The approach vertical is the most trainable number in volleyball. Most athletes are leaving 3 to 5 inches on the floor not because of genetics, but because nobody has ever coached them on what actually happens in the last two steps.
Here's what we see on day one: an athlete who can touch the top of the net in warmups, but whose approach peak only clears the antenna by a few inches under game conditions. That gap doesn't come from lack of effort. It comes from mechanics that haven't been trained, and a strength base that can't support the force demands of a four-step approach at full speed.
This is the breakdown we use at The Performance Lab with volleyball athletes in Bloomington. It's the same framework that produces the 3-to-5-inch benchmark we see across a 12-week program.
What the Approach Vertical Actually Measures
The standing vertical tells you raw explosive power — how much force you can generate from a dead stop. The approach vertical measures something different: your ability to convert horizontal momentum into vertical lift through your penultimate step and takeoff.
The penultimate step — the second-to-last step in your approach — is where most athletes either make or lose the jump. Done right, it decelerates horizontal velocity and loads the posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, calves) for the explosive push off the final step. Done wrong, it either bleeds momentum or puts the athlete in a mechanically inefficient position that limits how much force they can express at takeoff.
That's the first thing we watch in a film review. Not the jump itself — the step before it.
Triple Extension: The Engine Behind the Number
The jump itself is a triple extension event: ankle, knee, and hip extend simultaneously at takeoff. The more forcefully and completely an athlete achieves triple extension, the higher they go.
For most high school volleyball athletes, the limiting factor isn't the jump — it's posterior chain strength. Their glutes and hamstrings can't absorb and redirect force fast enough under the load of an approach. The result is a jump that looks effortful but doesn't convert to inches.
This is why strength training isn't an optional add-on for volleyball athletes — it's the prerequisite. You can drill approach mechanics for 200 reps a week. But until the engine can handle the load, the mechanics don't stick. We build the engine first.
The 12-Week Arc
Weeks 1–4: Build the Base. Before we touch a box jump or a depth jump, we spend four weeks building foundational posterior chain strength. Back squat, Romanian deadlift, single-leg work. The goal is not a big 1RM — the goal is teaching the athlete to load their hips and express force through the full range of motion. We baseline the approach vertical at the start and don't test again until week six.
Weeks 5–8: Introduce Plyometric Load. Once we have the strength foundation, we layer in plyometric work calibrated to the athlete's training age. Depth drops, broad jumps, and approach-specific plyometrics that mimic the penultimate-step mechanics. Volume is controlled — more is not better here. Overloading plyometrics on an underprepared athlete doesn't improve jump height; it causes knee pain and bad habits.
Weeks 9–12: Speed-Strength Transfer. The final four weeks focus on rate of force development — how fast the athlete can express the strength they've built. We use loaded jumps, sprint-to-jump combinations, and specific approach rehearsal at higher intensities. By this point, the athlete is applying to the approach what they've built in the weight room. This is where the number moves.
The Arm Swing Most Coaches Ignore
An aggressive, timed arm swing adds 1 to 2 inches to your approach vertical on its own. Most volleyball athletes either swing too early (before the penultimate step), too late (after peak force), or not forcefully enough to contribute meaningfully to the jump.
We coach the arm swing as a separate technical piece — tempo, range, and the countermovement that fires before the final push. It sounds small. On a setter who needs 3 more inches to cut off a D1 defender, it isn't small at all.
What the Numbers Look Like
Every athlete at The Performance Lab gets a printed report card every six weeks. The approach vertical is one of five metrics we track — alongside the 40-yard, broad jump, standing vertical, and back squat 1RM. The 3-to-5-inch benchmark we cite is conservative. It's the floor of what we see across a full 12-week program for athletes who show up consistently and do the work.
Some athletes gain more. A 10th-grade setter we trained last fall came in at a 22-inch approach vertical and left a 12-week block at 27.5 inches. Another athlete — a libero cross-training in the off-season for overall athleticism — gained 4 inches as a byproduct of the strength base. Neither result was accidental. Both were programmed, tracked, and adjusted based on re-test data.
If You're in the Bloomington Area
The free assessment at The Performance Lab includes a movement screen and baseline numbers — including your approach vertical. You'll leave with a real number and an honest conversation about what the next 12 weeks would look like for your athlete.
No sales pitch. If The Lab is the right fit, you'll know. If it isn't, Austin will tell you that too.