# Jumping Lunge: 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/jumping_lunge/ee626df06a/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Start in a lunge, front thigh level, back knee just off the floor.
2. Swing your arms and jump straight up off both feet.
3. Switch legs in the air.
4. Land softly in a lunge with the other foot in front.
5. 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.

## 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

| 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] |

## Sources

1. [NASM, Lunge Jump](https://www.nasm.org/resource-center/exercise-library/lunge-jump)
2. [ACE, Explosive Plyometric Workout (alternating lunge jumps)](https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/expert-articles/5869/explosive-plyometric-workout/)
3. [Bioengineering 2022, "Influence of Different Load Conditions on Lower Extremity Biomechanics during the Lunge Squat in Novice Men"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9311947/)
4. [Verniba et al. 2017, Sports Med Open, drop landing heights and instructions](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5243232/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/jumping-lunge