Serve City Volleyball
Home Jump Training Program

(Note: These are training exercises designed to increase your power as you exert maximum force on your muscles in brief bursts of time.)

HALF-TURN JUMPS

Start by assuming a half-squat position, then explode up into a vertical jump. In mid-air, quickly turn or spin 180 degrees and then land safely in a half-squat again. After returning to a half-squat, repeat this maneuver four more times before resting for 30 seconds, then perform four more sets of five reps apiece, resting for 30 seconds after each set of five reps, for five sets of five reps. Increase the number of sets you do by one set each week.

LATERAL JUMPS

Start in a defensive passing posture. Begin with your weight on your left foot and jump directly to your right, swinging your arms for greater explosion and landing on your right foot. Then immediately transfer your weight, push off your right foot and jump directly to your left and back to your original starting position, landing on your left foot. Repeat these left-to-right and right-to-left explosive movements for five reps, with two jumps counting as one rep. Take a brief rest, then perform another set of five reps. Depending on your age and experience level, do anywhere from 5 to 8 sets of five reps. Lateral jumps teach you explosive body movement from side to side, making you quicker and more efficient in your lateral movements on the court, such as adjusting to a set that is too wide or too far inside the court if you’re a pin hitter, and also improve your coordination and quickness.

SITTING JUMPS

This is a rapid squat jump from a seated position on a chair onto a sturdy elevated surface such as an exercise box. Start in a seated position in a chair about a foot from an exercise box. Bring your arms slightly back similar to a jump hitter using a back swing to help explode up in the air, then burst upward and land softly on the box with both feet landing at the same time and the knees remaining bent. Do 3 to 5 reps of sitting jumps in one jump training circuit, as this exercise is strictly focused on improving your leg power. These jumps will teach you how to develop vertical power from a stationary position, improving your explosiveness and vertical jump as a blocker and as a hitter.

LATERAL SHUFFLES

An explosive vertical jump requires speed. Performing lateral shuffles will help you develop the lateral speed you need to transition quickly from blocking, off blocking or serve receive into your hitting approach. It’ll also help you accelerate and build up greater horizontal force in your approach that you can convert into a higher vertical jump that can enable you to hit over blocks and down into different areas of the court. Depending on your conditioning, perform 3 to 5 sets of seven reps of this exercise, briefly resting between each set, with a shuffle from the left cone to the right cone and back to the left cone counting as one rep. Watch this YouTube video from physical fitness expert Max Shank to see the lateral shuffle demonstrated.

DOWN-AND-UP JUMPS

Stand on a short box about 1 to 2 feet tall or on the bottom step of a set of stairs. Step off the box. As soon as your feet hit the ground, quickly jump back up in the air, using a small back swing and explosive upward movement of your arms as well as keeping your knees slightly bent to aid in your vertical jump. Make sure your heels don’t touch the ground as your feet land from your initial step off the box. Do one set of five reps of these power jumps. Explosive jumps develop your explosive power, which is helpful for hitters as they “load” their legs on the last two steps of their 3- or 4-step hitting approach and then explode upward to attack the ball, as well as for blockers who employ the swing blocking technique.