Quads exercise
Jumping LungeHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Also works
- Calves, Cardio
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
How do you do the Jumping Lunge?
- Start in a lunge, front thigh level, back knee just off the floor.
- Swing your arms and jump straight up off both feet.
- Switch legs in the air.
- Land softly in a lunge with the other foot in front.
- Sink straight down and jump again, alternating legs.
Cues
- Land soft, then sink.
- Chest tall the whole time.
- Feet stay hip-width, not on a line.
Common mistakes
- Letting the back knee bang the floor.
- Leaning forward as the legs switch.
- Landing with straight legs.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Start in the bottom of a lunge, right foot in front. Front foot flat, back foot on the ball with the heel up. Feet hip-width apart side to side, not on one line. Trunk upright and braced, shoulders down and back. Arms bent about 90° at the elbow and held in opposition to the legs: left arm forward, right arm back.
The movement
Drive through both feet, mostly the front one. Hips and knees straighten fast and the arms swing up. Both feet leave the floor together. At the top the legs scissor: the front leg sweeps back and the back leg sweeps forward, the feet passing each other under the hips, while the arms switch too. Both feet land at the same moment in a lunge with the left foot in front: front foot mid-foot then heel, back foot on the ball. The knees are already bent at touchdown and keep bending as the hips drop straight down into the lunge. A brief turn-round at the bottom, then the next jump switches back to right foot in front. The trunk stays upright all the way through.
End position
The bottom matches the walking lunge parent: front thigh about parallel, back knee just off the floor. The landing must be soft: [4] shows knee flexion grows from about 45–60° in stiff landings to 75–88° in soft ones; here the knees start bent at touchdown and finish at 90° in the lunge. The parent's 2–5 cm back-knee gap is widened to 2–15 cm because a jump landing should never risk the knee hitting the floor.
Tempo
Each rep: drive 0.3 s, flight 0.4 s, absorb down into the lunge 0.4 s, turn-round 0.2 s. No pause standing.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front knee flexion at the bottom | 90° | 80–105° | [1] |
| Back knee flexion at the bottom | 90° | 80–110° | [1] |
| Landing: front and back foot contact | same moment | within 0.05 s | [1] |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Jumping Lunge is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
