Hello coaches and athletes!

I'm new to this particular forum. Volleyball has long been a favorite sport of mine, and anything I can give back to it is a plus. I have been a strength and conditioning coach at the collegiate level for a decade now, and have a website set up to help provide information to other coaches and athletes on training. All of the information, programs, and videos are free for anyone to use at any time. The site is a service for you if you want to use it. I would love any feedback, or if you want a specific program to be made, just let me know either here, or you can email the address at the site.

I just uploaded specific volleyball circuits to help improve overhead striking. They're located here:

XL Athlete Volleyball Circuits

If you are unsure of what the exercises are that are listed, simply click on them and a video will play. I hope this site helps all of you, and again if you have questions, please let me know!

Thanks everyone!

Coach Dave

i dont think training for "overhead striking" is as important as vertical training. swings come mostly naturally...

That may certainly be the case for some, but for others it would not hurt to train. We have extensive training programs, drills, and articles on the site that refer to vertical training, as well as other aspects of volleyball and sport in general. I would recommend delving deeper into the site. We have a ton of stuff on there, and it is all free.

Thanks!

Coach Dave

XL Athlete Website

Hey everyone, we just put up a bunch of medicine ball circuits if you are interested. They can be a great way to train outside of the typical weight room orientated workouts.

Med Ball Circuits for Volleyball

Hope that helps!

Dave

For those of you who may coach younger athletes, and are looking for a strength program to give them, I have recently uploaded a youth training program complete with prehab and warm-up drills.

Youth Volleyball Program Months 1-2

Thanks!
Dave

Hey coaches and athletes,

We have just completed a ton of of updates to the XL Athlete site, if you are interested. Here are a couple of notable things:

Super Endurance Workouts: Link

Plyometric Programs: Link

Workouts: Link

Hope that helps! Just let me know if you have any questions.

Coach D

We have recently begun to receive contributions from sports nutrition consultants at the XL Athlete website, and here is the first article from one of them. It is on fish oil, or Omega-3 fatty acid supplement use and its benefits for athletes of all ages. We recommend it at our respective universities for our athletes, and I personally take it for health benefits. You cannot buy it through us, so you will have to look elsewhere for that. But if you are looking for a nice and fairly short article on this nutrient, this may be something that you should download or print off. I have given it to my athletes as an informative brochure of sorts.

Here is the sheet: Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Athletes

Hope that helps!
Coach D

It seems like every high school clinic we do, we have young athletes asking us for circuits or workouts to increase muscle mass. While we tell them that the most important thing to do is eat, eat, and eat some more of whatever walks, swims, or flies, they would still like some extra workouts. So, we came up with a few circuits you can add in as extra training for those athletes seeking to get bigger, or as short workouts for off-days. These are far from rocket science, and may be rather cheesy to some of the more experienced coaches and athletes here, but they are really simple to implement and get the job done.

So take a look at them if you want, and feel free to download and print them off if you like them.

Get Huge Circuit

Big Arm Circuit

Big Arm and Grip Circuit

Injured Hand and Wrist Workout

If you are not sure of what an exercise is, simply click on it and a video will play.

Thanks!
Coach D

I have just finished making two upper body plyometric workouts for volleyball. You can view and download them from here:

Upper Body Plyometric Workout For Volleyball 1

Upper Body Plyometric Workout For Volleyball 2

Thanks!

Coach D

Here is an article that we recently put up on XL Athlete on training with bands.

Band Training

We also now have a video section on band training as well:

Band Training Exercise Videos

Coach D

There have been several new articles added since this thread was first created. These include:

Coaching The Squat For Taller Athletes

Neural Perplexity

Omega-3 Fatty Acids For Athletes

Training Explosiveness: Weightlifting and Beyond

Overcoaching In The Weight Room

Prebiotics and Probiotics

Quickness, Agility, and Speed Development

Band Training

The Many Variations Of The Squat

Thanks!

XL Athlete just put up a workout plan designed to increase muscle mass for freshmen and other athletes seeking to add size. It is an eight week program, and uses simple exercises that anyone can perform. If you are interested in adding muscle mass, try it out. If you are already big enough, there are many other workout plans on the site as well.

Here is the link:

Extreme Mass Training

Hope that helps!
Coach D

umm spam? if only we had moderators the looked at this forum more than once a year...

Not at all. I have been a member here for quite some time, and everything I provide is FREE. We're not selling anything on XL Athlete. We are a group of collegiate and professional strength coaches, which are our day jobs, and this site is a service we provide for high school and collegiate athletes. We also use it with our own athletes as a matter of convenience. This is latest workout we have put up. Yes, for the workout you have to sign up, but that is free and only occurs so you can enter in your maxes and print off a personalized workout.

So if you see any spam located on our site, let me know immediately.

Thanks,
Coach D

Hello coaches and athletes,

XL Athlete has added several Tabata Interval workouts to its website. They are an excellent way to train both aerobic and anaerobic systems at the same time. They are also quite effective for both novice and elite athletes. In a nutshell, they get you in shape in a hurry. All that is required is four minutes a day with little or no equipment required. It is not required that you sign up to access these workouts, so you can just download and print them off easily.

Here is the link if you are interested:

Tabata Intervals For Volleyball

Thanks!
Coach D

XL Athlete has put up an Off-Season Conditioning Manual with most or all of their conditioning drills and information. Here is a direct link to the pdf:

Off-Season Conditioning Manual

im not saying your association is spam, im saying all your posts on this forum are spam.

but to be honest i dont care that much, id rather have the moderators get rid of all that robot spam selling random crap products. at least you take the time in person to spam us, and for that we thank you.

realistically there basically are no moderators here at all, ever, so keep on doing what you're doing, i know i would. if you have any buddies that are looking for free advertising on a very lively forum, i would point them here.

That is just it, though. I'm not selling anything. I'm a strength coach at the collegiate level, as are the other guys on the site. This is something we do to promote the field and provide free info that folks such as BFS normally charge for. I'm really looking to help high school and college level athletes, but if others have had success with our stuff, so be it. I recently was complimented on our knee prehab routines, as it has helped out volleyball players suffering from persistent tendonitis. That is the kind of stuff that brings me back here. I have trained hundreds of volleyball players throughout my career, and if I can help them out here as well, I think its great. It would be neat to make money writing these programs, but I already do that for a living. Mostly, this stuff is implemented with the athletes I actively train, and it is easy to take it off the internet and give to the athletes.

I didn't say you were selling anything, but you're still spamming and flooding the board.

I know you have good intentions, it's just really frustrating to look at this thread and see every single post is you linking to another of your workouts. notice how no one responds to any of these posts?

it's not to say that your web site and your workouts are not quality, i'm just saying that they way you go about advertising it is generally frowned upon in the internet world.

but like i said before, i don't care that much. i've accepted the fact that this forum is crap and can only hope and pray that spammers dont eventually attack the more useful parts of this forum, where real conversation takes place.

I think the view count of this thread speaks well to its importance.

Thanks for your input and good luck!

Coach D

I disagree. People click threads when they are frequently updated.

You're welcome!

I'm not sure why you dislike free information, but I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.


For those using XL Athlete, here is the link to that conditioning manual once again:

Off-Season Conditioning Manual

We have also added a bunch of new videos to the exercise video section. Again, everything is free for you to download, print off, use, or whatever. You are even allowed to troll this thread if you want!

Thanks,
Coach Dave

XL Athlete just completed a 17-Week In-Season Training Manual for use by anyone who wants one. It includes a two-to-three day strength program, several alternative workouts for injured athletes, adaptability training, prehab/preventative training, recovery and restoration work, nutrition information, and other related training information. Here is the link to the download page, which contains this manual in pdf format, as well as our other manuals and downloads:

XL Athlete In-Season Training Manual

The manual is 96 pages long.

If you have any questions or need anything else, just let me know.

Coach D

Hello coaches and athletes,

You guys may find this useful, as I have recently. It is a basic food chart, and I use it to help keep track of those kids to either need to gain weight or lose weight. For the latter group, it helps give the kids an indication of just how poor they are eating. For the former, it shows just how little they are eating. I track athletes for a few days or a week or so, printing off 7 sheets if needed.

It is really basic, and even if they do not do it as well as they should, it still gets them thinking about it. Here is the chart:

Food Charts

Thanks!
Coach D

Hello coaches and athletes!

Its been a while since I posted, so I wanted to let you know about a bunch of new training articles for volleyball we have put up. These are short articles, largely by Dr. Michael Yessis, who was responsible for bringing much of the excellent sport science from the former Soviet Union to the United States.

Training For Basketball And Volleyball

Can You Prevent Ankle Sprains?

Do Athletes Need Maximum Strength?

Do You Need High Reps For Strength?

Efficiency In Movement

Is Athleticism The Answer?

Is Jump Training For You?

Is It A Training Effect?

Rotary Power

Tight Abs Can Lead To Injury

Why Some Drills Do Not Improve Speed

What Is The Best Way To Warm Up?

I hope that helps you out!

Coach D

Hello coaches, trainers, and enthusiasts,

We have made many new updates to the XL Athlete website as of late. We have added many new articles by Dr. Michael Yessis, found here:

XL Athlete Training Articles

We have also put up four different levels of a seated upper body circuit, which we have used with success with athletes who have suffered a leg injury, but need to stay in shape. These can also be used by anyone looking for something different to do for the upper body:

Seated Upper Body Circuit Level 1

Seated Upper Body Circuit Level 2

Seated Upper Body Circuit Level 3

Seated Upper Body Circuit Level 4

Hope that helps you out!

Coach D

The University of Minnesota's General Fitness Manual was just added as a download to XL Athlete this morning. This manual is sent to all incoming athletes for purposes of introducing them to some of the drills and training that takes place at the university, as well as a means of improving general physical fitness.

Here is the link to the download page:

XL Athlete Downloads

Thanks,
Coach D

XL Athlete has just put up a Simple Series high volume 4-week program at their site. Basically, it is a quick-and-dirty program that requires only a stall mat, a bar, and some bumpers/weights. It can be done in any garage or small room where you have these items available. So if you do not have a lot of equipment at your gym, or train your son at home, this will work perfect. It is the first installment of the Simple Series excel-based workouts, and it targets work capacity and hypertrophy using basic lifts with higher volumes. Volume varies on a daily and weekly basis as well. A knowledge of fundamental exercises is required (such as squats, presses, and the Olympic Lifts).

Here is the link:

Simple Series High Volume Training

It says to log in, so if you haven't signed up, its free to do so and takes a second. Nothing costs money on this site, you just need a log in so that you can enter in your maxes, and have your program customized for you.

Thanks,
Coach D

New XL Athlete article on preventing ACL Injuries:

Preventing ACL Injuries

Here is XL Athlete's entire booklet of cone agility drills if you are interested. There are around 30 different drills contained within. Here is the description that goes along with them:

Cone Agility Drills imitate a more realistic situation in sports where multi-directional changes occur constantly. These drills are most beneficial when starting fresh and not immediately following a hard lifting session. When performing cone drills, you want to assume a natural athletic stance. Because of the constant directional changes, it is important to remember to keep your center of gravity (hips) low. The lower your center of gravity, the easier it will be to change direction. This is especially important when changing from forward to backward movement, and vice versa. As you anticipate a change coming, remember to get your hips low to be able to drive your body towards the direction required. In keeping your center of gravity under control, you are teaching your body a new and very functional habit.

And here is the drill booklet: Cone Agility Drill Booklet

Hope that helps!
Coach D

XL Athlete just put up a new plyometric routine for volleyball focusing on a higher level of "shock" to the neuromuscular system using a more intense exercise selection than the other routines on the website. Here is the drill sheet:

Total Body Shock Plyometric Workout

Thanks!
Coach D

XL Athlete just put up a number of new and consolidated workouts available for anyone to use if they wish. The workouts require that you have signed up (free) in order to enter in your maxes and download/print a workout with your custom loads and numbers. Here are a few that you may be interested in here:

Non-Olympic Speed Strength For Volleyball
Volleyball Advanced Off-Season Strength Training

Olympic-Based Speed Strength For Volleyball:
Volleyball Olympic Off-Season Training

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks!
Coach D

For all of your athletes who need to prepare for the mile test coming up this fall, XL Athlete has created a four-week running program designed to get your athletes in shape and perform better on the mile test. It is also an AWESOME way to quickly get your athletes in shape, as it is a heck of a conditioning workout. The program has running for six days a week, with sprints, intervals, and distance all worked in. I think you'll like it. And as always, its on-the-house!

Here is the printable sheet:

Four-Week Running Program For Mile Test

Hope that helps!
Coach D

XL Athlete just uploaded a new article by Dr. Yessis discussing the selection of proper running shoes. Here is an excerpt and a link to the entire article:



Here is the link to the rest of the article at XL Athlete:
Selecting Proper Shoes

For information regarding the benefits of weightlifting shoes, refer to this link:
The Benefits of Weightlifting Shoes

For more articles on what Dr. Yessis and others have to say about training, refer to this link:
Training Articles

If you guys have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me here, or send an email to the address listed at the bottom of our homepage:
XL Athlete

Thanks!
Coach D