In-Season Resistance Training for Professional Male Volleyball Players

T eam volleyball is an Olympic sport played professionally in many countries around the world. Despite the increasing professionalization of coaches and athletes, there is little research data concerning performance in professional volleyball players. Two major reasons for this are suggested. Some coaches adopt traditional methodologies in resistance training (RT) programs for team volleyball, incorporating, for example, too much plyometric training or too few weightlifting movements. Also, experimental studies in elite athletes, especially in team sports, are very difficult to put into practice. These difficulties are compounded by a problem discussed by Kraemer (29). The inclusion of a control group in the study of top athletes may be unethical, because the withholding of potentially important training would be detrimental for the development of the players selected (29).