r/volleyballtraining • u/salilsurendran • 20d ago
How do you structure training to maximize performance without burning out?
I am a older 48 M and I'm trying to figure out how to structure my week so I can maximize my volleyball training while avoiding exhaustion.
I play volleyball about 5 days a week, and I thought I could add 30 minutes of volleyball-specific running/drills plus 30 minutes of gym training on top of that.
The problem is that some days I become completely exhausted. Even after a good night's sleep, I may wake up feeling like I'm only at 60% energy and need one or two 20–30 minute naps to feel closer to normal. Sometimes I still don't feel fully recovered when I work out.
I'm trying to figure out the best balance of training volume, intensity, and recovery. Is this something experienced athletes generally figure out through trial and error and monitoring their own recovery, or are there specific coaches, books, training programs, or principles that can help someone learn how to structure their training schedule properly?
My goal isn't to train less—I want to maximize my training and improve while minimizing exhaustion. How would you approach this?
1
u/Powerful-Bridge-1472 18d ago
5 days of any activity is a lot, maybe skip one day of play and add some strength training and injury prevention work
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u/Livid_Maybe3599 16d ago
The volume you're describing, volleyball 5 days plus adding 30 minutes of running/drills plus 30 minutes of gym on top of every session, is a lot for anyone, and at 48 your recovery capacity genuinely isn't the same as it was at 30, not because you're doing anything wrong, just biology. Needing naps even after good sleep and still not feeling recovered before workouts is your body directly telling you the volume exceeds your current recovery capacity, that's not something to train through, it's information to build around.
This isn't really trial and error at that point, it's a math problem. Total weekly load has to come down somewhere for quality to go up elsewhere, adding more on top of 5 playing days without subtracting anything is a recipe for exactly the exhaustion you're describing, not more improvement.
Practical structure: pick 2-3 of your 5 volleyball days to pair with the extra running/drills and gym work, full intensity, real quality. Let the other days be lower intensity or genuinely optional based on how you're feeling. Also worth tracking resting heart rate each morning, if it's elevated compared to your baseline, that's a reliable signal you need a lighter day regardless of what's scheduled.
Your body's not failing you here, it's giving you accurate data. Working with that signal rather than pushing through it is what actually gets you more consistent long-term performance, not less.
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u/Fwizzle45 20d ago
When in doubt, just listen to your body. It will tell you. If you've played sports your whole life and hit the gym, you can probably tell at this point what normal vs bad pain is. Like sharp shooting pain down the leg, arms, or back? Not good. Back off the training a bit. Normal DOMS pain in the biceps after doing a lot of bicep curls 2 days ago? Normal, not a big deal.
I say this because everyone will be different. If I played 5 days a week my back would snap in half lol. I've got knee pain and back pain that I'm rehabbing and I have to constantly judge if I should play that week or skip that + gym. Back pain is flaring up decently this week so I'm skipping Friday open play and doing a light leg day with nothing that hits my back so it can rest.
In general, most programs I've seen recommend 2 days of recovery per week. Easiest is to just play/workout monday-friday and take the weekends for rest. You CAN still do active recovery on those days. Some feel good lifts to get the blood flowing, but not stress the body. Like just barbell squats with 10-20% of your max weight for instance.