Learn the spike: approach rhythm, double arm swing, contact at the highest point. With milestones, mistake list and honest evidence on knee, ankle and shoulder.
How do I spike properly, and how long does it take? The honest answer: spiking consists of three things that must fit together: an approach with a long plant step, a two-footed take-off with both arms going up, and a contact point at the highest point with a straight arm [1]. The association material expects teaching in school PE, where volleyball is only an occasional topic, to take several years [1]. For you that means: plan for months, not days.
Why is the approach so powerful? In a 3D analysis with 16 experienced players, jump height in the spike jump was linked to the greatest horizontal velocity of the centre of mass (r = 0.71) and to a low centre of mass before take-off (r = −0.68) [3]. Translated: whoever approaches fast and goes deep into the take-off jumps higher.
Hit a bounce against the wall from three metres. Load yourself like a bow before the hit, bring the elbow forward, extend the hitting arm and let the wrist snap. The teaching material lists typical mistakes: the ball is hit from behind or the side instead of from above and behind, the wrist does not work, the arm is bent at contact [1]. Milestone: 10 bounces in a row with a straight hitting arm.
The rhythm for right-handers: short orientation step, long, flat and explosive plant step with heel landing, then a closing step and a two-footed take-off [1]. The teaching material gives you the syllables "Jam – ta – dam" or "Am – ster – dam" as a beat [1]. The plant step should be longer than the step before it, but not endless: in children jump height fell when the plant step was over 200 centimetres, according to an older study reproduced in the association material [2]. Milestone: you run the same rhythm 10 times without a ball.
Swing both arms up, not just the hitting arm [1]. In a measurement with 18 experienced volleyball players the arm swing increased the jump height of a counter-movement jump by 38 percent, although the value comes from the counter-movement jump [6]. An in-season differential training that specifically targeted performance determinants of the jump such as approach and arm backswing raised jump height by 11.9 percent in twelve elite women, while it fell by 4.5 percent in the control phase before it (no randomisation) [4]. At a starting height of 0.44 metres that is about 5 centimetres. Milestone: you catch the ball at the highest point of the jump with both hands, 8 of 10 times.
First hit a half-high, then a high ball [1]. The start of the approach is the push-off into the plant step: for a high ball just before the ball's highest point, for a one-metre set when the ball is in the setter's hand [1]. Milestone: 6 of 10 balls safely into the court.
You do not have to spike every ball: a ball too close to the net, below the net tape or behind your back is a poor attacking ball [1]. More important is getting the ball safely over the net [1]. You land in front of the net, not in the opposing court. Back-row players take off from behind the attack line [7]. Milestone: in a practice game you decide correctly when to spike and when to place.
Ankle. In a Dutch season study with 486 players, ankle sprains made up 41 percent of all injuries, and 75 percent of those affected already had a sprain [8]. It mostly happens at the net: in a video analysis of 24 ankle injuries at world tournaments, most happened while blocking (15), mostly by landing on an opponent; in attacking injuries at the net the attackers landed in the opponent's court in 11 of 12 cases, and the authors hold the attacker largely to blame [9]. Landing in front of the net protects you and others. A balance board programme lowered the number of sprains in a study of 116 teams, but only for players with a previous sprain; players with a previous knee injury had more overuse complaints in the knee [10].
Knee. In elite men in Norway, 44.6 percent currently had patellar tendon complaints, so nearly one in two [11]. There is no evidence for quick fixes: a programme of squats on a decline board during the season did not change complaints in 29 players [12], and landing technique is only weakly linked to patellar tendon problems according to a review with a high risk of bias [13]. That means: manage your jump volume and have pain checked early.
Shoulder. Forces at shoulder and elbow are highest in spiking [5]. A review recommends strengthening the external rotators together with trunk strength and spiking technique [14].
This guide explains and motivates; it does not replace supervised training.
Train the jump, not just the hit. In 15 elite female players, approach characteristics (orientation step length and knee extension velocity) mainly predicted jump height, while none of the 22 characteristics tested correlated with ball velocity [15]. What drives ball velocity stayed open in this study: the authors name upper-body measures and joint angular velocities. What this study supports is a link between approach and jump height, not between jump height and hitting power. And also count your jumps per session, because volume is the factor you control most directly (practice).
The teaching material describes orientation step, plant step and closing step. At first the plant step and closing step are enough, and you add the long approach later [1]. We found no study deciding between 3 and 4 steps.
The push-off into the plant step is your start signal. For a high ball you start just before the ball's highest point, for a one-metre set when the ball is in the setter's hand [1]. A teammate can call the start to you [1].
Get height from the approach and the arm swing: high horizontal velocity of the centre of mass and a low centre of mass before take-off [3] and both arms up [6] are linked to jump height.
Spiking produces large forces and torques at shoulder and elbow [5]. A review names muscle imbalance of the shoulder as a risk factor [14]. Reduce repetitions, strengthen the external rotators and have persistent pain checked by a doctor.
Bump Set: Setting Cleanly When the Overhead Set Is Not an Option