Jump Squat
The jump squat is a bodyweight squat that ends in a jump: you dip into a squat and drive up so hard that your feet leave the floor. It trains your quads, glutes and calves to produce force fast, which is exactly what plyometric training builds, and it needs no equipment at all.
How to do the jump squat
Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, toes turned out slightly, and your arms relaxed at your sides.
Push your hips back and bend your knees into a quick squat while you swing your arms down and back.
Without pausing at the bottom, push through your whole foot and straighten your hips, knees and ankles explosively.
Swing your arms up as you leave the floor and keep your body straight in the air.
Land softly on the front of your feet, let your heels come down and bend your knees and hips to absorb the landing.
Settle into your stance, then jump again, aiming for the same height as on the first rep.
Stance and setup for the jump squat
Use a firm, non-slip floor and shoes with some grip, or train barefoot on a mat. Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and turn your toes out a little, the way you stand for a bodyweight squat. Clear the space above you: a low ceiling or beam is the most common way to cut a set short.
Breathing and bracing
Take a breath and tighten your midsection before the dip. Breathe out as you take off or as you land, whichever feels natural, but keep your trunk firm through the landing. A soft trunk on landing is where the knees and lower back start to wobble.
The dip and take-off
Think of the dip and the jump as one movement. Push your hips back, bend your knees and swing your arms down and back, then reverse straight away. Push the floor away through your whole foot and finish on your toes, with your hips, knees and ankles straight and your arms reaching up. A pause at the bottom costs height, so turn around as soon as you reach your depth.
Landing softly
Land where you took off, on the front of your feet first, then let your heels touch and sink into a shallow squat. Your knees bend in line with your toes and your hips move back. A good landing is quiet. If your landings get loud, your legs are tired and the set is over.
Tempo: reset or rebound
For the highest jumps, settle for a moment after each landing and then go again. Flowing straight from one landing into the next rep is harder and more tiring; build up to it once your single jumps land cleanly.
Muscles worked by the jump squat
- Primary
- Glutes
- Quads
- Secondary
- Hamstrings
- Calves
The quads and glutes do most of the work: they straighten your knees and hips out of the squat, while the calves add the last push through your ankles. The hamstrings help extend the hips. Because every rep ends in flight, the same muscles also have to catch your body on the way down, so the landing is part of the training, not a break from it.
Common jump squat mistakes
Landing with stiff legs
Locked knees on landing send the impact up through your joints instead of into your muscles. Land on the front of your feet and sink quietly into a squat.
Letting the knees cave in
When your knees drift toward each other on take-off or landing, they leave their line over your toes. Keep them pointing where your toes point, and end the set when you cannot.
Hopping instead of jumping
The jump squat trains speed. Slow, low hops turn it into a tiring squat set. Jump as high as you can on every rep and stop when the height drops off.
Dipping too deep or too little
A very deep squat slows the turnaround, a tiny dip leaves no room to build force. Drop to the depth you would use for a quick vertical jump, then go.
Losing your shape in the air
Arching your back or kicking your legs makes every landing a surprise. Stay straight in the air and land with your feet under your hips.
How Muscla coaches the jump squat
- Warm up with easy squats and a few small jumps before the first set. Muscla plans no ramp sets for bodyweight exercises.
- Stop each set with about two good jumps left, three if you are new to training. On jump squats, height is your gauge: when it drops, the set is done.
- Rest 2 minutes between sets when you train for strength and 90 seconds for other goals, so every jump stays fast.
- With body weight only, Muscla works in a range of 8–15 reps. Once every set reaches 15, you stay at 15 until the block ends, and the next block brings the harder variant: the pistol squat.
- Muscla does not ask “How heavy was that?” after bodyweight exercises. Your reps show where you are in the range.
Jump squat sets, reps and rest
| Goal | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8–15 | 2 min |
| Muscle | 8–15 | 90 s |
| Lose fat | 8–15 | 90 s |
| Fit | 8–15 | 90 s |
| Comeback | 8–15 | 90 s |
Bodyweight: one range for every goal. Once you hit the top number in every set, the next 4-week block brings the harder variant.
The table shows the app's range for body weight: 8–15 reps per set. Once every set reaches 15, you stay at the top of the range until the block ends, and the next block brings the harder variant. The ladder runs from squat to overhead reach to jump squat to pistol squat. A training day never holds two squat variations.
Jump squat alternatives
- Barbell Squat
- Hack Squat
- Leg Press
- Dumbbell Goblet Squat
- Kettlebell goblet squat
- Smith squat
- Dumbbell squat
- Dumbbell bench squat
- Barbell Front Squat
- Band squat
Jump squat questions
What muscles do jump squats work?
Mainly the quads and glutes, with the calves and hamstrings helping. Because you leave the floor, jump squats train you to produce force quickly, and the landings train you to absorb it.
Do jump squats make you jump higher?
Yes. A meta-analysis of plyometric training found reliable gains in vertical jump height, about 8.7 percent on average for the countermovement jump. In a 6-week study, jump squat training raised both jump height and half squat strength.
Can jump squats build muscle?
They can. A review of studies that compared plyometric with traditional strength training found similar gains in leg muscle size, mostly in untrained or recreationally active people over up to 12 weeks. Once every set reaches 15 reps, Muscla moves you to the harder variant in the next block.
Are jump squats bad for your knees?
Your legs have to absorb every landing, so start with low jumps, land softly and add height over time. If you tell Muscla to go easy on your knees, it leaves out squats and lunges, jump squats included.
How many jump squats should I do?
With body weight alone, Muscla plans 8–15 reps per set. End a set when your jumps get noticeably lower, even if you could go on; tired, low jumps no longer train speed.
Should I add weight to jump squats?
Not before every rep lands softly with stable knees. In one trial, loaded jump squats used light loads, from body weight alone up to 60 percent of the squat one-rep max. Muscla moves you to the harder bodyweight variant instead.
Train it with Muscla
Muscla plans your sets, reps and rest, and sets your next rep target after every session.
Coming to the App Store. Free to start.
Sources
- Markovic G. Does plyometric training improve vertical jump height? A meta-analytical review. Br J Sports Med. 2007;41(6):349-355. PubMed
- Grgic J, Schoenfeld BJ, Mikulic P. Effects of plyometric vs. resistance training on skeletal muscle hypertrophy: a review. J Sport Health Sci. 2021;10(5):530-536. PubMed
- Lake JP, Lauder MA. Kettlebell swing training improves maximal and explosive strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2012;26(8):2228-2233. PubMed