Winter Volleyball Training

OK, so it's been a dry, warm winter out here in New Mexico. I was hoping to get out and do some snowshoeing to stay in shape. Only problem - no snow. So, it was a winter spent in the gym. Here's how it went:
After loosing third game leads in both Aspen and Phoenix, I was determined to get into much better shape for the next season so as to not have to suffer through those kinds of experiences again. Certainly both teams that beat us in those matches were worthy and played well, but I can't shake the feeling that I was not in as good of a condition as I should be at the end of those tournaments. So, I went on a book buying binge. I got a couple of books by Don Chu dealing with explosive strength and plyometrics, another book on plyomentrics, one on functional training in sports, a book on mental conditioning (Ken Baum's the Mental Edge - I strongly reccomend this one), and a book on tape on sports psychology. Jeeze, guess I was motivated at the end of the season because I tore through all of the books in record time. Most of the plyo ones are good resources for different exercises. Time to turn the book knowledge into something useful.
I started off in late October. I was working on the last 2 phases of the Core Performance program. I had previously worked through the first six weeks, and this was the final six. It's a pretty comprehensive program with a lot of functional training, that is working muscle groupings rather than isolation. It also covers things such as flexibility, elasticity, balance and stability and cardio conditioning. Good stuff. I got through 4 weeks of that before hooking up with my online trainer.
I'll have to find out if she wants to be identified by name, but I connected with a trainer with tons of experience through the AVP forums. I explained my situation, goals and committment and she helped to put together a program. Main thing for me was to build strength. A lot of what I had been reading pointed to increasing vertical jump and explosiveness often begins with increasing your strength base. So, for 8 weeks I worked out 4 to 5 days a week, giving each body part about 4 or 5 days of rest. I worked drop sets 12-10-8-6 with increasing weight. This helped a lot, and I got way stronger. All the benchmarks for strength of an athlete my size were finally starting to add up. I also started gaining weight, setting forth on my goal of gaining 15 lbs. I was able to add about 8 of lean body mass during this phase. The other important part was that I had to focus on my eating habits and increase my protein and caloric intake. I also did no cardio.
OK, week off, then time for the next phase. This one was brutal. Absolutely brutal. It was a 5x5 program. That means 5 sets of 5 reps of the same weight for each exercise, and that weight should be heavy, starting around 80% of a 1rm and increasing each week. Each body part was hit 3 times a week. The program was modified for volleyball, so it had more relevant exercises like squats, deadlifts, BB rows, etc. This was known as a loading phase, where the body was kept in a constant state of fatigue and breakdown. Did I mention I got sick a lot this winter? The worst was during this phase, I guess part of the breakdown inlcuded my immune system. Anyhow, at the end of 4 weeks (3.5 for me actually, my cold forced me to stop short), I went through a deload phase, allowing the body to recover. The end result was my body returned stronger than when it started. Again lots of calories and no cardio. My overall weight went up another 2 pounds.
I took about a week and a half off after that, and boy I needed it. Back to the gym and I'm in my current phase. Right now, 3 days a week working with weights. I'm doing more functional exercises, such as 1 leg roman deadlifts, front squats to press, Bulgarian squats, etc. I've also added complex training, such as doing squat jumps after the squat to press, split jumps after Bulgarian Squats, etc. Plyometrics have entered the picture now, since I have a solid strength foundation and the risk of injury is reduced. I should also mention I've been doing lots of active stretching prior to workouts and static stretching afterwards throughout the training sessions. This is giving me a greater range of motion and I believe will translate well in game situations. I'm also back doing cardio, mostly on the elliptical machine, working interval training. It takes a little while to get your wind when you're starting at 7000 feet elevation, but I'm slowly getting there. As this phase progresses, I'll be doing more plyometrics (Like box jumps), 2-3 times a week and continue with the cardio, flexibility and functional training. I'm really trying to build stabilizer muscles throughout my core, legs and shoulders, since these subtle guys play a huge role. And of course it is getting warm now, so that means some fun stuff in the sand, but we'll save that for another post.