# Jump Squat: how to do it

- Main muscles: quads, glutes
- Also works: calves, cardio
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: intermediate
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/jump_squat/6aa207d6ae/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, arms by your sides.
2. Push your hips back into a half squat as your arms swing back.
3. Swing your arms up and jump as high as you can.
4. Land softly on the middle of your feet, knees bent.
5. Sink your hips back to absorb the landing, then stand tall.

## Cues

- Push the floor away hard.
- Land quietly, knees soft.
- Knees follow your toes.

## Common mistakes

- Landing with straight legs.
- Letting your knees fall inward as you land.
- Dropping your chest too far forward.

## Starting position

Stand tall, heels about hip-width apart, toes forward or turned out a little, whole foot flat. Arms hang by the sides. Shoulder blades down and back, trunk braced, head neutral, eyes straight ahead.

## The movement

One counter-movement jump from standing. Hips push back and knees bend together into a half squat; the trunk tips forward from the hips with a flat back while the arms swing back behind the body. With only a brief turn-round at the bottom, the arms swing forward and up and the hips, knees and ankles straighten together (triple extension). The toes are the last thing to leave the floor. In the air the body is long, the feet level with each other and the soles parallel to the floor. The feet come back down in the same spot, hip-width apart: the balls and mid-foot touch first, then the heels settle, while hips and knees bend to soak up the landing. The arms come forward for balance. Then the athlete stands tall and pauses.

## End position

The dip turns round in a half squat (thighs well above parallel). At take-off the hips and knees are straight and the ankles pointed. Trained jumpers in [3] rose 32 cm with arms crossed; 30 cm keeps the demo within reach of a gym client. Flight time for a 30 cm rise is 2 × √(2 × 0.30 / 9.81) ≈ 0.49 s. [4] measured 75° peak knee flexion for a soft landing from 22 cm and 88° from 44 cm, against 45–67° for natural or stiff landings.

## Tempo

Stand 0.5 s, dip 0.5 s, drive up 0.3 s, flight 0.5 s, absorb the landing 0.3 s, rise to standing 0.7 s, stand 0.5 s. Movement onset to take-off is about 0.8 s, as in [3].

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Stance, heel to heel | 1.0 × hip width | hip to shoulder width | [1] [2] |
| Toe-out, each foot | 5° | 0–10° |  |
| Knee flexion at the bottom of the dip | 95° | 75–110° | [2] [3] |
| Hip and knee at take-off | 0° | 0–10° | [1] |
| Flight time | 0.50 s | 0.40–0.57 s | [3] |
| Peak knee flexion on landing | 75° | 55–95° | [4] |
| Landing spot vs take-off spot | same | within 10 cm | [1] [2] |

## Sources

1. [ACE, Squat Jumps](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/116/squat-jumps/)
2. [NASM, Squat Jump](https://www.nasm.org/resource-center/exercise-library/squat-jump)
3. [Ho, Sum and Yang 2026, J Exerc Sci Fit, "Effects of stiffness-altered compression garments on lower-limb angular kinematics and force-time characteristics in countermovement jumps"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13571423/)
4. [Verniba et al. 2017, Sports Med Open, "The analysis of knee joint loading during drop landing from different heights and under different instruction sets in healthy males"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5243232/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/jump-squat