How Many Jumps Per Week Should an Athlete Do?

Plyometric volume is counted in foot contacts, one for each time the feet hit the ground during a jump, hop, or bound. The rebound is what makes it a plyometric contact. Most athletes train well on 80 to 140 contacts in a session, and 120 to 280 across a week split over two sessions. The range is that wide because two things move it: how much jump training the athlete has already performed, and how hard each contact is. Changes in jump height and time on the ground within a session tell a coach how the athlete responded to the prescribed volume, and a laser jump tester reports both numbers every rep.

What counts as a foot contact

Those numbers only compare if two coaches count the same way. Foot contacts and ground contacts mean the same thing, and this post follows the convention in published monitoring guidelines: a two-foot contact counts as one, each single-leg contact counts as one, and a bound counts its two consecutive single-leg contacts separately [1].

Sources genuinely differ. Some count each foot separately on a two-foot landing, and one review found studies reporting repetitions, foot contacts, or contacts per leg [2]. Under the convention here, ten hurdle hops is ten contacts, and under theirs it is twenty. Check which one a published number uses before comparing it to yours.

Weekly foot contact ranges by training level

Training level	Sessions per week	Mostly low-intensity week	Mostly high-intensity week
Youth or beginner (new to jump training, roughly middle school)	1 to 2	80 to 120	40 to 60
Developing high school (1 to 2 years of consistent training)	2	120 to 200	60 to 100
Advanced high school and college	2 to 3	200 to 280	80 to 140
Elite or trained power athlete	2 to 3	240 to 400	100 to 180

These ranges come from position stands and coaching consensus rather than trials that tested one dose against another, so treat them as starting points [4]. The per-session figures underneath them are 80 to 100 contacts for beginners, 100 to 120 for intermediate athletes, and 120 to 140 for advanced athletes [3, 7]. Where trials exist, they support the lower end: preadolescent handball players improved sprint, change of direction, and jump equally on 72 to 108 contacts a week and on 144 to 216 [5]. Readiness for the youth row is the ability to follow instruction and control body position rather than a birthday [11].

Intensity is what sets the number

A pogo hop and a depth jump each count as one contact and are not the same dose. One published stress index rated a 50 cm depth jump at roughly three and a half times the cost of a box jump, since it absorbs the drop on the floor [6]. Ground reaction force weightings across thirty plyometric drills spread by a factor of 3.4 for the same athlete [1].

So 40 depth jump contacts is a heavier week than 120 pogo hops. Set structure follows: low-intensity drills run 10 to 12 reps a set, high-intensity drills 3 to 6 [7].

Why 20 is too few and 200 is too many

Twenty contacts is a warm-up. A meta-analysis of 56 studies classified programs above 50 jumps per session as high intensity, and found the largest gains beyond 10 weeks and 20 sessions [8]. Twenty contacts once a week clears none of those thresholds, so the athlete collects soreness without adaptation.

Two hundred contacts fails at the other end. Jump height declines and ground contact time (how long the foot stays on the floor) lengthens as fatigue builds, so the last hundred contacts are slower and flatter than the first. Slow, heavy contacts develop a different quality than the fast ones the session was built around, and it quietly becomes conditioning.

The quality cutoff

The honest answer to "how many" is "until the quality drops." Two numbers show it: jump height and time on the ground, which together make up the reactive strength index. When either falls off noticeably from the athlete's first few reps, the set is over, whatever the prescription said. A 10% decline from the athlete's best rep is a reasonable line, small enough to miss by eye.

Laying out the week

Leave 48 to 72 hours between plyometric sessions, which puts two on something like Monday and Thursday [3, 12]. In season the prescribed number comes down, because practice is already producing contacts. Professional volleyball players average about 80 jumps per practice, setters 121 [9]. A match adds another 54 to 90 [10]. An athlete in a competitive week can pass the table's range before a single programmed rep, so in-season plyometrics stay short and fast. Measuring jump height regularly but on a consistent day of the week and time is how a coach confirms the in-season number is right.

Count what the athlete is actually doing this week, practice contacts included. Put that total against the row matching their training age, then close the gap with low-intensity contacts if they are early and high-intensity contacts if they have the base. Most programs find the real number is lower than they assumed.

Sources

Brearley S, Wild J, Agar-Newman D, Cizmic H. How to monitor net plyometric training stress: guidelines for the coach. Professional Strength & Conditioning. 2017;47:15-24. https://cdn.uksca.org.uk/assets/pdfs/UkscaIqPdfs/how-to-monitor-net-plyometric-training-stress-guidelines-for-the-coach-636830646842012930.pdf
Ramirez-Campillo R, Moran J, Oliver JL, Pedley JS, Lloyd RS, Granacher U. Programming plyometric-jump training in soccer: a review. Sports. 2022;10(6):94. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports10060094
Potach DH, Chu DA. Program design and technique for plyometric training. In: Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. 4th ed. National Strength and Conditioning Association / Human Kinetics; 2016. https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/kinetic-select/plyometric-exercises/
Ramirez-Campillo R, Alvarez C, Garcia-Hermoso A, et al. Methodological characteristics and future directions for plyometric jump training research: a scoping review. Sports Medicine. 2018;48(5):1059-1081. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0870-z
Noutsos KS, Meletakos PG, Kepesidou M, Bogdanis GC. Equal effects of low- and moderate-volume supplementary plyometric training on sprint, change of direction ability, and lower-limb power in preadolescent female handball players. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. 2024;9(4):204. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk9040204
Ho IMK, Wong TS, Yong JTH, Fang H. Plyometric stress index: a novel method for quantifying plyometric training. Science & Sports. 2022;38(4).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scispo.2021.12.013
Kite R, Benstead-Banthorpe J. Understanding plyometrics: a coach's guide. Professional Strength and Conditioning. 2025;73:20-32. https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/41079/
de Villarreal ES, Kellis E, Kraemer WJ, Izquierdo M. Determining variables of plyometric training for improving vertical jump height performance: a meta-analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2009;23(2):495-506. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19197203/
Skazalski C, Whiteley R, Bahr R. High jump demands in professional volleyball: large variability exists between players and player positions. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 2018;28(10):2293-2298. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13255
Lima RF, Silva AF, Matos S, et al. Using inertial measurement units for quantifying the most intense jumping movements occurring in professional male volleyball players. Scientific Reports. 2023;13:5817. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33056-8
Lloyd RS, Cronin JB, Faigenbaum AD, et al. National Strength and Conditioning Association position statement on long-term athletic development. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2016;30(6):1491-1509. https://www.nsca.com/globalassets/about/position-statements/nsca_position_statement_long-term_athletic_development.pdf
Dos'Santos T. Plyometric training: importance for multi-directional speed development and injury prevention. Science of Multi-Directional Speed; 2024. https://sciofmultispeed.com/plyomtric-training-importance-for-multi-directional-speed-development-and-injury-prevention/