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Box jump

Also called box jumps, box jump up

A jump up and forward onto a box. What the few box jump studies measured at take-off and landing, what jumps from the ground show about the muscles and tendons, and what injury surveys reported.

Region
Knee
Muscles
quadriceps, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, gastrocnemius, soleus
Updated
October 23, 2026
Reviewed
October 23, 2026 · how entries are checked

Movement

A dip, a jump and a landing on top

The authors of one box jump study describe the exercise as typically a countermovement jump1. The jump propels the body up and forward to land with both feet on a box1. Participants in that study swung their arms, which the authors call standard practice for the box jump1.

One laboratory study of a high-intensity circuit used a rebound version8. Participants jumped onto the box and stood with hips and knees fully straight8. They then jumped down and immediately jumped back onto the box8.

How the take-off compares with a jump from the ground

One study compared box jumps onto a 50 cm box, jumps over a 50 cm hurdle and countermovement jumps in 20 recreationally trained men5. Peak take-off velocity, peak vertical force and total push time did not differ between the three5. Two things did differ5:

  • The dip was significantly deeper in the countermovement jump than in the box or hurdle jumps5.
  • Peak horizontal force was significantly lower in the countermovement jump than in the box or hurdle jumps5.

Whether a higher box changes the jump

Two studies set the box at different heights and measured the take-off1,6:

  • One study set boxes at 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80% of each person’s maximal box jump height1. Its 14 male and 17 female participants were recreationally active college students1. Box height overall did not influence take-off performance when a maximal-effort jump was emphasised1. The only significant effect was a higher peak force in the women at 80% than with no box1.
  • In 10 elite female handball players, peak force, peak power and time to take-off did not differ between a low box and a high box6.

In the handball players, the highest box a player reached was not significantly related to her rise in a countermovement jump6. The authors of the student study state that higher boxes may need more hip range of motion, to pull the knees high enough1. Range of motion is how far a joint moves during a movement.

What it loads

Where the evidence comes from

Few of the studies below measured a box jump. One that did recorded electromyography, which reads a muscle’s electrical signals, in 23 athletes doing a range of plyometric exercises that included box jumps9. Plyometric exercise stretches a muscle and then shortens it quickly, as in jumping and hopping. Activity differed significantly between exercises for the quadriceps and the gastrocnemius, but not for the hamstrings9.

The other muscle and tendon findings come from jumps that start and end on the ground2,3,4.

The landing on the box

In 20 recreationally trained men, landing on a 50 cm box gave about 51% lower peak impact force than landing from a countermovement jump5.

The authors suggest two probable reasons5. The men were told to land softly, and the box happened to match their mean jump height of 49.5 cm5. That left less time to speed up downward before landing5.

The same authors note they did not assess how other box heights affect impact force5. The authors of the student study note that forces and joint motion in the landing were not explored across box heights1.

Which joints do the work in a vertical jump

A work-energy analysis of maximal vertical jumps, not box jumps, split the positive work between the muscles at three joints2. Its abstract does not say whether the jumps used a dip2.

Share of positive work in a vertical jumpKnee49 %Hip28 %Ankle23 %
Share of positive work in a vertical jump (%). Bars start at zero; the table below gives each value with its source.
Muscles at theShare of positive work in a vertical jump
KneeAbout 49%2
HipAbout 28%2
AnkleAbout 23%2

The muscles in a countermovement jump

The quadriceps, four muscles on the front of the thigh, straighten the knee10. One study recorded muscle activity in 10 healthy men during the push-off of a countermovement jump3. The figures are percentages of each muscle’s maximum voluntary contraction, the hardest effort a person can make with a muscle.

Muscle in the countermovement jumpAverage activity in the push-off
Vastus lateralis, the outer quadriceps muscle135%3
Medial gastrocnemius, the inner head of the calf muscle76%3
Gluteus maximus, the large buttock muscle41%3

The authors called the countermovement jump a quadriceps-dominant activity3. In the same 10 men, the peak hip and knee moments came almost together, and the peak ankle moment came after the knee’s3. A joint moment is the turning effect of a force around a joint.

A second study ran countermovement jumps by 18 adults through a computer model of the muscles and bones11. The prime movers, the main muscles that make a movement, fell into four groups whose forces peaked one after another11:

  1. The hamstrings and hip stabilisers11.
  2. The gluteus maximus and the inner (medial) quadriceps11.
  3. The vastus lateralis and ankle stabilisers11.
  4. The soleus with the rectus femoris, a quadriceps muscle at the front of the thigh11.

The hamstrings extend the hip and bend the knee10,12. The gastrocnemius points the foot down and assists knee bending13. The model’s authors explain that both therefore pull the knee toward bending in a countermovement jump11. So the knee extensors, the muscles that straighten the knee, must be used maximally11.

What the arm swing adds

These studies measured jumps from the ground, not box jumps14,15:

  • In the vertical jump, 20 adult men jumped 0.086 m higher with an arm swing than with arms by their sides14. The shoulder and elbow joints, and extra work at the hip, supplied the added energy14.
  • In 15 men doing countermovement jumps, an arm swing lowered the extensor torques at the hip, knee and ankle early in the push-off15. The same torques were higher later in the push-off15. A torque is a turning force.

The tendons

The patellar tendon runs from the kneecap to the front of the tibia (shinbone)10. The soleus and gastrocnemius join to form the Achilles tendon, which attaches to the heel bone16.

One study put optic-fibre sensors in both tendons of four volunteers4. They did submaximal squat and countermovement jumps, not box jumps4. Peak patellar tendon force was greater than peak Achilles tendon force in every condition4. Modelling in that study showed the tendon stretching and then shortening, so it could store and return elastic energy4.

One study did include box jumps, inside a circuit8. It randomised 18 volunteers to a circuit of front squats, 10 box jumps and jump-rope double-unders, or to an upper-body circuit8. On ultrasound, a scan made with sound waves, patellar and Achilles tendon thickness did not increase significantly in the 30 minutes after either circuit8. The brightness of both tendons on the scan rose in both groups, and which circuit was done did not significantly explain it8.

How the body adapts

Programmes that included box jumps

The trials below used box jumps alongside other exercises, or used a variant of the box jump17,18,19,20. Each result is for the programme as a whole.

  • Preadolescent boys. A trial randomly assigned 45 boys to soccer practice alone or with 12 weeks of twice-weekly plyometric training17. The training mixed hops, shuffles, skipping, ladder drills, box jumps and low-intensity depth jumps17. The plyometric group improved vertical jump tests by 16 to 23% and speed tests by 3 to 5%17.
  • Men. A trial randomly divided 24 men into a plyometric group and a traditional training group for 16 weeks18. The plyometric training included vertical jumps and box jumps18. The authors reported greater gains in hip and knee strength in the plyometric group18.
  • Older women. Among 58 healthy women aged about 67, one group of 14 did a lateral box jump, a sideways variant, for six weeks19. Countermovement jump height improved significantly only in that group19.
  • Premenopausal women. Of 57 women aged 35 to 45, 28 did a circuit of jumps on 10 to 20 cm boxes20. They did it three times a week for 12 weeks20. A marker of bone breakdown fell by about 26% in the jumping group and about 0.6% in the control group20.

A meta-analysis, which pools the results of several studies, covered 56 studies of plyometric training21. Vertical jump gains were larger when several kinds of plyometric jump were combined than with one kind21.

Injuries reported in surveys

Two questionnaire surveys of CrossFit athletes name the box jump7,22. Their figures are counts and shares of the injuries athletes reported.

A German survey of 308 athletes

  • The box jump was the single exercise with the highest share of reported injuries, at 14.3%7. Barbell exercises as a group accounted for 36.3%7.
  • The box jump was behind all 20 reported lower leg wounds, which were linked to slipping during the jump7.
  • Seven people had surgery for a training injury, three of them for a lower leg wound from box jumping7.
  • Ankle and foot injuries were reported after box jumps, and also after rope climbing, conditioning workouts and barbell exercises7.

The survey’s authors gave their own reasons for the box jump’s share7. They named its frequent use in workouts, speed possibly being put before form, and fatigue lowering maximal jump height7. They also named wooden boxes, on which a jump that falls short can injure the front of the lower leg7.

Other reports

In an online survey of 456 Czech CrossFit athletes, 36.4% had at least one injury to report from the past six months22. Most injuries came from five movements: snatches, deadlifts, cleans, box jumps and pull-up variations22.

A case report, a report on a single patient, describes a kneeling variant23. A 14-year-old girl had severe right lower abdominal pain after “power kneel box jumps”23. Ultrasound found a tear of the right rectus abdominis, a long, flat muscle down the front of the abdomen23.

Progressive overload

A 2026 position stand describes progressive overload as the need to increase the stimulus placed on the muscle throughout a training programme24. In the trials below, box jumps were one exercise in a wider programme18,25,26,27. Each result is for the programme as a whole.

Raising the box

One trial randomly assigned adolescent female basketball players to six weeks of plyometric training, three sessions a week25. Double-leg box jumps, 3 × 12, used a 40 cm box in weeks 1 to 3 and a 60 cm box in weeks 4 to 625. The box went up only when a player showed a correct take-off and a soft landing without the knee collapsing inward25. Weekly foot contacts, the number of landings, rose from 112 to 16825. Both plyometric groups, 14 players each, gained significantly more than a conventional training group of 14 in sprinting and vertical jump height25.

Moving to harder jumps

The 16-week trial in 24 men, described under How the body adapts, kept a 40 cm box throughout18. Its plyometric group moved to harder box jump variants, ending with depth-to-box jumps18. A depth jump is a jump made straight after stepping off a box and landing.

WeeksBox jump variants, with the authors’ intensity ratingFoot contacts per session
1–4Box jumps, 10 × 2, rated low18About 10018
5–8Box jumps without arm swing and lateral box jumps, 6 × 4, rated medium18About 12018
9–16Depth-to-box jumps and lateral box jumps, 5 × 4, rated high18About 10018

Pairing box jumps with squats

One trial randomly assigned 30 young men with at least a year of resistance and aerobic training to two groups26. For six weeks, the 15 in the complex training group paired back squats with box jumps onto a 30 cm box26. They showed no significant gains in countermovement or squat jump, though drop jump height improved26. A drop jump is a jump straight up done right after landing from a box. The authors suggest that low-threshold 30 cm box jumps, rather than depth jumps, may have limited those gains26.

More repetitions in a circuit

In one trial, 20 recreationally active adults did an eight-exercise circuit three times a week for eight weeks27. Each exercise lasted 30 seconds27. The number of box jumps done in the first and fourth rounds rose from the first week to the last27.

Connections

The structures it loads

Electromyography in plyometric exercises that included box jumps recorded the quadriceps, gastrocnemius and hamstrings9. Countermovement jump studies add the gluteus maximus and soleus3,11. In a vertical jump, the muscles at the knee did about 49% of the positive work2. Force in the patellar tendon and Achilles tendon was measured in squat and countermovement jumps4.

A review describes plyometric training exercises as having three phases, with a quick change from eccentric to concentric work28. Eccentric work is done while a muscle lengthens, and concentric work while it shortens.

The drop landing page covers landing from a platform to the ground. There, peak ground reaction forces, the push of the ground back up on the body, generally rose with landing height in 9 active men29.

A 2026 paper describes pogo hops as an ankle-dominant exercise, with repeated two-legged hops and limited knee movement30. One adult had a force sensor placed around the Achilles tendon31. Peak force was 1895 N in a countermovement jump and 3786 N in repeated submaximal hopping31.

Box jump loads

Box jump is a form of

Box jump is compared with

Box jump is progressed by

Sources

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  2. Hubley CL, Wells RP (1983). A work-energy approach to determine individual joint contributions to vertical jump performance.. European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology. doi:10.1007/BF00422163 PMID 6681756
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  28. Ramírez-delaCruz M, Bravo-Sánchez A, Esteban-García P, Jiménez F, Abián-Vicén J (2022). Effects of Plyometric Training on Lower Body Muscle Architecture, Tendon Structure, Stiffness and Physical Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.. Sports medicine - open. doi:10.1186/s40798-022-00431-0 PMID 35312884
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Every source the library cites

Changes

  • Added a Progressive overload section.
  • First published.