Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Beach Volleyball Jump Exercises

Learn how to jump higher in beach volleyball with simple volleyball jump exercises. You want to make sure you do all of your volleyball training and drills in the sand so that you can be used to it when it comes to game day. Beach volleyball jump training should consist of low reps at max height to increase your vertical jump ability.

Squat jumps from a seated position are one of the best exercises for beach volleyball. You simply put a chair that's about knee height by the net and explode up jumping as high as you can and act as if you are blocking the ball. Land back in the seated position and repeat. You want to get as high as you can each time you jump.

Casey Patterson Wins AVP Volleyball Tournament

Casey Patterson along with his teammate Ty Loomis won their first AVP beach volleyball tournament on July 5th 2009. Casey moved to CA 2 years ago from Utah with the determination to become a professional beach volleyball player. He is consistently in the top 2 for hitting percentage in the AVP and last week he proved that he has what it takes to be a top player in the tour.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Riverside AVP Beach Volleyball Tournament

The AVP beach volleyball tour was in Riverside this weekend and it was an exciting tournament. Among some of the new comers to the sport were 2 utah players Casey Patterson and Bryan Stewart. Casey Patterson with partner Ty Loomis finished in 7th place for a career best. And Bryan Stewart with partner Justin Phipps qualified for the first time in his carrer.
Bryan Stewart won the AVP young guns tournament last week and is a rising star in the AVP. Look for him to be among the top of the tour in years to come.

Wanna learn how to jump like a beach volleyball pro? CLICK HERE!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Jumping Program - Increase Your Vert for Volleyball


The Jump Manual



The Jump Manual is the only program that guarantees 10 inches minimum gain or your money back. Check it out CLICK HERE!


The creator of the program, Jacob Hiller, has been developing his vertical jump program fundamentals for 8 years. As the newest program available, The Jump Manual implements all of the latest developments in vertical jump training. Jacob Hiller has helped hundreds of athletes to better their vertical with the use of nine important yet frequently ignored facets of training.



The other important things about this program include:


A Multi-Faceted Approach. The Jump Manual embraces the idea that the way to get the fastest gains is to do exercises that encompass a wide range of work-outs--unlike a lot of programs that only focus on a single type of exercise.



Videos. Unlike a lot of other programs, this one is very visually appealing. There are videos for all of the exercises, so there's no question how to do the work-outs. And you can see for yourself that Jacob is a trained athlete himself, and knows what he's talking about. I cannot emphasize how much it helped to understand a concept by watching a video of the exercise instead of just reading about it. Which would you prefer, to read about an exercise or to see it being done the way it’s supposed to be done? Also, I was told Jacob sends regular updates to his customers, with free bonuses like an interview with one of the top basketball shooting coaches in the world.



Simplicity. The program is very simple and easy-to-use. Jacob Hiller explains the concepts in The Jump Manual in a very clear, easy-to-understand way, even difficult ideas like plyometrics.



One-on-One Coaching. This program has a very personal touch to it. With some other programs you'll be blown away by the hype, and you'll get ignored once you give out your credit card number. Jacob does unlimited email coaching for the first month of the program for free, and then if you choose you can continue on a cost-per-monthly basis.

This in and of itself is worth the price because mentoring is one of the keys to every athlete's success.



Scientific Principles. Jacob Hiller is an experienced and certified athletic trainer. He uses real fitness principles to get results, so there's no need for hype or ambiguity. He spells everything out succinctly. If you obey these proven principles, he claims, the results have to come.



Results. This is the greatest part...the website claims that no one who has completed the program has asked for their money back. That means 100% customer satisfaction... I'm convinced this is the best product out there. I recommend this program for anyone who is serious about getting results, who would enjoy personal coaching from an expert, and who is looking for a program that provides a safe, healthy way to achieve those goals.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Beach Volleyball Jumping Biomechanics

Jumping exercises are now widely known by the term plyometrics. The actual words plyo and metrics stand for measurable increases.

Plyometrics links strength with the speed of the muscle to produce power. Plyometrics are exercises designed in a way to enable a muscle to reach maximum strength in the shortest time possible.

When you want to move a muscle, your brain sends a chemical reaction to the muscles. Some movements occur without any conscious effort on your part.

The greatest jumpers actually don't spend much time on the ground. They realize that the longer they are on the ground the more energy is lost and that same energy could be used to jump higher.

So to teach people how to jump higher you must focus on being in contact with the ground for a shorter period of time. This is why plyometrics exists, to teach muscles a faster reaction time.

A muscle has more energy if it is stretched immediately prior to it contracting. This is why dropping down before you jump will actually cause you to jump higher.

Muscles behave in many ways like a rubber band. The more you stretch a rubber band the more power it will have when you let go.

An example of how our muscles react to stretching is the knee test. When the patella tendon under the knee cap is tapped, your muscle will react with power with no conscious thought on your part.

A muscle contraction is always fastest if stretched prior to contraction. Sadly, training does not increase the speed of the reaction, but it does increase the strength that the contraction will have.

So whether you play sand volleyball, basketball, or any other sport you need the power you develop from plyometrics.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Beach Volleyball Rules You Must Know

Indoor volleyball and beach volleyball are much different. You can't just assume that you can play beach volleyball because you play indoor volleyball. Here are some differences between beach volleyball and indoor volleyball

1. The serve is the best place to start with our rules. A tossed ball that isn't contacted is a lost point.

2. You might wonder why players are always switching sides during a game when playing beach volleyball. These side switches occur every 7 points if you go to 21 and every 5 if going to 15. This happens because one side is always better than the other.

3. You are allowed to go onto the opposing side to retrieve a ball. This is only if the ball was hit outside the antennas.

4. A beach volleyball is not an indoor volleyball. Beach volleyballs are much softer because the psi is always below 4 psi.

5. In beach volleyball you are allowed to double a hard driven ball. Indoor volleyball does not allow a double to occur on a hard driven ball.

6. Never take the serve with you fingers. Serves can't be doubled in beach volleyball so if you take it with your hands it must bounce off your palms and your hands must be touching each other.

7. Chances are if you learned volleyball by playing indoors you will get every set called by the ref. An outdoor set is much cleaner than indoor and shouldn't spin.

8. You can't just set the ball over the net sideways when playing beach volleyball. You must be perpendicular to the ball if the ball goes over the net.

9. The block counts as a hit in beach volleyball. So if you touch the ball on the block you have 2 more hits to get it back over the net.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Beach Volleyball Shorter Court

A beach volleyball court is a meter shorter and narrower than an indoor volleyball court. This means that the court measures 16 meters by 8 meters. This is the case with any court where there are only 2 players, whether it be sand volleyball or grass volleyball. If there are 2 players per team then the size of the court is smaller. I know shorter and older players hate this, but that's the way it is. It's not 1982 anymore which means that the points are always rally scoring and the court is smaller when 2 people are playing. It's too easy for unskilled players to win points and even games when the court is huge like an indoor court. Playing on a smaller court means you have to be better in every aspect of your game. You have to be able to serve better because there is a meter less on each side of the net. You have to be able to hit (spike) a lot better because you will most likely hit too wide or too long on a shorter court. It just takes a different skill level to play on a smaller court, but the adaption has to take place.
There are too many tournaments that i've seen where people are still using the big court size to play doubles. This makes no sense. I see tournaments where the highest division (open) is played in sand on smaller courts while the rest of the people play on grass with huge courts the size of football fields (the indoor court size). It's time for all the old folks and players with no hops to suck it up and start playing the sport how it's supposed to be played.... on smaller courts. I know you learned how to play volleyball indoors and you feel comfortable with all that extra area for your shanked or spatched balls to land in on the other side. But, this is outdoor volleyball now so you have to abide by all the rules. It's like being a great tennis player and then trying to transition over to ping pong but you want to play it on a table the size of a tennis court. It takes all the skill out of the game because the ping pong player now has to play on an oddly sized playing area.