# Tuck Jump: how to do it

- Main muscles: quads, calves
- Also works: cardio, abs
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: advanced
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/tuck_jump/4fe0774d1c/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, arms by your sides.
2. Swing your arms up and jump straight up.
3. Pull your knees up towards your chest.
4. Straighten your legs and land softly on the balls of your feet.
5. Go straight into the next jump.

## Cues

- Knees up to your chest, not chest down to your knees.
- Land quietly in the same spot.
- Keep your knees apart, over your toes.

## Common mistakes

- Landing with straight legs.
- Leaning forward to meet your knees.
- Letting your knees cave in as you land.

## Starting position

Stand tall, feet about shoulder-width apart and parallel, toes forward. Arms by the sides. Trunk braced and upright, head neutral, knees slightly soft.

## The movement

Continuous jumps on the spot. On touchdown the balls of the feet land first and the heels just kiss the floor while the hips and knees bend to soak up the landing; the arms swing down and back. With no pause, the arms swing forward and up and the hips, knees and ankles straighten together to jump straight up. Once off the floor, pull both knees up towards the chest until the thighs are at least level with the floor and the feet are tucked under the hips. The trunk stays nearly upright; the arms stay forward. At the top, straighten the legs again and drop the arms so the feet come down under the hips, hip-width to shoulder-width apart, and land in the same spot, ready for the next jump.

## End position

Peak: thighs level with the floor or higher, knees at hip height, both thighs together and level. Take-off: hips and knees straight, ankles pointed. Getting the thighs level means the feet leave the floor by much more than the hips rise, so the tuck has to be quick and the legs must straighten again by the last 0.1 s of flight. The rebound landing is shallower than the 75–88° of a held soft landing [3] because the next jump starts straight away, but it is never stiff.

## Tempo

Per jump: ground contact 0.45 s (absorb 0.25 s, drive 0.2 s), flight 0.55 s. No pause on the floor.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Foot placement at landing, heel to heel | 1.0 × shoulder width | hip to shoulder width | [1] [2] |
| Thigh angle at the peak, from horizontal | 5° above (knees above the hips) | level to 25° above | [2] |
| Hip and knee at take-off | 0° | 0–10° | [1] [4] |
| Landing spot vs take-off spot | same | within 10 cm | [2] |
| Left and right feet at touchdown | same moment, parallel | within 0.03 s | [2] |

## Sources

1. [NASM, Tuck Jump](https://www.nasm.org/resource-center/exercise-library/tuck-jump)
2. [Racine et al. 2021, Int J Sports Phys Ther, "Reliability of the tuck jump assessment using standardized rater training"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7872439/)
3. [Verniba et al. 2017, Sports Med Open, drop landing heights and instructions](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5243232/)
4. [Ho, Sum and Yang 2026, J Exerc Sci Fit, countermovement jump kinematics](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13571423/)

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