Jump Squat - Sweat
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Jump Squat

Sweat - sweat.com

How to: Jump Squat

Primary Muscles Used:Upper Legs, Glutes, Gluteals, Quads, Hamstrings

Exercise Families:Squat, High Intensity

Trainer:Chontel Duncan

  1. Plant both feet on the floor shoulder-width apart. Looking straight ahead, bend at both the hips and knees, ensuring that your knees remain in line with your toes. Continue bending your knees until your upper legs are parallel with the floor. Ensure that your back remains within a 45- to 90-degree angle to your hips. This is your starting position.
  2. Inhale. Exhale. Push through your heels and propel your body upwards into the air, extending both your knees and your hips.
  3. Inhale. Bend your hips and knees to land and return to the starting position, ensuring that you maintain ‘soft’ knees to prevent injury. Repeat for the specified number of repetitions.

Benefits of jump squats

Squats are one of the most foundational exercises for developing and improving your strength, and jump squats are a great way to reap some additional benefits.

Because they add in a jumping component, jump squats are a plyometric variation of this bodyweight exercise. By adding a jump to your squats, you are able to develop more explosive power as your strengthen the muscles in your glutes and upper legs, particularly the quads and hamstrings. Improving explosive strength in incredibly useful for sports and in athletics - particularly if you want to improve your running speed or sprint performance.

Jump squats are also great for getting your heart rate up, and you'll often see this exercise incorporated in high intensity interval training.

Tips for performing squat jumps

These tips are good to keep in mind to get the most out of your jump squats and minimise any risks of injury.

  • Warm up before performing the exercise. You want your leg muscles warmed up nicely with good blood flow before doing any plyometric exercises like jump squats.
  • Keep your focus on your form as you start to tire. Jump squats can wear you out quickly (for reasons that will become obvious as you do the exercise), so continue to concentrate on your form as you go.
  • Keep the landings nice and soft. it’s important to maintain soft knees and not come down too hard when you land, in order to avoid injuries. If you’re new to jumping exercises like jump squats, consider avoiding very hard floor surfaces for your workout.

Jump squat alternatives

Try any of the following exercises as alternatives to jump squats, to vary your leg workouts or make your workouts more challenging.

Alternative Exercises for Gluteals

* Disclaimer: This blog post is not intended to replace the advice of a medical professional. The above information should not be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or medical condition. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet, sleep methods, daily activity, or fitness routine. Sweat assumes no responsibility for any personal injury or damage sustained by any recommendations, opinions, or advice given in this article.

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