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Pogo hops

Also called pogo jumps, ankle hops, hopping, two-legged hopping

Repeated two-legged hops with nearly straight knees and short ground contacts. What hopping studies measured at the ankle, calf muscles, Achilles tendon and foot, and what hopping programmes changed.

Region
Lower leg
Muscles
soleus, gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior
Updated
October 23, 2026
Reviewed
October 23, 2026 · how entries are checked

Movement

What the movement is

A 2026 paper describes pogo jumps as an ankle-dominant exercise1. These are repeated two-legged hops with limited knee movement and an emphasis on short ground contact1.

A trial of a hopping programme in amateur runners gave four instructions4:

  • Stand with the feet no wider than hip width4.
  • Hop as high as possible on both legs4.
  • Keep the knees extended4.
  • Keep ground contact as short as possible4.

A review describes repetitive vertical hopping as a simple and fairly controlled task6. Most findings on this page come from such hopping studies, on two legs or on one6,7.

The rate people choose

People asked to hop in place chose a rate of about 2.2 hops per second8. At that rate the body moved like a simple spring-mass system, a weight on a spring8.

Above the preferred rate, the body still acted as a spring-mass system, with shorter ground contact8. Below it, the body’s movement was not springlike8.

One leg or two

In 32 physically active men, leg stiffness was 24% lower in one-legged hopping than in two-legged hopping7.

What it loads

The ankle and the knee

Five people hopped in place at 2.2 hops per second2. Leg stiffness was about twice as great when they hopped as high as possible as at a height they chose2. A computer model showed that the 1.9-fold rise in their ankle stiffness raised leg stiffness 2.0-fold2. The 1.7-fold rise in their knee stiffness had almost no effect2. The authors concluded that leg stiffness is adjusted mainly at the ankle2.

Other studies found the knee mattered more at a slow rate and in maximal efforts10,11:

  • In 14 well-trained male athletes hopping on two legs, knee stiffness explained more of the variation in leg stiffness than ankle or hip stiffness did at 1.5 hops per second10. At 2.2 and 3.0 hops per second, ankle stiffness alone showed a significant correlation with leg stiffness10.
  • In ten well-trained male athletes hopping on two legs with maximal effort, knee stiffness was higher than ankle and hip stiffness11. It was the only joint stiffness significantly correlated with leg stiffness11.

Ten men did seven plyometric exercises, which stretch a muscle and then shorten it quickly12. Most measures of mechanical output at the ankle were greatest in the two-foot ankle hop and tuck jumps12.

The calf muscles

The soleus lies deep between the heads of the gastrocnemius13. Lower down the two calf muscles join to form the Achilles tendon13.

Seven men hopped in place on two legs at their preferred rate14. Hopping with a shorter ground contact gave higher leg stiffness14. It also gave high activity of the soleus and the inner gastrocnemius head, both before and after landing14. The authors concluded that a change in centrally programmed calf muscle activity before landing regulates leg stiffness14. They thought a change in the muscles’ short-latency stretch reflex probably contributes too14.

In the same men, tibialis anterior activity was low throughout ground contact compared with the calf muscles14. The tibialis anterior is the muscle at the front of the shin. The authors concluded that its co-contraction does not play a major role in controlling leg stiffness14.

The Achilles tendon

Tendons store and release elastic energy during stretch-shortening cycles15. A stretch-shortening cycle is a muscle being stretched while it works and then shortening straight away.

One study tracked the length of the Achilles tendon with ultrasound in ten men hopping on one leg3. Average peak tendon strain was 8.3%3. In ten men hopping on one leg, the tendon’s elastic recoil returned an average of 38 joules per hop3. That was about 16% of the hop’s total mechanical work3.

One adult had a force sensor implanted around the Achilles tendon16. A countermovement jump starts with a quick dip before going up, and a squat jump starts from a held squat. Of three tasks, peak tendon force was highest in repeated submaximal hopping of about 7 centimetres16:

Peak Achilles tendon forceCountermovement jump1895 newtonsSquat jump2233 newtonsRepeated submaximal hopping3786 newtons
Peak Achilles tendon force (newtons). Bars start at zero; the table below gives each value with its source.
TaskPeak Achilles tendon force
Countermovement jump1895 newtons16
Squat jump2233 newtons16
Repeated submaximal hopping3786 newtons16

The foot

The intrinsic muscles of the foot start and end within the foot17. Two hopping studies recorded these foot muscles18,19:

  • In 22 healthy people hopping on one leg, a measure of midfoot stiffness rose with hopping rate18. Intrinsic foot muscle activation during ground contact fell18. The authors say the mechanism remains unclear18.
  • In two-legged hopping on three surfaces, the long arch of the foot compressed less on the least stiff surface than on the stiffest19. The plantar intrinsic muscles, in the sole, were less active on the low and medium surfaces19.

After many hops

The authors of the one-legged strain study wrote that prolonged hopping may well cause tendon damage3. Another study had ten healthy people do 1150 to 2600 two-legged hops to exhaustion20. Achilles tendon stiffness was unchanged afterwards, and the authors concluded the tendon had not undergone mechanical fatigue20.

How the body adapts

Joint and tendon stiffness

Three small training studies measured stiffness21,22,23:

  • A trial randomly assigned 20 physically active elderly men to supervised two-legged short-contact hopping training or a control group21. After 2 weeks, ankle joint stiffness had risen by 21% in the training group21. Between weeks 2 and 11 their jump height rose 56.2%, but tendon stiffness did not change21.
  • Ten people trained one calf with hopping and drop jumps and the other with weight training for 12 weeks22. Joint stiffness rose significantly on the hopping side only, and tendon stiffness on the weight-trained side only22.
  • In a 10-week plyometric study with 11 people per group, Achilles tendon stiffness rose 32% in those who kept the knees extended during ground contact23. It did not change significantly in the group that bent the knees23.

A meta-analysis pools the results of several earlier studies. One, in healthy adults, found a moderate effect of plyometric training on tendon stiffness24.

Running and jumping

A randomised controlled trial, which assigns people to groups by chance, tested 34 amateur runners4. One group did 5 minutes of two-legged hopping daily for six weeks4. Compared with a control group, their running economy improved at 12 and 14 kilometres per hour but not at 104. Peak oxygen uptake did not change4. The running page covers that activity.

A randomised crossover pilot study tested 21 adolescent male basketball players1. They jumped no higher after 3 sets of 8 two-legged pogo jumps than after walking1. The confidence intervals were compatible with meaningful effects in either direction1. A confidence interval is a range around a study’s result that shows how precise it is.

Bone

Three bone density trials of hopping used hops in several directions on one leg, not two-legged hops in place25,26,27. Each measured the femoral neck, the angled part of the thigh bone just below the ball of the hip25,26,27:

  • In a randomised controlled trial, 61 premenopausal women did 50 such hops on 0, 2, 4 or 7 days a week for 6 months25. Bone density in the exercised leg changed by −0.3%, 0.0%, 0.9% and 1.8% respectively25.
  • Thirty-five older men did up to 50 such hops a day for 12 months26. Bone density rose 0.7% in the exercised leg and fell 0.9% in the other26.
  • In 35 postmenopausal women who completed a 6-month programme, bone density rose 0.81% in the exercised leg and fell 0.57% in the other27.

One trial used two-legged hopping on the balls of the feet5. It randomly assigned 25 elderly men to 12 weeks of it or a control group5. Blood markers of bone turnover did not respond5.

Dropouts and discomfort in the trials

A meta-analysis of 61 articles on plyometric jump training found most studies gave no report of soreness, pain, injury or related adverse effects28. Some hopping trials reported who dropped out4,26:

  • In the trial in amateur runners, 12 of the 46 people recruited dropped out4. Four left through illness, four through injury, two for lack of time and two for doing less than 70% of the hopping4.
  • Of 50 older men who began 12 months of daily one-legged hops, 14 did not finish26. Nine had health problems or injuries unrelated to the programme, two lacked time and three had discomfort during exercise26.
  • In the pilot study of 21 adolescent basketball players, everyone who completed the pogo jumps reported 0 out of 10 front-of-knee pain straight afterwards1.

Hopping in people with Achilles tendinopathy

Tendinopathy is local pain in a tendon that comes with activities that load it. Studies of hopping in people with Achilles tendinopathy disagree about leg stiffness29,30,31:

  • A meta-analysis of 16 studies found limited evidence of reduced leg stiffness on the affected side during submaximal hopping29.
  • In 51 athletes affected on one side, leg stiffness during hopping was significantly lower in the affected leg than in the healthy one32.
  • In a case-control study of one-legged hopping on a sledge, 15 patients had significantly greater lower limb stiffness than 11 healthy volunteers30.
  • In 17 recreational runners affected on one side, one-legged hopping showed no differences between legs in vertical or leg stiffness, or in ankle mechanics31.

Progressive overload

A 2026 position stand on resistance training describes progressive overload as the need to increase the stimulus placed on the muscle throughout a training programme33. Two of the hopping studies below raised the dose over time, and the others describe how a dose was set or compared434.

More hopping, shorter rests

The trial in 34 amateur runners, described under How the body adapts, kept each daily session at 5 minutes4. Each week it added 10-second sets of two-legged hopping, so net hopping time rose4. The breaks between sets grew shorter4. The authors say the weekly steps were meant to allow safe functional and mechanical adaptation4.

WeekSets of 10 secondsRest between sets
15450 seconds4
5 and 615410 seconds4

The authors report the hopping was well tolerated4. Two runners reported pain, in the shin and the ball of the foot, that might have been related to it4. The authors wrote that the progressive protocol seems safe in amateur athletes, since no related injury or other side effects were reported4.

One-legged hops in older men

A 6-month programme had healthy men aged 65 to 80 hop on one leg in a variety of directions34. Each session held 5 sets of 10 hops with 15 seconds of rest, done barefoot, 7 days a week34. The hops were progressed for each man individually34.

How many days a week

The trial in premenopausal women, described under Bone, varied training frequency25. Women did 50 one-legged hops in several directions on 0, 2, 4 or 7 days a week25. The change in femoral neck bone density in the exercised leg ranged from −0.3% with no hopping days to 1.8% with seven25. Over the 6 months, peak ground reaction forces during their hops rose from 2.5 times body weight to 2.825.

The trial in 25 elderly men hopping on the balls of the feet used 5 to 7 sets of 10 seconds, three times a week5. The hops were done at what the authors call 75 to 90% intensity5.

One leg or two, faster or slower

A modelling study, which estimates forces inside the body with a model, tested 40 healthy, active adults35. Compared with walking, peak knee forces were 94% higher in one-legged hopping and 42% higher in two-legged hopping35. Peak ankle forces were 77% and 30% higher35. In the same study, hopping intensity meant hop rate, and faster hopping reduced estimated hip, knee and ankle forces35.

A small warm-up dose

In the pilot study of 21 adolescent male basketball players, 3 sets of 8 pogo jumps had 1 minute of rest between sets1. The mean rating of perceived exertion, a score for how hard effort feels, was 11.4 on a 6 to 20 scale1. The authors call this a relatively low perceived load1. They write that the evidence is not yet enough to set the best pogo jump dose for a warm-up, particularly in adolescent athletes1. They add that more jumps could enhance either potentiation, a short-term rise in performance, or fatigue1.

Connections

The structures it loads

Hopping studies measured stiffness at the ankle and knee2,10. They recorded activity in the soleus and gastrocnemius14. They measured strain and force in the Achilles tendon3,16. They also recorded the intrinsic foot muscles18.

  • A systematic review of older adults named repeated hopping among the typical forms of plyometric training36.
  • In a study comparing landing and hopping, muscle stiffness at the ankle was negative after touchdown in landing but always positive in hopping37. The drop landing page covers landing.
  • In 24 recreational male runners with symptomatic Achilles tendinopathy, heel raises and walking gave estimated Achilles tendon forces of 1.10 to 2.76 bodyweights38. Running, jumping and hopping exercises gave 5.13 to 6.35 bodyweights38.
  • In four volunteers doing squat and countermovement jumps, peak patellar tendon force exceeded peak Achilles tendon force in every submaximal condition39. The box jump page covers those jumps.

Pogo hops loads

Pogo hops is a form of

Pogo hops is compared with

Pogo hops has been studied for

Pogo hops has been studied on

Pogo hops is progressed by

Sources

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Every source the library cites

Changes

  • Added a Progressive overload section.
  • First published.