Training guide
A tuck jump is a jump straight up with your knees pulled towards your chest at the top, then straightened under you for a soft landing. It trains leg power and, above all, landing control: coaches and physios even use 10 seconds of tuck jumps as a checklist for landing faults such as knees caving in.
The landings are hard but not unusually so: about 5 times your body weight through both feet in lab studies, no more than other maximal jumps. No trial has tested tuck jumps on their own, so they're one useful part of jump training, not a shortcut.
This guide teaches the landing first, then single and repeated tuck jumps step by step on the 3D figure, with how many to do and how often, what the tuck jump assessment can and can't tell you, your knees and pelvic floor, pregnancy and after a birth, and the warning signs.
Dip quickly as your arms swing back, jump straight up as they swing up, and pull your knees towards your chest at the top. Straighten your legs before you land, softly on the balls of your feet, rolling back to your heels, with your hips back and knees bent over your toes. Learn single jumps with a reset before linking them.
The American Council on Exercise (ACE) rates tuck jumps intermediate, and the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) calls them more challenging than a vertical jump, for intermediate to advanced exercisers who already land well. Putting them after quiet jump squats is our editorial call.
Through both feet, tuck jump landings measured about 5.0 times body weight in 18 male swimmers and 5.5 in 25 female athletes; in 6 athletes, peak landing force didn't differ from other common jumps. Their extra demand is the timing, not the impact.
Tired, stiff landings with the knees caving in are the risk. Landing training cut landing forces by 22% in female athletes, and programmes that include jumps and landing practice cut knee ligament (ACL) injuries.
Physios and coaches score 10 seconds of tuck jumps for 10 landing faults. Trained scorers agree on the total, but single faults are less reliable, and the scores didn't predict knee injuries in 236 female footballers. Use it to check your own landings, not as a risk score.
2 to 3 sets of 3 to 5 single tuck jumps, resetting between jumps (our editorial starting point, within NASM's 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5), counting each landing towards about 80 to 100 a session, twice a week. Jumping raises the pressure on the pelvic floor more than most activities, and leaking with jumps is common and treatable.
A jump with a tuck at the top: a quick dip and arm swing, a jump straight up, the knees pulled up towards the chest with the heels under the seat and the feet level, then the legs straightened under you before a soft landing back into the dip. Done one at a time with a reset, it's a power drill; done as repeated, bouncing jumps, it's a reactive drill and the format of the tuck jump assessment.
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Tuck jump and knee tuck jump are one move; gymnasts, divers, trampolinists and cheerleaders call the shape in the air a tuck. Squat tuck jumps start from a deeper squat, and burpee tuck jumps add a burpee; neither has a demo of its own. "Knee tucks" are a core exercise, hanging or on a bench, not a jump.
Your thighs, glutes and calves push you off the floor, your hip flexors and abs pull your knees up, and your whole leg absorbs the landing. It trains leg power and landing control more than muscle size.
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Harder than a jump squat because you must jump high enough to tuck and get your feet back under you in time (our reading). ACE rates it intermediate and NASM intermediate to advanced; in rehabilitation after knee ligament surgery, a clinical commentary places it in the high-intensity stage. Where it sits in your training is our editorial call: after quiet jump squats.
Both feet leave the ground, which pelvic health physiotherapists class as high impact.
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Heavier people land with more force, so start with single jumps and lower tucks (our suggestion). Teenagers around their growth spurt showed more knee collapse in the tuck jump assessment than those past it, and under-16s jump with a coach watching, as our vertical jump workout says. Leaking with jumps is common in women. Older adults can jump if it suits them: jump training added no injuries across 12 trials of adults aged about 58 to 79, but tuck jumps are a late step.
The landing studies are small groups of young athletes measured in a lab, and the jump training trials mix many jump types. No trial has tested tuck jumps on their own for jump height, fitness, bone or injuries. We say so where a point rests on them.
From our tuck jump move page and the tuck jump pages of ACE and NASM; the reset between jumps and the rule for linking them are editorial.
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The movement on the figure: Tuck jump
From our snapdown move page and jump squat guide: 2 sets of 5, holding each landing for 2 seconds, as the warm-up of our vertical jump workout does. Box drop landings and quiet jump squats come next (our jump squat guide teaches both).
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The movement on the figure: Snapdown to athletic landing
In 18 male swimmers, tuck jump landings measured 5.00 times body weight through both feet, below their countermovement jump (6.77) and a 30 cm drop jump (6.57); in a pool 1.3 m deep, they fell to 2.47. In 25 female athletes doing 10 seconds of repeated tuck jumps, peak force was 5.52 times body weight, with each foot contact lasting about a fifth of a second.
In 6 athletes, peak landing force didn't differ between tuck jumps, depth jumps, pike, single-leg and squat jumps, though knee forces and how fast force built up did. Force-plate profiles differed across drills in 49 trained men and women, and the usual low, medium and high intensity ratings didn't match the joint power measured in 10 athletes.
In lab models of 20 healthy young adults, a two-footed countermovement jump loaded the kneecap joint 6.4 times body weight, against 5.4 for running and 4.5 for a full squat. Tuck jumps weren't measured.
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A tuck jump lands about as hard as any maximal two-footed jump. Its extra demand is getting your feet back under you in time, which is why tired, rushed tuck jumps are the ones to avoid (our reading).
In 205 female athletes, the 9 who later tore an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL, a main knee ligament) had landed with 8 degrees more knee collapse, 2.5 times the sideways knee load and 20% more ground force.
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A jump programme that taught landing cut peak landing forces by 22% and sideways knee loads by about half, and raised the vertical jump by about 10%, in female athletes. Soft landings with more knee bend let the hip and knee muscles absorb more energy, and in a randomised trial of 80 adults, coaching the landing, or listening to its sound, lowered landing force.
Programmes with strength and landing work cut the odds of ACL injury by about 40% (odds ratio 0.61), and of non-contact ACL injury by about 65% (0.35), across 13 studies. An Australian position statement puts the reduction at about 60% in adolescent female football, basketball and handball players, with jumping, strength, balance and agility work for 10 to 30 minutes, 2 or 3 times a week. No trial has tested tuck jumps on their own.
Our knee pain after a workout guide's rule applies: 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. With pain in the tendon below the kneecap, our jumper's knee guide keeps it to 3 or less. If it isn't settling, go back to landings and jump squats for a while.
In rehabilitation after ACL reconstruction, tuck jumps come late, after good two-legged drop jumps, steady one-legged landings and strength above 1.5 times body weight for 8 reps, as one clinical commentary sets out. Wait until your physio clears you.
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Ten seconds of repeated tuck jumps, scored for 10 technique faults:
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With trained raters and a 0 to 2 score for each fault, the total was very reliable in 24 elite youth volleyball players (intraclass correlation 0.94 to 0.96, where 1 is perfect agreement). Between three differently trained professionals, it was only moderate (0.56 to 0.64), and a review of 5 studies found single faults unreliable apart from knees caving in.
In 236 female footballers followed for 2 years, test cutoffs including the tuck jump didn't predict new knee injuries. In 357 elite male youth footballers, a difference between legs in a single-leg jump, not the tuck jump score, was the main risk factor. In 16 professional footballers, the authors advise caution using it as a screen.
In 57 elite male youth footballers, it showed more knee collapse than a drop jump and picked up more differences between growth stages.
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Film 10 seconds of tuck jumps from the front and side and check the list. Knees caving in and loud landings are the faults to fix first; fix them with snapdowns and jump squats (our suggestion).
In order, moving on when every landing is quiet and your knees track over your toes (our editorial rule): squats, 10 reps, and snapdowns, 2 × 5 holding each landing for 2 seconds (our vertical jump workout's warm-up); box drop landings, 3 × 5 from a 20 to 30 cm step, and jump squats, 3 × 5 with 60 seconds' rest (weeks 1 and 2 of our vertical jump workout); the jump and reach (rocket jump), 3 sets of 5 with about a minute's rest (its move page's editorial starting point); then single tuck jumps with a reset, first lifting your knees to hip height, then higher, 2 to 3 sets of 3 to 5 (our editorial starting point; our gymnastics conditioning, cheerleading, skating, trampolining and diving workouts use 2 × 4); then 2 or 3 linked tuck jumps, and repeated tuck jumps for 5 to 10 seconds, 2 or 3 sets with a minute or more between (editorial). Harder: hurdle hops, 3 runs over 4 or 5 hurdles; butt-kick jumps and power star jumps, 3 sets of 5 (their move pages' editorial starting points); and split squat jumps, 3 × 4 each side (our plyometric workout). Squat tuck jumps, burpee tuck jumps and single-leg tuck jumps have no demo of their own; leave single-leg tuck jumps to coached athletes.
3D demoBodyweight squatBeginner · No equipment
3D demoSnapdown to athletic landingBeginner · No equipment
3D demoBox drop landingIntermediate · A step
3D demoJump squatIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoRocket jump (jump and reach)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoTuck jumpIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoHurdle hopsIntermediate · Other / check instructions
3D demoButt-kick jumpIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoPower star jump (X jump)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoSplit squat jumpAdvanced · No equipmentThe assessment's first fault. Land quietly with your knees over your toes, as the move page cues, and lower the tuck until they stay there.
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Thighs that don't reach level, or a trunk that folds down to meet them, mean the jump wasn't high enough (our cue): jump higher or tuck less.
NASM lists straight-knee landings as a mistake, and ACE says to avoid locking your knees: sink into the landing.
Land on the balls of your feet and roll back to your heels. Loud landings mean the set is over.
Land with your feet about hip-width, level and side by side, in the spot you took off from.
Too much forward lean is one of NASM's listed mistakes. Jump straight up.
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NASM says never to train them to failure, and expert guidance is to stop when technique slips. Link jumps only when single ones are quiet.
2 sets of 4 tuck jumps, knees up and landing softly, as our gymnastics conditioning workout does.
NASM suggests 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 with complete rest. Start at 2 to 3 sets (our editorial starting point).
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5 to 10 seconds of linked tuck jumps, 2 or 3 sets, only when single jumps are quiet (editorial; the assessment uses 10 seconds).
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Each landing is a foot contact. Expert guidance suggests about 80 to 100 a session for beginners, 100 to 120 for intermediates and 120 to 140 for advanced athletes, with quality over quantity, so a few sets of tuck jumps leave room for your warm-up and other jumps.
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Twice a week, 48 to 72 hours apart, with the jumps early in the session while you're fresh. In 30 young basketball players, two and four sessions a week with the same total jumps improved jumping about equally.
Every jump a full effort with a quiet landing. End the set when your landings get loud or your knees stop reaching hip height, rather than counting reps in reserve, as our jump squat guide says.
Our editorial starting point: 20 to 30 seconds within a high-intensity interval round, resting at least as long, once or twice a week, as our HIIT guide suggests, and only once your landings are steady. Every landing counts towards the session's total.
Across 26 controlled studies, jump training raised the countermovement jump by 8.7%, about 2 to 6 cm, as our jump higher guide puts it.
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Across 56 studies, programmes longer than 10 weeks with more than 20 sessions and more than 50 jumps a session, mixing jump types, did best, and added weight gave no extra benefit. These are comparisons across studies, not head-to-head trials.
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In 30 young female basketball players, 8 weeks of jump training in 2 or 4 sessions a week, with the same total jumps, improved jumps and change of direction with no clear difference between them.
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In 12 trials of 289 adults aged about 58 to 79, jump training caused no increase in injuries or side effects. Tuck jumps are a late step, even so.
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No study has measured what tuck jumps cost. As intervals, they sit with high-intensity interval exercise with squat jumps, 11.0 METs (multiples of your resting energy use) in the Compendium of Physical Activities: a general reference value, not your own cost. A few sets of 3 to 5 burn little. Hard intervals count as vigorous activity towards the NHS's 75 minutes a week.
We found no trial of tuck jumps on their own for jump height, fitness, bone, injuries or the pelvic floor, and no measurement of their energy cost.
Goblet squats, 3 × 6 to 8 stopping 2 to 3 reps short, dumbbell Romanian deadlifts, 3 × 8 lowering for 3 seconds, single-leg calf raises, 2 × 10 to 12 each leg, and pogo hops and ankle bounces, 2 × 10 each (all our vertical jump workout); the seated knee tuck on a bench for the knee pull, 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 slow reps (its move page's editorial starting point); the hollow hold for the tuck shape, 3 × 20 seconds (our gymnastics conditioning workout); and heel drops, the gentlest impact for bone, 20 to 30 drops at first, building towards about 50 impacts on most days (its move page's dose).
3D demoDumbbell goblet squatIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoDumbbell Romanian deadliftIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoSingle-leg calf raise from a stepIntermediate · A step + A wall
3D demoPogo hopsIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoAnkle bounces (mini pogo)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSeated knee tuck on a benchBeginner · A bench or box
3D demoHollow body holdIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoHeel drop (impact for bone)Beginner · No equipmentIn 57 women, jumping in place raised the pressure inside the tummy to a median of 91.2 cmH2O (centimetres of water, a pressure unit), the highest of the activities measured, just above coughing.
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41.8% of 452 women CrossFit competitors had leaked in the past 3 months, 38.3% during training or competition, most with rope jumping and double-unders and 18.8% with box jumps. Across 13 studies of 4,823 women who do CrossFit, 44.5% leaked, and across 8 studies of female athletes, 36%. These are surveys.
The NHS says high-impact exercise can increase leaks and that pelvic floor exercises can reduce them. Swap to no-jump moves, such as a fast knee-drive march or step jacks, while you build them, and see a GP or pelvic health physiotherapist. Leaking is a reason to change the exercise, not to stop exercising.
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Don't start new jumping: the NHS advises against starting a new vigorous activity in pregnancy, and against activities with a risk of falling. If you already jump, stop when it causes leaking, heaviness or pelvic pain, as our jump squat move page 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 jogging on the spot, hopping and bounding cause no leaking, heaviness or pain; that timing is expert advice.
The knee control warm-up and the vertical jump workout teach the landings and the steps before tuck jumps; the gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, trampolining and diving workouts use tuck jumps at 2 × 4; the plyometric workout is the advanced session; and the bounce and load starter is a gentle springy start.
A 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 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 gymnastics conditioning session: jumps from the youth vault trial, landings, wrist and shoulder strength, wall handstands, and hollow and arch holds.
45 minIntermediate22 movesOther / check instructions, A stepA 50-minute cheer strength session: landings and tuck jumps, power cleans, front squats, split squats, hip thrusts, presses, rows, wrist work and trunk holds.
50 minIntermediate21 movesA barbell, A bench or boxA 45-minute off-ice session for skaters: landing-position balance, drop landings, hops, jump squats, tuck jumps, bounds, single-leg strength, groins and trunk.
45 minIntermediate22 movesA wall, Other / check instructionsStrength for trampolinists: maximal isometric squat and calf pushes from one small study, pogo hops, tuck jumps, landings, trunk shapes and pelvic floor.
45 minIntermediate14 movesA wallA 45-minute dryland session for springboard and platform divers: take-off jumps, landings, squats and Nordics, wrist and shoulder work, hollow holds and tucks.
45 minIntermediate22 movesA bench or box, A dumbbellAn advanced jump training session: pogo hops, box jumps, split squat jumps, broad jumps and depth jumps.
30 minAdvanced8 movesA bench or box, A stepA beginner's springy session: calf strength first, then heel drops, calf springs and gentle bounces, building towards skipping and pogo hops.
20 minBeginner11 movesA wall, A stepThe workout plan for teenagers uses the knee control warm-up.
Jump training in older adults added no injuries across 12 trials, but tuck jumps come late. With osteoporosis, UK guidance suggests moderate impacts, such as low-level jumping and hopping, building to about 50 on most days; with spinal fractures or many broken bones, keep to low impact unless your doctor or physiotherapist agrees. Heel drops and jump squats are the place to start.
Around the growth spurt, knee collapse in the tuck jump assessment was more common. Build up through landings, and under-16s jump with a coach watching, as our vertical jump workout says.
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With proliferative or severe diabetic eye disease (retinopathy), avoid jumping and jarring; with numb feet, choose low-impact options, wear well-fitting shoes and check your feet afterwards, as our jump move pages say.
With osteonecrosis (avascular necrosis) of the hip or knee, ask your specialist before impact exercise, as our jump move pages say.
Start with landings, jump squats and single, low tucks, and add height once landings are quiet and comfortable (our suggestion).
With heart disease, or blood pressure that isn't controlled, ask your GP or heart team before hard intervals or jumping, as our HIIT guide says.
If 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 doesn't go away, feels tight, heavy or like squeezing, or spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; severe difficulty breathing; 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. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
If you haven't exercised for some time or have a medical condition, speak to your GP first, as the NHS advises. Get advice before jumping if your blood pressure is uncontrolled, 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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See a GP after any faint, and for dizziness that won't go away or keeps coming back.
Go to A&E if your knee has changed shape, swells up very quickly, or you felt a pop or snap, as our ACL injury guide says; don't drive yourself. Get advice from NHS 111 if your knee is very painful, you can't move it or put weight on it, it's badly swollen, or it locks, gives way or clicks painfully (painless clicking is normal). A knee that gives way after a landing needs checking before you jump again. See a GP if knee pain doesn't improve within a few weeks.
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After an injury, contact NHS 111 for a snap, grinding or popping noise at the time, or if you can't walk on your tiptoes. Pain in one spot on a bone that's worse with jumping and tender to press can be a stress fracture: stop jumping and see a GP, as our stress fracture guide says.
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Call 999 or go to A&E if you heard a crack, the joint has changed shape or points at an odd angle, it's numb or tingling, or the skin looks blue or grey or feels cold. Get help from NHS 111 if it's very painful or swollen, or you can't put weight on it or walk more than a few steps. Call 999 if someone has fallen and may have injured their head, back, neck or hip, or can't get up.
Leaking with jumps: see a GP or pelvic health physiotherapist. A feeling of heaviness or pressure in your lower tummy or vagina, or a bulge or lump in or coming out of your vagina, can be a prolapse: see a GP, and leave out high impact meanwhile.
After a big or unusual session, severe muscle pain, swelling or weakness with dark urine needs same-day help: NHS 111, or A&E if you feel very unwell. Severe exertion is among the causes of muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis).
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Tuck jump landings measured about 5 times body weight through both feet, below a countermovement jump (6.8) or drop jump (6.6) in the same men, and peak landing force didn't differ from other jumps in athletes. The risk is tired, stiff landings with the knees caving in; learning to land cut landing forces by 22%, and programmes with jumps and landing drills cut ACL injuries.
Two and four sessions a week with the same total jumps improved jumps equally in 30 young players; expert guidance is 48 to 72 hours between jump sessions; and programmes over 10 weeks with more than 20 sessions did best. Twice a week is enough.
It's a reliable checklist of landing faults with trained scorers, but in 236 female footballers test cutoffs, the tuck jump among them, didn't predict new knee injuries, and in 357 male youth footballers a difference between legs, not the tuck jump score, was the main risk factor.
Nobody has measured their energy cost. A few sets of 3 to 5 burn little, and as intervals they count as vigorous, like other high-intensity intervals (11 METs in the Compendium). Training one body part doesn't burn the fat over it; fat comes off with your overall activity and eating.
Expert guidance is quality over quantity: stop when technique slips. Our jump higher guide reports that about 42 jumps a session did as well as about 160 in volleyball trials, a comparison across studies.
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Dip quickly with your arms swinging back, jump straight up as they swing up, and pull your knees towards your chest at the top. Straighten your legs before you land, softly on the balls of your feet with your hips back and knees bent over your toes, then reset.
Your thighs, glutes and calves drive the jump, and your hip flexors and abs pull your knees up. They train leg power and landing control more than muscle size.
Not when you build up to them: landings measured about 5 times body weight through both feet, no more than other maximal jumps. Tired landings with your knees caving in are the risk. Keep knee pain to 0 to 2 out of 10, or up to 5 if it's back to normal by the next morning.
Start with 2 to 3 sets of 3 to 5 single jumps, resetting between each, with about a minute's rest; NASM suggests 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 with complete rest. Count every landing: about 80 to 100 a session suits beginners, twice a week.
Yes. You need the same take-off plus enough height and timing to tuck and get your feet back under you. ACE rates tuck jumps intermediate and NASM intermediate to advanced, so master quiet jump squats first.
Box jumps land on top of the box near the top of your jump, so the landing was about half as hard as a jump in place in one lab study, as our box jump guide explains. Tuck jumps land on the floor from full height. Both train the same take-off.
A test in which you do tuck jumps for 10 seconds while a physio or coach scores 10 landing faults, such as knees caving in or loud landings. Trained scorers agree on the total, but it didn't predict knee injuries in footballers, so use it as a technique checklist.
As part of jump training, yes: jump training added about 9% to the countermovement jump across 26 studies, best with mixed jump types. No trial has tested tuck jumps alone.
After the basics: steady squats, stuck landings and quiet jump squats first, as NASM advises. Our vertical jump workout's first two weeks teach them.
Jump squats or the jump and reach give you power with less timing. With no jumping at all, try a fast knee-drive march or step jacks. Leaking, pregnancy, sore knees or neighbours below are all good reasons to swap.
Jumping raises the pressure inside your tummy more than most activities, and leaking with jumps is common: about 4 in 10 women in CrossFit surveys. It's treatable: swap to no-jump moves, do pelvic floor exercises, and see a GP or pelvic health physiotherapist.
Don't start new jumping in pregnancy. After a birth, the NHS advises avoiding high-impact exercise to start with, and UK guidance suggests at least 3 months, and only when jogging on the spot, hopping and bounding cause no leaking, heaviness or pain.
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.
