LESSON 2:
How to Relieve Muscle Soreness

Dennis Jackson, Creator of Volleyball Strength Presents...

Coaching Lessons to Insane Gains
in Volleyball Strength and Power

1. Increase the blood flow and oxygen to the damaged area (to facilitate the breakdown of metabolic by-products, and the removal of debris, and to speed nutrients to the cells for healing).

2. Relax the muscles. Experiment with the following activities to determine which one helps reduce and relieve your soreness the quickest. Most likely you'll need a combination of these methods.

A. Static Stretching.

Focus on slow and gradual stretching. Stretch each muscle just to where you begin to feel the stretch then hold that position until you feel the muscle let go.



Don't bounce or force the muscle unless you want to create more harm than good.

Flexibility training for volleyball should involve both dynamic and static stretching exercises. Static stretching can be good for increasing the resting lengthen of tight muscles.

Static stretching relaxes muscles turning off the nervous system.

B. Light Exercise.

Muscles that are not used will become stiff and take longer to become pain free. Gentle, non-stressful exercise will increase the circulation and relax your muscles.

It's important to spend time warming up before training sessions, volleyball practices, and tournaments. A proper warm up will help with preventing injuries and recovery from workouts.

Cooling down after your workouts will also improve your performance and accelerate the recovery process.

C. Pre-workout Nutrition

What you eat before you train depends on the individual athlete, current training level, and training goals.
Generally, 100 to 200 grams of complex carbohydrates 2 to 3 hours before the workout and another 50 grams 30 minutes to 1 hour before the training session.

It may help to consume simple carbohydrates before, during or after the workout.

D. Post-workout Nutrition

Consume a post-workout nutrition bar or drink after your workout.

Consume carbohydrates right after training while your body is still warm to better replenish muscle glycogen.

3. Massage.

Good old fashioned massage acts much like light exercise or gentle stretching by increasing your circulation and coaxing the muscles to relax. The differences are that with massage you need do nothing other than simply enjoy, and the massage therapist can locate and work with those areas of your musculature most in need of attention.

4. Foam Rolling.

When training speed and power, muscle regeneration is very important for those stressed areas.

The tissue that's been damaged needs to be treated. The tissue can be treated and opened back up by using a foam roller.

The purpose of foam rolling is to regenerate your muscle tissue and help create the highest quality tissue. Foam Rolling is like giving yourself a massage. The foam roll uses deep compression to help massage out muscle spasms that develop over time.

After awhile, the quality of tissue will improve. Harder rollers should then be used for muscle tissue that's harder to break up.



The self massage results in your nerves relaxing, your muscles loosening up helping blood flow and your body recover. The purpose of the self massage is to irritate the tissue to produce a chemical response. This is why soft tissue work can often be painful.

The chemicals produced are what begin the healing process. Soft tissue work is important because the massage changes the quality of the muscle fibers.

Athletes should do self massage using the foam roller because it's so easy to maintain the tissue on your own.

5. Cold.

Cold water or ice breaks the pain/ischemia/spasm cycle by increasing the circulation and interfering with pain signals. Ice is also an excellent anti-inflammatory agent and will greatly speed healing. I run my muscles under cold water for 3-10 minutes after a workout.

6. Alternating Hot and Cold.

Since the thought of hot often seems more soothing it is included here, but in combination with cold. Hot water will relax muscles and increase circulation but will also increase inflammation and swelling within muscle fibers.

Therefore it is important to alternate with cold and end with cold. This can take the form of a sauna and swim, a whirlpool and cold plunge, a hot and cold shower or a hot bath and ice.

After 3-10 minutes of cold, run the hot shower on your legs for 1 minute. And than repeat a few times.

7. Movement In The Pool.

Water supports your muscles and makes them easier to use.

If you are extremely sore it will be easier for you to use your muscles in the pool either walking, stretching, or gently swimming.

I trust this is more than enough information to speed your recovery and return to volleyball training!

Workout hard and train smart,