VJs plateauing

High school PE teacher here.

I have two "Conditioning and Fitness" classes. Primary focus is on building absolute strength through the big lifts. I test kids on VJ (on a Just Jump), broad jumps, and 20-yard sprints 1x a week. For most of the year, my two classes have seen steady improvement...kids hitting lots of PRs...but the last couple weeks, the numbers are going the wrong way. I have a kid who was consistently hitting a 30+" VJ who hasn't hit that in about 3 weeks.

Any suggestions? What am I doing wrong? One possibility...we started up the basketball season and that seemed to coincide with the reduction in performance. Maybe the kids are doing enough running and jumping during basketball practice and I don't need to be doing it in class?

We are a small high school (about 200 kids 9-12). I feel like we do good things in the weight room and we have kids who value strength. I'm not some functional guru..our program is built around the big lifts. We squat, press, pull, and hinge. With only about 30 minutes in the weight room, we don't have time to waste on nonsense.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

From what I understand, VJ is only trainable to an extent, but mostly genetic. It's covered in several different SS radio segments. I'd be more concerned if squat was plateauing.

He hasn't read the books.

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Originally Posted by JJ23

From what I understand, VJ is only trainable to an extent, but mostly genetic. It's covered in several different SS radio segments. I'd be more concerned if squat was plateauing.

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Squat is not plateauing. The kid I posted about is getting stronger. In fact, he's put about 100lbs on his squat.

Regarding the VJ, I agree that it is only trainable to a certain extent. But I find it concerning that a kid who was consistently hitting a 30" VJ since September has not been within an inch and a half of that in the last 3 weeks.

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Originally Posted by 19delta

We squat, press, pull, and hinge. With only about 30 minutes in the weight room, we don't have time to waste on nonsense.

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What is "hinge" in this context?

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Originally Posted by 19delta

Squat is not plateauing. The kid I posted about is getting stronger. In fact, he's put about 100lbs on his squat.

Regarding the VJ, I agree that it is only trainable to a certain extent. But I find it concerning that a kid who was consistently hitting a 30" VJ since September has not been within an inch and a half of that in the last 3 weeks.

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You haven't read the books. The kid is overtrained. Test the SVJ (if you're doing it correctly) maybe once a year, because you already know who the explosive kids are, and you're not going to make the others much better anyway.

Is it possible that a growth spurt may be messing with the kid's coordination?

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Originally Posted by ReconquistaBarbell

Is it possible that a growth spurt may be messing with the kid's coordination?

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I wouldn't know how to tell. The kid is highly coordinated. He's the best athlete in the school. As Coach Rippetoe stated, the kid is overtrained and that is on me.

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Originally Posted by ReconquistaBarbell

Is it possible that a growth spurt may be messing with the kid's coordination?

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Highly unlikely. There is no mechanism by which this could occur, and he's still a good athlete. He's just overtrained/underfed/under-rested.

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Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe

Highly unlikely. There is no mechanism by which this could occur, and he's still a good athlete. He's just overtrained/underfed/under-rested.

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The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

I should have went to my bookmarks prior to posting! Lesson learned. Sorry, Coach!