐 players that were around over the summer and loved it — which has led us to where we are today.

Typical week using volleyball as an example.

Day 1 👉 Our Strength Day. Monday is our ‘strength’ or ‘max effort’ day where we really just focus on developing a stronger athlete. We aim for concentric based work, with lower reps, low volume via compound/basic movements like Split Squats, horizontal rowing, loaded push ups and sled marching.

Day 2 👉 Our Power Day. Wednesday is our ‘power’ or ‘strength-speed’ day where we implement a lot of contrast/complex work with moderate volume but higher intensity. We are simply trying to develop a more powerful and explosive athlete. We still use a lot of basic movements on this day, but we pair them with similar power movements for a PAP effect, like Trap Bar DL paired with Seated Box Jumps and Inverted Row paired with Overhead Slam.

Day 3 👉 Our Work Capacity Day. Friday is everyone’s favorite day or the week 😂 — our work capacity day we’re the volume is high but the intensity is low. We’ll perform higher reps on this day. We’ll perform eccentric work on this day. We’ll perform various isometric strategies in this day. We spend a lot of time under tension on these days and place the day at the end of the week so the athlete has the weekend to recover. Some of the things we’ve done on this day would be eccentric only Slideboard leg curls, RFESS with Isometric holds, and 5 second down + 5 second hold Push Ups.

Hope that helps. If anyone wants an actual 2-4 week program that we’ve done this spring, leave your email in the comment section or email me at cedwards2178@gmail.com and I’ll send you one.

Also, did you know I have created a complete off-season strength and conditioning program for volleyball?

I have!

The book, Ultimate Off-Season Training Program for Volleyball, has everything we do along with a complete strength program built for you!

You can grab a copy HERE!