Running is a definitely a great activity (one of my favorite ones) that can give you an unfair advantage for other activities and sports including my favorite one “Volleyball”! Indeed …
Running is a great way to build sustainable endurance and stamina. These are essential for a sport like volleyball that usually requires high agility and relentless pace throughout the game and even during hard practice sessions.
In this article, I address some amazing running benefits that will represent a great asset for anyone who wants to practice volleyball, even at a high level.
Running benefits that can help with volleyball.
As I’ve just explained, running is one of the best ways to build endurance & stamina …
Stamina is crucial when it comes to short outbursts of energy and immediate explosiveness which are essential in the court.
Endurance on the other hand is important to be able to outlast the opponents during any given game.
Before players used to run at the end of a practice as a way of recovery or at the very beginning as a way of warm-up …
Today running is more of a fitness test and is used by some coaches to help determine the readiness of their players.
2 more important running benefits for volleyball include:
- Lung capacity – Running can enhance your lung capacity which would help you last longer in games.
- Leg muscles – Running helps you build up your overall leg muscles. It helps defining them and making them stronger. However, do not rely only on running if you want to build your leg muscles.
Helpful Tip: Running is just one form of fitness exercises that you can perform to help your volleyball ability. If you want to learn about other helpful fitness forms, then you should definitely have a look at this amazing book. You will learn the most important exercises and practices that will get you in volleyball shape.
Common muscles used for running and volleyball
Running is a sport that mostly requires leg muscles, while volleyball is a sport that besides the leg muscles requires also other body muscles.
Indeed, Volleyball utilizes nearly the entire body! From the upper legs and hips, across the muscles of the lower legs, the shoulders, and the muscles of the upper arm, all the way to the core muscles.
Running on the other hand utilizes the upper legs and hips. So basically the muscles of the shoulders and the upper arms are not really utilized.
But overall, these are the common used muscles …
- Upper legs and hips (gluteals, hamstrings, quadriceps).
- Lower legs muscles (gastrocnemius, soleus, anterior tibialis).
- Core muscles (rectus abdominus, obliques and spinal erectors).
So, if you were wondering if running can help you build some muscles that are also utilized by volleyball, the answer is yes, it can help you. But remember that you are playing volleyball, do not get carried away with running.
Finally, keep in mind that running can also help strenghen your tighs which is important for volleyball!
Is running enough for your cardio training for volleyball?
Yes, overall running alone can satisfy your needs for volleyball cardio practices.
In addition to its lung capacity enhancement benefit, it can also help your heart, blood pressure and overall health.
Again, volleyball requires a lot of physical endurance & stamina, and running can provide you with both …
However, keep in mind that volleyball does not require a constant flow of energy like running does, it relies more on short burst of energy, lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes.
Besides regular running it would be best if you add a smaller practice that relies on short distance sprints …
Those short distance sprints can give you the needed explosiveness and the needed strength for those short energy bursts that volleyball relies on.
Short sprints affect the body just like regular running but they have a slightly better effect. They make the body work harder for short periods of time, while regular running has a continuous effect on your body.
How often should you run as a volleyball player?
There are a few things that you need to know when it comes to running. The amount of running depends on what you are trying to achieve.
If you want to build up your endurance and stamina, you would probably need to run 4 to 5 times a week, for a few miles for 4 to 6 months at least.
If you are trying to maintain the level that you have achieved during those four or six months of running, you should probably run the same mileage, four to five days a week. Maintaining that level can be possible with three to four days a week, but with higher mileage.
Keep in mind, that overall it is best to do the running separately from volleyball practices. This way, you can easily track your performances which would help increasing that overtime.
It is worth to mention that too much running is one of the main reasons why some volleyball players are somewhat skinny!
Which is best for volleyball, regular running or treadmill running?
Running on a treadmill or running in the park has mostly the same effects/benefits. You will end up getting the same fitness and muscles benefits I’ve mentioned before.
However, there are couple differences …
A treadmill run generally takes place inside a gym or inside your room, while regular running is mostly outside, on a pitch, in the park or in the local woods.
Also, during a regular run you can experience better lung activity, while during a treadmill run the lungs will be active, but not as much as during a regular run.
Finally, there is the psychological effect as regular running can be diverse, you can run a different path every time, you can experience new things while running which keeps you up to speed. On the other side a treadmill is stationary, which might cause some sort of boredom.
So, overall, I would say that regular running is quite better! Yet, this doesn’t mean that treadmill runs won’t have positive effects …
Is Sprinting good for volleyball?
Sprinting is a very good volleyball exercise. Indeed, volleyball is a sport that relies on short outbursts of energy and readiness to explode with energy at any given time.
That being the case, sprinting can help you with that. Sprinting is good for exercising your lungs and your entire body for those short energy outbursts. It activates your lungs and increases your blood flow.
There are a number of ways to exercise sprinting … Below, is my favorite …
You will need to have at least four cones. Place two cones on each side, with the minimum distance of ten yards between them.
After that, go to one end of the imaginary court. Start explosively and sprint to the other side. When you get there quickly turn around and sprint back to where you started.
During this exercise you should start seeing why sprinting is good for volleyball. Your blood flow and heart rate will increase, and your lungs will be fully active as you breath faster.
Final Thoughts …
There are some people who don’t like running too much, yet they are still addicted to volleyball. If this is your case, then don’t try to force this habit and become a runner overnight, as this might cause more bad than good …
Running is overall a long process that takes quite some time for your body to get acclimated with. That’s why, take your time and start with short runs (less than a mile at a time) before going for longer distances.
Finally, it is worth mentionning that many players practice lot of running to get in shape for volleyball tryouts! And all in all, I personally don’t desagree with that approach …