Training guide
A jumping lunge, also called a jump lunge, lunge jump or split jump, starts in a lunge, jumps straight up, switches your legs in the air and lands softly in a lunge with the other foot forward. The landing is the skill. In lab models of healthy young adults, it loaded the knee about as much as a hard two-footed jump, a middle-ranking load among 35 exercises, so the risk is tired, loud landings rather than the move itself.
The knee figures come from one lab's study of 20 young adults, and experts rate the move anywhere from beginner to advanced, so this guide says where the evidence is thin.
It shows each step on the 3D figure, from split squats and same-stance split jumps to the full switch, and covers what jumping lunges build, how many to do and how often, your knees, and leaking, pregnancy and the months after a birth, with a follow-along progression.
Start in a lunge, your front knee over the middle of your foot and your back knee just off the floor. Drive up through both legs and swing your arms to jump, switch your legs in the air, and land softly in a lunge with the other foot forward, sinking down to absorb it. It's also called a jump lunge, lunge jump, split jump, split squat jump or scissor jump.
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Land quietly on the middle of your front foot, rolling back towards the heel, with your hips back and both knees bent, not locked. Being told to land softly lowered landing force in female athletes. End the set when your landings get loud or the jump shrinks, as our jump squat guide says.
In lab models of 20 healthy young adults, alternating split jumps loaded the kneecap joint about 7 times body weight (a two-footed jump 6.4, running 5.4, a lunge 5.1) and the tendon below the kneecap less than one-leg hops. That's one lab's estimate in healthy knees. It's no reason to avoid them if you build up, but with sore knees they come last, as our knee pain when lunging guide says.
Steady split squats and reverse lunges, then quiet jump squats, then split jumps landing in the same stance, then the switch. The same-stance step comes from a sports rehab staging: it's expert opinion, not tested in a trial. The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) says beginners should master static lunges and single-leg balance first.
In 32 young footballers, 6 weeks of jumping lunges improved sprinting, while walking lunges built hamstring strength. Split jumps are part of jump programmes that raise jump height. They train power and fitness more than muscle size.
For power, 3 sets of 4 each side with 90 seconds to 2 minutes' rest (our plyometric workout), building towards NASM's 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 8 once every landing is quiet. Count each landing towards about 80 to 100 a session for beginners, twice a week, 48 to 72 hours apart. Never to failure.
A lunge made into a jump: you start in a split stance, jump straight up, switch your legs in the air and land in the opposite split stance. People call it a jumping lunge, jump lunge, lunge jump, split jump, split squat jump, switch or alternating jump lunge, or scissor jump.
Two easier versions keep the split stance. A same-stance split jump jumps and lands in the same lunge without switching, and a shallow split jump springs in and out of a small split. A sports rehab paper groups split jumps with jumps where both feet take off or land together, but in different positions.
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Your quads and glutes drive the jump and brake the landing, as NASM lists them; your hamstrings, calves, inner thighs and trunk keep you steady. The glutes worked at about 73% of their maximum in a split jump in 18 recreational athletes. The knees, hips and ankles of both legs take the landing, the front leg more than the back.
Steady split squats or static lunges, 30 seconds' balance on each leg, quiet jump squats, and no knee pain when you lunge. An old rule asks for a squat of 1.5 times your body weight before any jump training. It has never been tested, and in older adults, basic control and a gradual build-up looked enough.
Heavier people land with more force, so the early steps matter more (our jump squat guide). Long legs need a longer stance to keep the front heel down (our lunge guide). If you leak, are pregnant or had a baby recently, read the pelvic floor notes below. Under 16, jump with a coach watching, as our vertical jump workout says.
From our split squat jump and scissor jump move pages, the American Council on Exercise's (ACE's) cycled split-squat jump and NASM's lunge jump. The stance follows our lunge guide; resetting between jumps is ACE's cue for learning.
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The movement on the figure: Split squat jump
In female athletes, the instruction to land softly lowered peak landing force and increased knee bend straight away. Across 7 studies, feedback on landing technique lowered landing force, and combined feedback lowered it most. These are immediate effects in the lab, not injury results.
In 205 female athletes, the 9 who later tore an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL, a main knee ligament) had landed with more knee collapse. But in 710 elite female players, a landing test couldn't pick out who would be injured. Keeping your front knee over the middle of your foot is still the landing coaches teach.
Programmes that combine landing, strength and balance work, including scissor jumps and cycled split squats, done 2 to 3 times a week, prevent ACL injuries, as the National Athletic Trainers' Association's position statement says and our jump squat guide reports.
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Coaching bodies agree. "Landing comes before leaping, always", in the words of a NASM article, and ACE asks you to focus first on landing with control and resetting before the next jump. Change one thing at a time: the depth, then the reps, then the switch, then the speed.
Snapdowns teach the landing without a jump. A sports rehab staging puts split jumps that land in the same stance before alternating ones, at moderate intensity. That order is expert opinion, not tested in a trial, but it lets you learn the split-stance landing before you add the switch.
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From easiest: split squats, 2 sets of 8 each leg lowering for 3 seconds, moving on at 3 sets of 10 to 12 (our lunge progression workout and lunge guide); reverse lunges, 3 sets of 6 to 8 each leg (the same workout); snapdowns, 2 × 5 holding each landing for 2 seconds, and jump squats, 3 × 5 with 60 seconds' rest (our vertical jump workout); same-stance split jumps, 2 or 3 sets of 3 to 5 each leg, resetting between jumps (our editorial starting point); shallow split jumps, 2 to 3 sets of 5 to 8 each leg with full rest (their move page's dose); jumping lunges, 3 × 4 each side with 90 seconds to 2 minutes' rest (our plyometric workout); the scissor jump, the same move on its own page, 3 sets of 6 jumps with about a minute's rest (its move page's dose); and, after months of steady landings, the Smith machine lunge jump, 3 to 4 sets of 4 to 6 each leg with a light bar and 2 minutes' rest (its move page's dose). There's no 3D demo for jumping lunges holding dumbbells, with a knee drive or with a twist.
3D demoSplit squatIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoReverse lungeIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSnapdown to athletic landingBeginner · No equipment
3D demoJump squatIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSplit jump (same-leg landing)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoShallow split jumpsIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSplit squat jumpAdvanced · No equipment
3D demoScissor jumpIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSmith machine lunge jumpAdvanced · Strength machineThe only trial of jumping lunges on their own: 32 young footballers added them, or walking lunges, to football twice a week for 6 weeks. The jumping lunges improved sprinting and the walking lunges hamstring strength. The summary gives no figures, so we can't say by how much.
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Across 26 studies, jump training raised the countermovement jump by 8.7%. Across 56, programmes longer than 10 weeks, with more than 20 sessions and more than 50 jumps a session, did best.
In 22 endurance runners aged about 37, a programme of split jumps (3 to 4 sets of 5 each side), drop jumps and bounds, twice a week for 6 weeks, raised jump height by a moderate amount (an effect size of 0.48). The split jumps were one drill of three, so their own share is unknown.
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In 18 recreational athletes, the glutes worked at about 73% of their maximum in a split jump, measured by muscle activity (EMG, electromyography). Muscle activity in one session isn't a validated guide to growth, and jumping lunges train power and fitness more than size: for bigger legs, loaded split squats and lunges do more.
In 12 fit adults going all out for a minute, people did about 55 jumping lunges. A bodyweight interval session that included them ran at about 77% of peak oxygen uptake, against 88% for treadmill intervals, and left more soreness two days later (19 against 6 on a 100 mm scale).
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In 14 inactive adults with obesity, 6 weeks of video-led bodyweight intervals that included jumping lunges, with easier versions offered, improved fitness and thigh strength, and no injuries were reported. It was one small group with nothing to compare against.
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A clinical review's table lists split squat jumps among beginner drills, ACE rates the cycled split-squat jump intermediate, NASM calls the lunge jump an advanced variation, and a sports rehab staging puts split jumps at moderate intensity. In 10 athletes, ratings of jump drills by feel didn't match the joint power measured. Treat jumping lunges as a step after split squats and jump squats, not a first exercise.
Across 12 studies of 289 adults aged 58 to 79, at most 1.4% dropped out with an injury, and most of 61 studies in people aged 8 to 73 reported no harms, though harms are often not reported. Jump training on sand caused less soreness than on grass in 37 footballers.
Jumping programmes raised bone density at the hip by about 1.5% across 18 adult trials, with a median of 50 jumps four times a week. None used jumping lunges, so we make no bone claim for them.
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3 to 5 minutes of easy movement, then knee-to-wall rocks, 10 bodyweight squats, a set of split squats and 2 × 5 snapdowns before any jump, the moves our vertical jump workout and knee control warm-up use.
3 sets of 4 each side with 90 seconds to 2 minutes' rest, as our plyometric workout uses, building towards NASM's 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 8 with complete rest once every landing is quiet. Our badminton workout uses 2 × 5 each leg.
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Expert guidance suggests about 80 to 100 jumps and landings (foot contacts) a session for beginners, 100 to 120 for intermediates and 120 to 140 for advanced athletes, with quality over quantity. Every landing counts: 3 × 4 jumping lunges each side is 24.
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Twice a week, 48 to 72 hours apart, with the jumps early in the session while you're fresh. Twice a week at 100 contacts a session worked over 8 weeks in 24 soccer players; across 61 studies, three sessions a week did a little better for reactive strength than fewer.
Every jump is a full, controlled effort with a quiet landing. End the set when your landings get loud, your knees cave in or the jump shrinks, rather than counting reps in reserve. NASM says never to train jumps to failure.
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20 to 40 seconds on in an interval session, with the same landing rules, and 1 or 2 rounds at first, as our HIIT workout builds up. Swap to reverse lunges when your landings get loud.
100 jumping lunges a day isn't needed. Expert guidance puts beginners at about 80 to 100 landings a session with 48 to 72 hours between, and a minute of all-out jumping lunges left more soreness than treadmill intervals. If you do a challenge, keep to that dose and rest a day between sessions (our editorial suggestion).
Only after months of steady landings, and keep it light: the Smith machine lunge jump's move page gives 3 to 4 sets of 4 to 6 each leg with a light bar. Across 56 studies, jumping with added weight gave no extra jump height, and it makes every landing heavier.
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Nobody has measured jumping lunges on their own. The Compendium of Physical Activities gives vigorous calisthenics 7.5 METs (multiples of your resting energy use) and hard interval moves such as squat jumps 11.0, which by our rough arithmetic is about 9 to 13 calories a minute of work for a 70 kg person, and much less in the rests. More jumps don't burn more fat: interval and steady exercise lose about the same. Our calories burned calculator does the sum for your weight and time.
Land with both knees bent and sink into the lunge.
Stop it just short of the floor, as our scissor jump move page says.
Keep them hip-width apart side to side, like railway tracks, as our lunge guide says.
Keep it over the middle of your foot.
Lengthen the step until your front heel stays down (our lunge guide).
NASM lists repetitions while tired as a common mistake. End the set when your landings get loud.
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Keep your chest up over your hips; NASM lists too much forward lean.
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Use 20 to 40 second intervals only once your landings are steady.
In lab models of 20 healthy adults aged about 26, alternating split jumps loaded the joint behind the kneecap about 7.0 times body weight, in the middle of three tiers across 35 exercises. A two-footed jump came to 6.4, running 5.4, a lunge 5.1 and a Bulgarian split squat 4.7; only a single-leg decline squat (8.2) and a run with a sharp turn (7.1) were higher. Exercises with deep knee bends tended to load the kneecap more than fast, hard ones.
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In the same 20 adults, the patellar tendon's load in split jumps was in the middle tier: a little below a two-footed jump and running, and below one-leg hops. The authors suggest jumps and landings can come in at an intermediate stage of rehab for tendon pain. These are model estimates from one lab in healthy young knees; no other study has measured a split jump's forces.
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Knee osteoarthritis was about as common in people who played sport as in those who didn't (7.7% against 7.3%), higher in elite football and competitive weightlifting, and likely tied to past injuries and the level of play. A year of high-impact training didn't change knee cartilage in 80 women aged 50 to 66 with mild knee osteoarthritis. Nobody has studied cartilage and jumping lunges.
A forward lunge loaded the kneecap more than a backward lunge in 20 women, and a short step raised kneecap force when the knee was deeply bent. Knees travelling past the toes raised the load on the tendon below the kneecap by about 11% in 25 women, but blocking them shifts load to your hips and lower back. So land in our lunge guide's stance: about a leg's length, your front knee over the middle of your foot.
Leave them out until reverse lunges and split squats are comfortable, then bring them back last, as our knee pain when lunging guide says. In a trial of 76 athletes with patellar tendon pain, split jump squats came in the third stage, every third day, starting at 3 sets of 10, and the programme beat eccentric squats at 24 weeks. That's a supervised rehab dose, not a training dose.
Pain from 0 to 2 out of 10 is fine, and up to 5 is acceptable if your knee is back to its usual level by the next morning; for tendon pain just below or above the kneecap, keep it to 3 or less. Sharp, catching or giving-way pain, or new swelling, means stop. That's our knee guides' rule.
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In 59 physically active women, skipping, trampolining, jumping jacks and running were the activities most likely to cause leaking. The NHS says high-impact exercise can increase leaks. Leaking is a reason to change the exercise, not to stop exercising: reverse lunges and split squats keep the legs working without the impact.
Pelvic floor muscle training cured stress leaking in 56% of women against 6% with no treatment, across trials in a Cochrane review. NICE recommends supervised training for at least 3 months, with at least 8 squeezes 3 times a day. See a GP or a pelvic health physiotherapist; our pelvic floor guide shows how.
The NHS says it's not recommended to start a new vigorous activity in pregnancy, and to avoid activities with a risk of falling. Don't start new jumping; if you already jump, stop when it causes leaking, heaviness or pelvic pain, as our jump squat move page says, and swap to split squats or reverse lunges. With pelvic girdle pain, skip split squats and lunges or keep them small, as our pregnancy guide says.
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The NHS advises avoiding high-impact exercise to start with. UK guidance suggests waiting at least 3 months before running and jumping, and only when walking, hopping and jogging on the spot cause no leaking, heaviness or pain; that timing is expert opinion.
See a GP for heaviness or pressure in your lower tummy or vagina, or a bulge, which can be a prolapse. With a prolapse, the NHS says to avoid activities that put a lot of strain on the pelvic floor, like heavy lifting, running and trampolining.
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Knee-to-wall ankle rocks, 8 slow rocks each side, so your front heel stays down, and walking lunges, 2 sets of 6 to 8 steps each leg (our lunge progression workout); Bulgarian split squats, 2 × 6 to 8 each leg, goblet squats, 3 × 6 to 8 stopping 2 to 3 reps short, and single-leg calf raises from a step, 2 × 10 to 12 each leg (our vertical jump workout); single-leg hops and sticks, 2 × 5 each leg, for one-leg landings (our badminton workout); and the half-kneeling hip flexor stretch, 30 seconds each side, to finish (the lunge progression workout's cool-down).
3D demoKnee-to-wall ankle rockBeginner · A wall
3D demoWalking lungeIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoRear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)Intermediate · A bench or box
3D demoDumbbell goblet squatIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoSingle-leg calf raise from a stepIntermediate · A step + A wall
3D demoSingle-leg hop and stickIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoHalf-kneeling hip flexor stretchBeginner · No equipmentNew to jumping lunges? The jumping lunge progression teaches them in steps over 5 weeks or more: landings, same-stance split jumps, shallow switches, then the full jump, with strength work for the landing leg. The plyometric workout is the advanced mix; the lunge progression workout builds the lunge underneath; the vertical jump workout and knee control warm-up teach two-footed landings; the badminton workout uses jumping lunges for footwork.
A 30-minute session that teaches the jumping lunge in steps: split squats and landings, same-stance split jumps, then the switch, with strength for the landing leg.
30 minIntermediate12 movesA wall, A bench or boxAn advanced jump training session: pogo hops, box jumps, split squat jumps, broad jumps and depth jumps.
30 minAdvanced8 movesA bench or box, A stepA 25-minute session from the split squat to the walking lunge: ankle and balance prep, slow split squats, reverse lunges, then walking lunges.
25 minBeginner11 movesA wall, A bench or boxA staged jump session for 8 weeks: landings and small jumps, then box and broad jumps, then depth jumps, each followed by squats, hinges and calf work.
40 minIntermediate16 movesA step, A bench or boxA 20-minute warm-up that trains your knees to track over your toes: side-hip strength, squats and lunges with alignment practice, balance and quiet landings.
20 minBeginner10 movesA wall, A bandA 45-minute badminton session: side bounds, split jumps and hop-and-stick, squats, lunges, side lunges, hinges and Nordics, calf raises and shoulder work.
45 minIntermediate17 movesA dumbbell, An anchor pointThese plans use the full-body bodyweight workout, with jump squats in its finisher. Jumping lunges are a harder swap once your landings are steady (our suggestion).
For after about 8 weeks of a beginner plan: three full-body sessions a week, one heavy, one moderate and one light, in a gym or at home, for 12 weeks.
3 training days50 minIntermediate3 days a weekA 12-week calisthenics plan for beginners: three bodyweight sessions a week with push-up, pull-up, squat and dip ladders, and a bar if you have one.
3 training days40 minBeginnerIf you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
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For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest; severe difficulty breathing, or a chest that feels tight or heavy; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining. The NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
Go to A&E if you've injured your knee and it has changed shape, it becomes very swollen very quickly, you felt a pop or snap, you can see bone sticking out, or it's bleeding heavily. Don't drive yourself: ask someone to take you, or call 999 if the pain means you can't move your leg to get there.
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Same day: a pop or tearing feeling at the front of the knee after a fall, stumble, jump or landing, then you can't straighten the knee or lift the straight leg off the bed, there's a dent above or below the kneecap, or the kneecap sits higher or lower than on the other side. Go to A&E or an urgent treatment centre, or get help from NHS 111. A torn quadriceps or patellar tendon does best when it's repaired soon.
If your knee is very painful, you can't move it or put any weight on it, it's badly swollen or has changed shape, it locks, gives way or clicks painfully (painless clicking is normal), or you have a very high temperature with redness or heat around the knee. See a GP if knee pain doesn't improve within a few weeks.
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Call 999 or go to A&E if you heard a crack, the injured part has changed shape or points at an odd angle, it's numb, tingling or has pins and needles, or the skin has changed colour or is cold to touch, as the NHS sprains and strains page lists.
Get help from NHS 111, or go to an urgent treatment centre (in the US, urgent care), if it's very painful or the pain is getting worse, there's a large amount of swelling or bruising or it's getting worse, you cannot put any weight on it or walk more than a few steps, it feels very stiff or is difficult to move, it's not feeling any better after treating it yourself, or you also have a very high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery.
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A sudden snap or pop at the back of the ankle, or not being able to stand on tiptoe, is a same-day NHS 111 call: it can be a torn Achilles tendon. Get help from NHS 111 for severe shin pain or shin pain after an injury, and see a GP if shin splints are getting worse. Pain in one spot on a bone that's worse with jumping and hurts when you press it can be a stress fracture: stop jumping and see a GP, as our jump squat guide says.
Same day (call NHS 111, or go to A&E if you feel very unwell): after a big or unusual session, such as a first spin class, a workout of 100 back squats, or intervals of wall sits, squats, lunges and jumps, a challenge or a new class, muscle pain, swelling or weakness far worse than the session explains, and dark pee (red, brown, tea or cola coloured), sometimes starting hours or days later. Dark pee isn't always there, so muscles far sorer, more swollen or weaker than the session explains still need the same-day check. It can be rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle that can harm the kidneys.
Call 999 or go to A&E: loss of feeling or numbness around the genitals or bottom, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, changes in genital sensation during sex or problems with erections or orgasm, or pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs. These are signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital urgently. Don't drive yourself.
See a GP if pain spreading down a leg hasn't improved after a few weeks of home treatment, is getting worse or stops your normal activities. Sciatica on both sides, or weakness or numbness in both legs that's severe or getting worse, is a 999 call or a trip to A&E.
See a GP if you think you have a hernia, a bulge or lump that may get bigger when you strain and smaller when you lie down. Get help from NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, you feel or are sick, you're vomiting blood or your vomit looks like coffee grounds, you're constipated, you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery, or you've suddenly become confused. Call 999 or go to A&E for a femoral hernia (a small lump at the top of your thigh, in your groin) with very bad tummy pain, sickness, being unable to fart or poo, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
Under 16? Do jump training with a coach watching, using body weight and light weights, as our vertical jump workout says, and fewer jumps in a growth spurt, as our gymnastics conditioning workout advises.
Call 999 or go to A&E if your child gets sudden pain in their hip, knee or thigh (hip problems can sometimes be felt in the thigh or knee) or cannot put any weight on their leg. If your child is limping, ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 the same day. This applies to teenagers too, and in some children knee pain is the only sign.
A child or teenager with pain at a bump just below the kneecap or at its lower tip, worse with squats, jumps and kneeling: see our Osgood-Schlatter and Sinding-Larsen-Johansson guides, and get it checked if it is getting worse.
With proliferative or severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, avoid jumping and jarring. With numb feet, choose low-impact options, wear well-fitting shoes and check your feet afterwards. With osteonecrosis (avascular necrosis) of the hip or knee, ask your specialist before impact exercise, as our jump squat guide says.
Speak to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns, as the NHS advises. Get advice before hard or straining work if your blood pressure is uncontrolled (140/90 or higher at a clinic, or 135/85 at home), or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
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Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new or harder session is common and fades. Sharp pain, or pain that builds during a set or lingers into the next day, isn't: swap to an easier version, and see a clinician if it persists, as our plans advise. The NHS says to stop exercising straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, and to get help from 111 if symptoms worry you or don't go away.
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In healthy young adults they loaded the kneecap about as much as a two-footed jump, and the tendon below it less than one-leg hops, in the middle of 35 exercises. Recreational sport isn't linked with knee arthritis. The risks are tired, loud landings and jumping on sore knees.
Knees past the toes raised the load on the tendon below the kneecap, but blocking them shifts it to the hips and back. As our lunge guide says, it's normal for healthy knees; a longer step suits sore kneecaps.
It's an old expert rule that nobody has tested, and older adults trained safely on programmes that built up gradually without it. Steady lunges and quiet landings are the better test.
Expert ratings run from beginner to advanced. Treat them as a step after split squats and jump squats, not a first exercise, and judge by your landings.
Expert guidance puts beginners at about 80 to 100 landings a session, with 48 to 72 hours between sessions, and a minute of all-out jumping lunges left more soreness than treadmill intervals.
Interval and steady exercise lose about the same fat when the work is matched, and no exercise burns fat from one place, as our HIIT guide explains.
Start in a lunge with your front knee over the middle of your foot. Jump straight up, swinging your arms, switch your legs in the air, and land softly in a lunge with the other foot forward, letting your knees bend to absorb it. Reset between jumps until your landings are quiet.
Yes: they're names for the same move, also called split squat jumps and scissor jumps. A "split jump" sometimes means landing in the same stance without switching, which is the easier step before the switch.
Mainly the quads and glutes, with the hamstrings, calves, inner thighs and trunk helping you land steadily. The glutes worked at about 73% of their maximum in one muscle activity study. They train power and fitness more than muscle size.
Not for healthy knees built up sensibly: in one lab's models they loaded the kneecap about as much as a two-footed jump, in the middle of 35 exercises, and the tendon below it less than one-leg hops. With sore knees, leave them until lunges and landings are comfortable, and keep pain to 0 to 2 out of 10, or up to 5 if it settles by the next morning.
For power, 3 sets of 4 each side with 90 seconds to 2 minutes' rest, building towards 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 8 once every landing is quiet. Count each landing: about 80 to 100 a session suits beginners, twice a week.
Not as a first exercise. Build up from split squats, reverse lunges and quiet jump squats, then split jumps landing in the same stance, then the switch. Experts rate them anywhere from beginner to advanced, so judge by your landings.
Both are jumps. Jumping lunges land in a split stance and load each leg differently, while jump squats land on two feet side by side and are easier to learn first. In lab models they loaded the kneecap about the same (7.0 against 6.4 times body weight).
They can help. In a trial in young footballers, 6 weeks of jumping lunges improved sprinting, and split jumps were part of programmes that raised jump height. Jump training works best alongside strength work.
Nobody has measured them on their own. General reference values for hard calisthenics and interval moves work out at roughly 9 to 13 calories a minute of work for a 70 kg person, and much less in the rests. More jumps don't burn more fat: interval and steady exercise lose about the same.
Reverse lunges and split squats in a range that stays comfortable, step-ups, and jump-free cardio such as a fast march or step jacks. Bring jumping lunges back last, once lunges and landings are comfortable.
Don't start new jumping in pregnancy. If you already jump, stop when it causes leaking, heaviness or pelvic pain, and skip lunges if you have pelvic girdle pain. After a birth, UK guidance suggests waiting at least 3 months, until walking, hopping and jogging on the spot cause no leaking, heaviness or pain.
Only after months of steady landings, and keep the load light. Adding weight to jump training gave no extra jump height across 56 studies, and it makes every landing heavier.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
