Box Jump: Muscles Worked and How to Do It
TL;DR
Box jumps are a full lower-body power move led by your hamstrings, which help drive hip extension on takeoff. Your glutes and quadriceps add most of the jumping power, your calves finish the push through your ankles, and your abductors and adductors stabilize your hips on landing.
- Primary muscle:
- Hamstrings
- Secondary muscles:
- Abductors, Adductors, Calves, Glutes, Quadriceps
Muscles worked
Your hamstrings work alongside your glutes to extend your hips explosively, which is the main driver of jump height in a box jump.
Your glutes and quadriceps supply most of the raw power for the jump, extending your hips and knees together as you leave the ground, then absorbing the landing by bending again as you step or jump down.
Your calves add a final push through your ankles at the top of the jump. Your abductors and adductors, the muscles on the outside and inside of your hips, work quietly through the movement to keep your knees tracking straight on takeoff and landing.
Log Box Jump in PR Streak
PR Streak's library has 873 exercises, each with photos and step-by-step instructions like this one. Log this move and see what you lifted last time right next to every set, with every PR caught automatically and a chart for every exercise.
How to do it
- Begin with a box of an appropriate height 1-2 feet in front of you. Stand with your feet should width apart. This will be your starting position.
- Perform a short squat in preparation for jumping, swinging your arms behind you.
- Rebound out of this position, extending through the hips, knees, and ankles to jump as high as possible. Swing your arms forward and up.
- Land on the box with the knees bent, absorbing the impact through the legs. You can jump from the box back to the ground, or preferably step down one leg at a time.
Form tips
- Swing your arms back then forward explosively to add momentum to the jump.
- Land with soft, bent knees to absorb the impact instead of landing stiff-legged.
- Step down off the box one leg at a time rather than jumping down, especially on taller boxes.
- Pick a box height you can land on with both feet fully flat on top, not just your toes.
Exercise details
| Equipment | Other |
|---|---|
| Level | Beginner |
| Mechanic | Compound |
Used by lifters following PPL, 5x5, upper/lower, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do box jumps work your glutes or your quads more?
Both work hard together. Your glutes and hamstrings drive hip extension while your quadriceps extend your knees, and all three fire at nearly the same time during takeoff, so box jumps train them as a team rather than one muscle leading the others.
How many box jumps should I do per set?
Keep sets short and quality-focused. Because it is an explosive plyometric move, low reps at full effort, similar to the strength range of 6 or fewer, work better than grinding out high-rep sets once landing mechanics start breaking down. For a no-equipment alternative, try the jump squat.
More hamstrings exercises
Exercise instructions and photos come from the free-exercise-db library, public domain, the same library used inside the PR Streak app.
