Glutes exercise
Skater JumpHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Also works
- Abductors, Cardio
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
How do you do the Skater Jump?
- Balance on one leg, knee bent, other leg behind you.
- Push off and jump sideways to the other foot.
- Land softly on one leg, knee bent, hips back.
- Swing the free leg behind you without touching down.
- Hold for a moment, then jump back the other way.
Cues
- Land quietly and sink into your hips.
- Knee follows your toes.
- Swing your arms across to help the jump.
Common mistakes
- Letting the landing knee fall inward.
- Tapping the back foot down to balance.
- Landing stiff on a straight leg.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
The left leg is behind and across the right, knee bent, foot just off the floor. Trunk tipped forward from the hips with a flat back, chest up. The left arm reaches down and across towards the right foot; the right arm is back. Leg length (L) below means front of the hip bone (ASIS) to the inner ankle: about 0.86 m on the 1.75 m avatar.
The movement
Push the right foot hard into the floor and straighten the right hip, knee and ankle, driving the body up and sideways to the left. The arms swing across the other way. In the air the legs pass each other. Land on the left foot alone, ball first then heel, knee already bent, and let the left hip and knee bend further to soak up the landing. The right leg swings behind and across the left without touching down; the right arm reaches across towards the left foot. Hold the landing for a moment with the left knee over the toes, then push off the left leg back to the right and land the same way. Hips stay level and square to the front throughout.
End position
Landing bottom: working knee about 55°, hips back, trunk 35° forward, the free leg behind and across with its foot off the floor. A skater jump sinks further to load the next push, so the bottom target is a quarter-to-half single-leg squat, short of the 75–88° of a soft two-foot landing [3]. A 0.35 s flight gives a hip rise of g × t² / 8 ≈ 0.15 m. ACE keeps the back foot off the floor for the jumping version [1].
Tempo
Per side: land and absorb 0.35 s, hold 0.25 s, drive 0.3 s, flight 0.35 s.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sideways distance, foot to foot | 1.0 × L ≈ 0.86 m | 0.7–1.2 × L | [2] |
| Knee flexion at touchdown | 22° | 15–30° | [2] |
| Landing knee, front view | over the 2nd–3rd toe | under 5° valgus | [2][4] |
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 Skater Jump 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
Sources
- ACE, "Plyo progressions for personal training" (Certified, March 2018)
- Waldhelm et al. 2022, Int J Sports Phys Ther, "Reliability and differences between sexes in landing mechanics when performing the lateral bound test"
- Verniba et al. 2017, Sports Med Open, drop landing heights and instructions
- ACE, Lateral Lunge
