Expert: Bob Anagnostou - 9/10/2007

Question
My daughter's volleyball coach has them running the mile everyday.  It appears to me that her vertical jump has decreased as a result.  Is running a mile everyday good conditioning for volleyball?

Answer
Dear friend,

Long distance running INDEED has a detrimental effect on leg speed and explosiveness, as a result, vertical jump decreases.

But, let me explain this to you. Jumping is a anaerobic exercise (used by athletes in non-endurance sports to build power and by body builders to build muscle mass) and it engages the fast twitch muscle fibers(the "power" muscle fibers).
Long distance running is aerobic exercise (used by athletes in endurance sports) because it engages slow twitch muscle fibers(the endurance fibers) that may produce power for more time but they are much less stronger.

If someone runs long distance slow muscle fibers are trained and fast twitch muscle fibers start to become slow. As a result, less fast twitch muscle fibers=less explosiveness and power.

To me, the best conditioning exercise for basketball and volleyball is by far the jumping rope. 10-15 minutes of jumping rope would be great. It is really challeging and not detrimental for legs exlposiveness.


Sincerely Yours,
Coach B.Anagnostou
Olympiacos Coaching staff
(Euroleague, HEBA)