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External load in male professional volleyball: A systematic review

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Review

External load in male professional volleyball:

A systematic review
Marcel Frezza PISA1*, Arthur Marques ZECCHIN2, Leonardo Gaspar GOMES3, Enrico Fuini PUGGINA4

1 Post-Graduate Program in Rehabilitation and Functional Performance, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, Univer-
sity of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, ORCID 0000-0003-3768-3987
2 Post-Graduate Program in Rehabilitation and Functional Performance, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, Univer-
sity of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil,, ORCID 0000-0002-5970-9466
3 School of Physical Education and Sport of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Brazil, ORCID 0000-0003-
2113-1117
4 Post-Graduate Program in Rehabilitation and Functional Performance, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, Univer-
sity of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; School of Physical Education and Sport of Ribeirão Preto, University of São
Paulo, Brazil, ORCID 0000-0002-8379-2247

* Correspondence: Marcel Frezza Pisa, School of Physical Education and Sport of Ribeirão Preto, University of
São Paulo, Brazil Bandeirantes Avenue, 3900 - Vila Monte Alegre, Ribeirão Preto – São Paulo Zip Code: 14030-
Citation: Pisa MF, Zecchin AM, 680; e-mail: [email protected]; phone no: +55 16 992435678
Gomes LG, Puggina EF. External
load in male professional volleyball: Abstract: Introduction. The objectives of this systematic review were to identify the volleyball external
A systematic review. Balt J Health
loads values in the literature and to verify the applicability of different means of quantification and
Phys Act. 2022;14(2):Article8.
monitoring of these variables during training sessions and matches. Material and methods: This sys-
https://doi.org/10.29359/BJHPA.14.2.08
tematic review was produced following the PRISMA statement recommendations, and the search for
Academic Editor: publications was carried out in the databases PubMed/NCBI, SportDiscus via EBSCOhost, SciELO. 12
Agnieszka Maciejewska-Skrendo studies meet the criteria and were included in this review. Results: The most used tool for quantifica-
Received: March 2021 tion, monitoring and evaluation of external loads are video recording and manual or semi-automatic
Accepted: February 2022 counting of jumps and distance covered and, more recently, the use of inertial measurements unit. The
Published: June 2022 middle blocker has the highest high jump load, outside hitters jump closer to the maximum more often
and setters have a high demand of medium height jumps. Conclusions: Match and training jump loads
Publisher’s Note: BJHPA stays neutral
seem to be similar, and sessions that involve block or attack have a higher jump load. In professional
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affilia-
male volleyball, training is planned with variation in training loads according to the period of the sea-
tions. son and according to the days of the week before and after games.

Keywords: volleyball, physical performance, external load, team sports, jump load.

Copyright: © 2022 by Gdansk

University of Physical Education and
Sport.
Submitted for possible open access 1. Introduction
publication under the terms and Volleyball is a sport played on a court of 162 m² separated by a net into two equal
conditions of the Creative Commons halves of 81 m² for each team. This characteristic and the specificity of volleyball rules
Attribution (CC-BY-NC-ND) license mean that players do not have to run long distances during their actions [1], and in most
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
cases, short and fast displacements are performed with vertical jumps that can be seen by
by/4.0/).
the duration of the game rallies (4 to 10 s) in matches lasting 60 to 90 minutes on average
[2, 3].
In professional volleyball, there are different game positions like setters (ST), outside
hitters (OT) or receivers (RC), middle blockers (MB), opposites (OP) and liberos (LB), with
different functions within the team, which generates different movement patterns and
physical demands for the athletes [4, 5], due to the different frequency of attack and block
jumps per set and anthropometric characteristics as well as important differences between
the different positions [5].

www.balticsportscience.com
Balt J Health Phys Act. 2022;14(2):Article8. 2 of 10

The number of jumps, strikes, changes of direction and accelerations represent the
physical demand practiced by a volleyball player during training, and games can be un-
derstood as a load related to the sport, more precisely an external load. Loads can be di-
vided into internal loads (IL) and external loads (EL). The EL is related to the physical
demands of the motor requirements inherent to the practice and which can be obtained
through analysis of effort quantification, such as distance covered, number of jumps,
training time, sprints and others. The IL is the athlete’s psychophysiological responses to
performing a certain EL [6]. The knowledge of the specific volleyball physical demands
can allow coaches and the coaching staff to plan the training sessions inside the micro-,
meso- and macrocycles more correctly, being able to better distribute the EL according to
the period of the season and the difficulty of the next opponent [7].
Garcia-de-Alcaráz et al. [8] identified that volleyball athletes can perform more than
40 thousand vertical jumps in a training season and that the EL related to vertical jumps
varies according to the player's position and the period within the training planning. Paw-
lik et al. [9] observed that MB and OP performed more total jumps than RC and ST. Re-
lated to the jump height, attack jumps followed by block jumps are performed closer to
the maximum jump height than other types of jumps.
The objectives of this systematic review were to identify the volleyball EL values in
the literature for better knowledge about the loads related to professional male volleyball.
Moreover, it aims to verify if there is a similarity with the EL related to training and the
game and to verify the applicability of the different means of quantification and monitor-
ing of these variables during training sessions and games, thus serving as a parameter to
guide the sports training plan.

2. Materials and Methods

This systematic review was produced following the PRISMA statement recommenda-
tions. The search for publications was carried out from March 28 to May 20, 2020 in the
databases PubMed / NCBI, SportDiscus via EBSCOhost and SciELO using the acronym
PICo to organize the descriptors in non-clinical research. The following descriptors were
used: ((volleyball OR “volleyball indoor” OR “indoor volleyball” [Title]) AND ("physical
performance" OR “physical demand” OR “training load” OR “load training” OR
“workout load” OR “training dose” OR “load quantification” OR "external load" OR
workload OR jumps OR "distance covered") AND (training OR game OR match OR
match-play)) and their equivalents in the Portuguese language.

To manage the retrieved publications, identify any duplicates and organize references,
the Mendeley Desktop software was used (Mendeley Ltd. New York, NY, USA).2.1.

Selection of Studies
In the initial search, 143 articles (Figure 1) were found. Using the software to manage
the references, duplicates were excluded, leaving 61 studies with a summary available for
reading. The eligibility of the studies was carried out by two independent evaluators, and
when there was disagreement, a third evaluator was consulted. Eligibility followed the
inclusion criteria: (1) original articles; (2) abstracts available for viewing; (3) sample com-
posed of male professional athletes; (4) publications in peer-reviewed journals; (5) publi-
cations from January 2000 to May 2020; (6) publications in English or Portuguese; (7) stud-
ies that include at least the quantification of a variable related to external loads in volley-
ball matches or training; and the exclusion criteria were: (1) studies with female athletes;
(2) studies with non-professional athletes or young athletes; (3) results obtained in field
or laboratory tests that do not characterize a real training session or sessions or a sport
match; (4) studies with beach volleyball or sitting volleyball; (5) studies where the de-
scriptors used for the research do not appear in the title, abstract or keywords; (6) articles
without sample categorization.
Balt J Health Phys Act. 2022;14(2):Article8. 3 of 10

We opted for the specified selection period (2000 Jan to 2020 May) to comprise the
period after the main changes to the rules of volleyball implemented by the FIVB in 1998
with the libero inclusion and the change in counting points [1, 10].
After selecting the studies, the Kappa coefficient (Cohen ‘d’) was used to determine
the degree of agreement on the risk of bias evaluation in eligibility of the studies. The
result showed good agreement between the evaluators (k = 0.87, 95% CI [0.80, 0.93], per-
centage of agreement = 91.03%), and 21 studies were selected for full reading. An evalua-
tor read the studies. 10 studies were withdrawn because, after detailed reading, they did
not fit the selection criteria. In the inspection of references, 1 more study that the search
strategy did not reach was identified and included. In the total, 12 studies met the criteria
and were included in this review.

Fig. 1. Screening and selection of studies [11].

To extract data from graphics when they were not presented in the text or tables, the
evaluator used the GetData Graphic Digitizer software (version 2.26.0.20). In the statistical
Balt J Health Phys Act. 2022;14(2):Article8. 4 of 10

analysis, we chose to use the qualitative and quantitative approach due to the heteroge-
neity of the methods and designs of the studies that do not allow using an inferential
method.

Methodological Quality
For the study bias risk, specific evaluation criteria for collective sports research pre-
viously used by Saw, Main, and Gastin [11] and Simim et al. [12] were applied. The criteria
evaluate studies with scores from 0 (high risk of bias) to 9 (low risk of bias), and studies
with a score of < 4 are rejected. No study was excluded due to low scores; 1 study (8.3%)
obtained 6 points, 3 (25%) obtained 7 points, 7 (58.3%) obtained 8 points, and 1 (8.3%)
obtained 9 points.

3. Results
The 12 studies included in this systematic review comprising data of 336 professional
male athletes and their main results can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1. Summary of studies included in this systematic review.

Authors Population Participants Context Methods Outcomes

Sheppard, ARG, CAN, AUS 71 Official matches Video recorder Mean frequency of attack and block jumps for middles was
Gabbett, National teams and training significantly greater than for setters and outsides.
Stanganelli
[5]
Wnorowski et Polish National 5 Official matches Video recorder Trendlines show that the highest values of jump height were
al. [13] Team (AS-4 software) reported at the beginning and end of each set. Throughout
the match, the players jumped the highest in the first set and
stabilized their performance at a lower level in the subse-
quent sets.
Mroczek et Polish League 28 Official matches Video recorder The total distance covered by a player during a top-level vol-
al. [1] leyball match depends on factors such as the number of
played sets, the player’s function on the court, area of the
court, set scores, the number and duration of individual ral-
lies, and number of types of actions in a rally.
Horta et al. Brazil 1st Division 15 Training Video recorder The number of vertical jumps as well as the characteristics of
[19] jumps influences the IL load of volleyball athletes from differ-
ent positions. However, the vertical jump alone may not re-
flect the stress imposed on the athlete's body in general.
Skazalski et Qatar 1st division 14 Official matches Video recorder Vert IMU is confinable to monitor jumps and external load
al. [16] and training and IMU (Vert) but not to jump height.

Skazalski, Qatar 1st division 14 Official matches IMU (Vert) Substantial session, weekly, and within-player jump volume
Whiteley, and training differences existed in the present study. OP performed more
Bahr [17] high intensity jumps than other position groups.
Rabello et al. Deuce league 18 Official matches Video recorder Measuring IL, in addition to EL, may provide valuable insights
[18] and training and IMU into the relationship of tendon load in this population.
(Zephyr)
Lima, Palao, Portugal 1st 7 Official matches Video recorder Players of different playing positions execute different types
Clemente division and IMU (Vert) of jumps with varying frequency and at different intensities.
[14] No differences in the jumps executed in different game sets
were found. Attack and block jump average height was 70–
80% max.
Lima et al. Portugal 1st 5 Training IMU (Vert) ST made a significantly greater number of jumps than MB
[15] division and OT, with similar intensity and uniform distribution
throughout the training practice. However, MB and OT accu-
mulated their jumps in specific moments.
Pawlik et al. 2014 FIVB Volley- 140 Official matches Video recorder MB and OP performed more total jumps than RC and ST. At-
[9] ball Men’s World tack followed by block jumps are performed closer to the
Championship maximum jump height than other types of jumps.
Balt J Health Phys Act. 2022;14(2):Article8. 5 of 10

Authors Population Participants Context Methods Outcomes

Lima et al. Portugal 1st 8 Training IMU (Vert) The highest EL and IL were registered on MD-2. Meanwhile,
[16] division the lowest loads were recorded on MD-1. Regarding the as-
sociation between El and IL, small positive correlations were
found between RPE, sRPE and the number of jumps.
García-de- Spain 1st division 11 Training Video recorder A significant and moderate higher number of jumps per-
Alcaráz et al. formed by MB regardless the type of macro- or micro-cycle,
[8] the micro-cycle phase, the type of training and the quality of
match opposition. By contrast, the ST performed the least
jump load in all variables analyzed.
ARG = Argentina, AUS = Australia, CAN = Canada, EL = external load, IMU = inertial measurement unit, IL = internal load, MB = middle
blocker, MD = match day, OP = opposite, OT = outside hitter, RC = receiver, sRPE = session rating of perceived exertion, ST = setter.

Analysis of Variables Related to External Load

To quantify the EL experienced by athletes in training sessions or matches, the most
frequently used tools are video recording and manual or semi-automatic counting of
jumps and distance covered [1, 5, 8, 9, 13] and, more recently, the use of inertial measure-
ment units (IMU), such as accelerometers and gyroscopes alone or together with video
recording [14–20] (Table 2).

Table 2. Descriptive characteristics of jumps related to external load in matches and training sessions.

Jumps in a match/ set Jumps in a training session

Jumps/ Oppo- Jumps/ Oppo-
Mean Middle Setter Outside Mean Middle Setter Outside
m site m site
Wnorowski et al. [13] 378
Sheppard et al. [5] 52.42* 24.33 11.94 16.15
Lima, Palao, Clemente [14] 498.66 20.7 31.7 13.3
Pawlik et al. [9] 91 37 71 60
Skazalski et al. [17] 124 4.98 840.33 12.35
Skazalski, Whiteley, Bahr [18] 89.4* 3.72 23.2 25.6 23 17.6 350 4.46 92 121 75 62
Lima et al. [15] 444.9 4.76 123.3 179.9 141.7
Garcıa-de-Alcaraz et al. [8] 254.8 82.4 42.9 68.9 60.6
Rabello et al. [19] 269 0.43*
Lima et al. [16] 148.7 1.58* 123.3 179.9 141.7
Horta et al. [20] 87.2*
Jumps/m = jumps per minute, *refer to jumps per player

Distance Covered
Regarding the distance covered by 28 players during 4 official matches, Mroczek et
al. [1] found that, on average, players cover 1221 ±327 m in 3-set games and 1757 ±462 m
in 4-set games (p < 0.005). The distance covered tended to increase during the sets (409
±119 to 446 ±118 m), and the average distance covered in each rally was 10.92 ±0.9 m (9.12
to 12.56 m). In the analysis by player positions, ST cover 1630 ± 170 m, followed by RC
(1448 ±112 m), OP (1383 ± 102 m) and LB (1372 ±103 m) with a significant difference
(p < 0.005) for MB (788 ±92 m).

Jumps Performed
Thanks to video recording and specific software, Wnorowski et al. [13] found that in
a volleyball match 35% (133) of the jumps were performed in the block, 23% (87) in the
attack, 22% (83) in the serve and 20% (77) in the setting. Regarding the jump height, it was
observed that athletes in the 1st set reach 94.7% of the maximum jump height in the attack,
93.4% in the block, and 92% in the serve, and the performance tends to decrease in the
following sets (p < 0.05). For the jumps performed in the setting, the average was 77.6% of
the maximum height.
Balt J Health Phys Act. 2022;14(2):Article8. 6 of 10

Analyzing 16 international men’s volleyball competition matches, Sheppard, Gabbett

and Stanganelli [5] found that MB have the highest demand for jumps of different player
positions, perform more block jumps per set (11.0 ±3.14) compared to ST (6.25 ±2.87) and
OT (6.50 ±3.16, p < 0.001) and more attack jumps (7.75 ±1.88) than OT (5.75 ±3.25, p <0.01)
and ST (0.38 ±1.06, p < 0.001). There were no differences for serve jumps and dives.
According Horta et al. [20], athletes performed an average of 87.2 ± 37.9 jumps per
training session, 10.7 ±12.6 serve jumps and 36.3 ±22.5 block jumps. The hitters (RC, OP
and MB) performed an average of 32.1 ±17.4 attack jumps and the ST 80.1 ±44.5 setting
jumps. According to their functions on the court, the MB performed more block jumps
(48.3 ±24.5), and the ST had a higher total average of jumps (119.2 ±48.5) (p < 0.05). The
training sessions that presented the highest average of jumps per player were “Block +
Tactical + Attack accuracy” (124.7 ±46.7), “Block + Tactical” (113.4 ±23.4), “Service + Attack
accuracy + Block” (99.5 ±35.9) and “Tactical + Attack accuracy” (94.7 ±35.3). These data
refer to 15 athletes in 30 training sessions.
Garcia-de-Alcaráz et al. [8] showed that, in a season of 32 weeks of training, the MB
reach 41,432 jumps, the RC 40,694, the OP 22,997 and the ST 13,226 jumps, with an average
of 83.60 ±2.40, 61.29 ± 2.40, 69.42 ±2.40, 42.48 ±2.40 jumps per training session, respectively.
The researchers identified that the transformation macrocycle showed the highest EL re-
lated to the number of jumps followed by the performing macrocycle, and the first phase
of the micro cycles (beginning of the week) and the shock micro cycles showed greater
demand for jumps compared to other periods.
Skazalski, Whtiteley and Bahr [18] analyzed 108 training sessions, 27 official games
and 7 friendly matches and found that the ST performed the highest number of jumps per
session (121), followed by the MB (92), OP (75) and RC (62). The ST had the highest fre-
quency of jumps in training (92 jumps/h) and in games (67 jumps/h) despite the average
jump height performed being 41% of the maximum jump height, followed by the MB (70
and 57 jumps/h), OP (58 and 53 jumps/h) with an average of 69% of the maximum jump
height, and RC (49 and 47 jumps/h). Regarding the game demand, the ST had an average
of 100 jumps per game, ranging from 76 jumps in games of 3 sets to 128 in games of 5 sets
and average height of 56%, the OP realize 82 jumps, between 59 and 116 and height aver-
age of 76%, MB 85 jumps, between 67 and 115 and average height of 64% and RC 68 jumps,
between 55 and 88 and average height of 62%.
Lima et al. [15] observed that more jumps were performed in training 2 days before
the game (142.6 ±58.6, p = 0.003) compared to training 1 day before (107.3 ±41.5) and with
no differences in training 3 or 4 days before the game. No differences were observed in
the frequency of jumps (1.57 jumps/m) nor in the average (~52%) and maximum jump
height (~80%) between training sessions. The EL showed a weak correlation with the rat-
ing of perceived exertion (RPE) (r = 0.17), moderate with session RPE (r = 0.49) and with
the duration of the session (r = 0.60).
Evaluating only official matches, Lima, Palao and Clemente [14] found that MB per-
form 20.7 jumps per set (50.2 jumps/h) with greater demand for block jumps (11), ST per-
form 31.7 jumps (76.8 jumps/h) with 18.8 setting jumps and OS perform 26.6 (32.2
jumps/h) with greater demand for blocking (10.3) and attack (8.9). The researchers also
observed that the jumps performed by MB in the attack and in the block reach an average
of 71.7 and 67% of the maximum jump height, respectively, with an overall average of
66.2%. The setting jumps performed by ST are on average 57.2% and the average jumping
height of the position is 73.7%. OS jump on average closer to the maximum height (76.2%)
with better performance in attack jumps reaching 78.1% of the maximum height. There
were no differences in the analysis between the sets.
Balt J Health Phys Act. 2022;14(2):Article8. 7 of 10

4. Discussion
Professional volleyball players reach more than 40 thousand vertical jumps in a train-
ing season [8]; however, with the analyzed studies, it was not possible to characterize ref-
erence values for this variable due to the heterogeneity between the experimental designs
and the different planning of the researched teams.
In consensus, ST seem to experience the greatest demand for vertical jumps in train-
ing and games. However, it is worth noting that most jumps performed by ST occur in the
setting situation and that these jumps are of lesser intensity than block, attack and serve
jumps [14, 15, 18]. MB have the highest demand for block and attack jumps, followed by
OS. As regards the jump height, jumps performed in the attack, mainly by OS, are closer
to the maximum height than those performed in the block, serve and setting [5, 13, 14, 18,
20]. Although the MB experience a higher load of jumps, this cannot be assumed to be
greater physiological stress, because in this category these players are replaced by the LB
in the positions of the defense zone and this reduces the playing time and the total load
of these athletes [5].
The jump load seems to vary according to the period of the season and intra week,
as shown by Skazalski, Whtiteley and Bahr [18], who observed increases of 10% in the
load of the team jumps in subsequent weeks in one third of the weeks analyzed and at
least 30% in 6 of the 27 weeks. In the characterization of training sessions, sessions that
involve tactical + block together or not other elements have the highest demand for verti-
cal jumps [20] and should be considered within the weekly training schedule [21]. Accord-
ing to Issurin [22], the load reduction feature towards the end of the week or before the
game day is a normal strategy used in sports with a long period of competition and it can
be considered as tapering. For the monitoring and evaluation of the jump’s variable, Lima
et al. [16] suggest the use of metrics for total jumps, as well as jumps/time, jump intensity,
rest between jumps and arbitrary jump units.
According to Wnorowski et al. [13], the relative height of the jump performed during
the matches are related to the result of the sets and the performance may decrease with
the course of the game depending on the athletes' physical conditioning. These data show
us that volleyball athletes' physical preparation must be thought to improve the absolute
and relative vertical jump performance and in such a way that the performance is main-
tained throughout the game; thus, knowing the total demand and the one related to the
situations of play is essential to plan training. Competitions are a peak stimulus for ath-
letes due to the characteristics of intensity, and physical and psychological stress, and they
should be included in the process of monitoring TLs [22].
In this review, 2 studies investigated the interaction of the EL and IL of the training
sessions [16, 20]. The integrated analysis of IL and EL evaluates the psychophysiological
stress experienced by an athlete in the context of the EL completed in the training session
and it can be used to assess the athlete's training status. If, for the same EL, the athlete has
an increase in the IL, this may represent fatigue or a decrease in physical fitness; on the
other hand, if there is a decrease in the IL for the same EL, this may represent an increase
in physical fitness [24]. An association between El and IL measures can provide infor-
mation about athlete’s adaptation and ability to support the training and matches physical
demands [24, 25]. 5.

5. Conclusions
In the analysis of EL, the use of IMU technologies is growing and following a prom-
ising path in helping to quantify and better understand the physical stress that athletes
experience. It will be interesting to develop new studies involving an interaction between
the EL performed and the response generated in the IL, as proposed by Delaney et al. [26].
The MB perform the highest number of high jumps, but the OP jumps closer to the
maximum more often, and the ST have a high demand for setting jumps, which are mostly
medium height jumps. It cannot be said that the greater demand for jumps reflects
Balt J Health Phys Act. 2022;14(2):Article8. 8 of 10

a greater IL, because other variables such as the characteristics and game functions of the
player position, the fact that the MB is replaced by the libero in the defense zone, also by
the duration of the training and game have a great influence on the session RPE value.
It was not possible to analyze the similarity between the jump load performed in
training and games due to the heterogeneity of the studies, but it seems that there are
similarities. As mentioned above, other metrics such as jumps per minute, relative inten-
sity and density of jumps should be used to better understand this variable, especially in
training sessions with drills that involve block + tactic and attack + tactic that have a higher
jump load and should be thought of within the weekly schedule.

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Author Contributions: Study Design, MFP, AMZ; Data Collection, MFP, LGG; Statistical Analysis, not applicable; Data Inter-
pretation, MFP, LGG; Manuscript Preparation, MFP, EFP; Literature Search, MFP; Funding Acquisition, not applicable. All au-
thors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Acknowledgements: Not applicable.
Funding: This work was not supported by any Funding Agency.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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