How to get a volley body

Awed by the toned athletes at Horse Guards Parade last summer, Miranda Bryant is keen to look lean
P88 Zara Dampney
Reuters
13 March 2013

Standing in my bedroom with what is effectively a giant rubber strap under my feet, with one hand holding each end, I raise my arms up to my shoulders. Absolutely certain that the strap is going to snap in my face, I tentatively squat down, feel the flex in my hamstrings and bottom, then nervously rise up again, wincing in anticipation, before completing the move, relieved to find the band is still in one piece.

I haven’t taken up contortion — I am trying to simulate the movements of a beach volleyball player. I have wanted a “volleybody” ever since the Olympics. I watched Team GB at Horse Guards Parade in awe. But with the absence of sandy beaches or tropical sunshine, London isn’t the ideal place to take up the sport. Until now.

A new exercise programme claims to help you develop the lean, muscular physique of a beach volleyball player without needing to touch a single grain of sand.

Volleybody is the brainchild of Katie Taylor, who was so inspired by the London Games that she decided to leave her job in PR and enlist the help of Team GB’s Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin to develop a workout that could be done in your London flat.

She says: “I created a programme with Shauna and Zara and their conditioning coach Kate Eddy that the average fit woman could do at home, in the gym or at a class.”

The workout, which is available to download online for £10 per month, uses a medicine ball and a resistance band to recreate the movements of beach volleyball with a focus on core, upper and lower body strength. Classes are currently being rolled out in gyms across London, starting with David Lloyd, which is due to start sessions next month. There are also plans for an app, and in the summer Taylor hopes to hold classes on sand volleyball courts around the capital.

I’m not convinced the home sessions are as fun as actually playing volleyball but Dampney disagrees. “It’s just different. I do find them really fun, they’re different from the exercises you would do in a normal exercise class. And you can feel the benefits all over your body,” she says.

Using the easy-to-follow video tutorials that feature demonstrations by Dampney and Mullin, I begin the workout, which comes in five sections starting with a warm-up of skipping and sprinting. Warm-up done, I move on to lower body strength and stability. Inspired by defensive postures and passing the ball, it involves squatting, medicine ball passing (there is an alternative of passing to yourself if you are doing it alone) and jumping to squat.

I repeat each exercise 10-15 times, then move onto upper body strength. This section is far more challenging — particularly the press-ups.

The “high intensity finisher”, which emulates the energy and movements of a volleyball game with a series of sprints, jumps and the tricky squat jump using the resistance strap, finishes me off and I am forced to move outside for more space.

The exercises seem effective — I feel the ache in my upper arms and back in the morning — but Taylor says getting noticeable effects take around 12 weeks. According to Eddy, “To get the best results from training you must train regularly and progressively overload your body so you require it to adapt to the demands of the training.” So here’s to a volleybody by summer.

For details of classes and to download the programme, visit volleybody.co.uk

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