The Relationship Between Abdominal Muscle Strength and Waist Muscle Flexibility with the Smashing Ability of Volleyball Athletes
Nasrul Anam, Haryo Mukti Widodo, Septyaningrum Putri Purwoto · COMPETITOR Jurnal Pendidikan Kepelatihan Olahraga · 2026
Smashing is one of the most decisive offensive skills in volleyball and requires not only technical proficiency but also adequate physical capacities to support force transmission, trunk stability, body rotation, and optimal range of motion. This study aimed to examine the individual and simultaneous relationships between abdominal muscle strength, waist muscle flexibility, and smashing ability among PBV Hizbulwathan volleyball athletes in Burneh District. A quantitative cross-sectional correlational
Design: was employed involving 20 athletes who completed all measurement procedures. Abdominal muscle strength was assessed using a 1-minute sit-up test, waist muscle flexibility was measured using the sit-and-reach test, and smashing ability was evaluated through a volleyball smash accuracy test. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product–moment correlation, and multiple linear regression at a
Significance: level of α = .05. The
Results: showed that abdominal muscle strength had a very strong positive correlation with smashing ability (r = .906, p < .001), while waist muscle flexibility was also very strongly and positively correlated with smashing ability (r = .916, p < .001). Simultaneously, both variables demonstrated a very strong relationship with smashing performance (R = .930), explaining approximately 86.0% of the variance in smashing scores (R² = .860; F(2,17) = 53.20, p < .001). Partial regression analysis showed that waist muscle flexibility remained significantly associated with smashing ability (B = 1.29, p = .038), whereas abdominal muscle strength showed a positive but nonsignificant unique association (B = .14, p = .106). These
Findings: indicate that abdominal muscular capacity and waist flexibility are important physical characteristics associated with volleyball smashing performance. Accordingly, volleyball conditioning programs should integrate core development, functional trunk mobility, and sport-specific smashing practice.