How to build a weekly training plan for your vertical jump

For most people who want to jump higher, the problem is almost never knowing which exercises to do. It's knowing where to put them. If you train with your team three or four times a week, you already have a jump load on your body: the weight room and the plyometrics have to be slotted inside that, not stacked on top of it and hope your body holds up.

Start from what you already have, not from zero

Before you design any week, write down on a sheet of paper how many team practices you do, on which days, and when you play. That's the real calendar. Jump training gets built into the space that's left, not in place of those practices.

You also have to be honest about one thing: a volleyball practice is already full of jumps. Blocks, attacks, jump serves. That's dozens and dozens of take-offs, often with uncontrolled landings. If you add two heavy plyometric sessions without counting those, you're not training: you're piling up.

The three types of work and what they ask of your body

• Strength. Squats, deadlifts, presses, single-leg work. Builds the ability to produce drive. It's very tiring but recovers fairly predictably.
• Plyometrics and reactive work. Bounds, hops, short ground contacts. Builds the ability to use the strength you have, fast. It feels less tiring but it stresses tendons and joints.
• Jump technique. Approach, last step, arm swing. You do it fresh, with few reps and high attention. There's no point doing it tired.

The most useful rule is this one: things that need quality go first, things that only need effort go after. Technique and plyometrics at the start of the session, strength after.

An example of an in-season week

Let's say three team practices and a match at the weekend. A structure that works for a lot of athletes is this one:

• Monday: team practice. No extra jump work, your body is still clearing the match.
• Tuesday: strength session. It's the day furthest from the next match, so it's the right place for the heaviest work.
• Wednesday: team practice.
• Thursday: short, high-quality reactive work, before practice or as its own session. Few sets, fast contacts, long rests.
• Friday: light team practice or shakeout. Mobility and activation, no loads.
• Saturday: match.
• Sunday: rest or light movement.

It isn't the only possible structure and it's an example, not a prescription. The principle to take home is the order: heavy load far from the match, quality close to the match, rest after.

Off-season changes everything

When you're not playing, the match constraint disappears and you can afford more volume. It's the period where building strength makes the most sense, because you can train tired without paying for it on Sunday.

Even here, though, the same alternation logic applies: two or three strength sessions a week, a separate reactive session, at least one full rest day. If every session is all-out, after three weeks you're not training any more, you're surviving.

Another common off-season mistake is going out too hard. The first month is for getting back in, not for setting records. Here you'll find the most common reasons a vertical jump stops improving, and several of them have to do with managing load rather than with the exercises.

The rules that hold in every week

• Don't put intense plyometrics the day before a match. You need fresh legs, not extra stimulus.
• Don't put heavy strength work the day after a match. Your body is already repairing the damage from eighty landings.
• Leave at least 48 hours between two intense reactive sessions. It's the tendon that sets the pace, not your motivation.
• One real rest day a week. Not "active recovery" that then turns into another session.
• If you're beaten up, skip the extra work, not team practice. You can get the jump back; your spot on the court, less so.

On the frequency of plyometric work specifically, there's a piece dedicated to it: how many sessions a week you can do without getting injured.

How to tell whether the week is working

A well-built week shows up in two signals: you get to the match with legs, and within a few weeks the number goes up. The first one you feel. The second one you have to measure.

With the JHP jump test you upload a 2-second video and get your height in centimetres from flight time. It's free, the analysis runs in your browser and the video never leaves your device. Measure at the start of a block, then measure again a few weeks later in the same conditions. Measure first, then train, then measure again.

If you'd rather have the week already built

• Volley In-Season Workout — €90. Made for the part of the year when you're playing and can't afford sessions that leave your legs empty.
• Jump Higher Program — 10 weeks, bodyweight only, €60. Weeks already organised, no equipment.
• JHP Gym Edition — 16 weeks in the weight room, €60. If you have gym access and want to build strength.
• JHP Subscription — €99/year: 13 programs, WhatsApp support, cancel whenever you want. Full list on the JHP courses page.

In short

A week for the jump isn't built by listing exercises, it's built by deciding the order. First you count the jumps you already do with your team, then you put the heavy work far from the match, the quality close to it, and you leave at least one real rest day. The right exercises on the wrong day are worth less than ordinary exercises on the right day.

You might also like: Plyometrics: how many sessions a week without getting injured · Squat and vertical jump: what strength-to-weight ratio you actually need