Strength Training: Come Prepared for Club Season!

It never fails—it's December 14th, two weeks into the club volleyball season, and an athlete comes to their trainer, points just below their kneecap, and says, “My knee hurts. What should I do?”

The truth? It might be too late. The work should have already been done.

Injuries typically fall into two major categories: acute and chronic.Acute injuries happen suddenly—like rolling an ankle or tearing an ACL (knock on wood). Physical preparation can reduce the risk of these injuries, but if you fall hard enough, awkwardly enough, they can still occur. 

Chronic injuries, also known as overuse injuries, are a different story. These take weeks—sometimes months—to develop. Think about it this way: a car wheel doesn’t usually fall off from hitting one bump in the road. It falls off after thousands of bumps—without any regular maintenance.

So, when you start developing an overuse injury just weeks into club season, it’s your body’s way of saying:“You weren’t prepared.”

Let’s fix that. Perform the following bare-minimum workout 2–3x per week as you approach the season:

✅ Pre-Season Injury Prevention Workout

A1) Monster Walk — 1x10m each direction

B1) Bulgarian Split Squat Isometric — 3x30s each leg

B2) Bilateral Drop Squat — 3x3 reps

C1) Elevated Hip Thrust — 2x10 reps

C2) Pronated Pull-Apart — 2x20 reps

C3) Calf Raise — 2x10 reps

D1) Front Plank — 1x60s

D2) Side Plank — 1x30s each side

🎥 Exercise demos available on

YouTube: @YFVolleyball

@YFVolleyball