Box jumps: how to land on the box, how high it needs to be and where they fit

A box jump is a jump up onto a sturdy box or platform, landing with both feet on top. It is typically a countermovement jump, the quick dip before the jump, that sends you up and forward.¹ You land, stand tall, step down, and go again.

This page covers the steps, how high the box needs to be, what was measured on the push-off and on the landing, the versions, the faults, and the sets. A box jump leaves the floor, so it isn't low impact in the sense that page uses; the no-jump swap is the step-up. The measured landing forces of a different jump, the rope skip, are on the jump rope workout.

How to do a box jump

1. Set a sturdy box that won't slide, about a foot in front of you, with your feet about hip width apart. Start with a low one.
2. Dip and swing your arms back, bending your hips and knees into a quarter squat.
3. Swing your arms forward and up and jump, pulling your knees up so your feet clear the edge. The box-height study had its people swing their arms, which it calls standard for the box jump;¹ the landing study had its men hold a dowel across the shoulders, so those jumps had no arm swing.²
4. Land softly with both feet flat on the box, near the middle, hips and knees bent.
5. Stand up tall to finish the rep.
6. Step back down, one foot at a time. A step down is a practical choice; a circuit in one study also made the step down mandatory.³ Reset your feet before the next jump.

How high the box needs to be

Possibly not as high as you'd think. Two single-session studies changed the box height and measured the push-off:

• Heights from the floor to 80% of the maximum. In 14 men and 17 women, recreationally active college students, box jumps were done at five heights, from 0 to 80% of each person's maximum box jump height. Box height made no significant difference to peak power, jump height, time to take-off or the other push-off measures, in the men or the women, except the women's peak force, which was higher at 80% than at floor level. The authors suggest about 60% of the maximum for people like these.¹
• Tallest box against a lower one. In 10 elite female handball players, the highest box a player could jump onto wasn't significantly related to how far her centre of mass rose in a floor jump (r² = 0.35, p = 0.071). Peak force, peak power and time to take-off didn't differ between jumps to a box set at 70% of that rise and one at 90% of her highest box.⁴

Both were single sessions of maximal-effort jumps. The box-height study says it did not explore the landing, and the handball study's abstract doesn't report it. The practical reading, not a finding: pick a box you can land on with both feet and stand up tall on, and improve the jump before you reach for a taller box.

What landing on the box was measured to do

In 20 recreationally trained men, aged about 25, a maximal jump onto a 50 cm box, with a dowel across the shoulders, was compared with a maximal jump from the floor. The push-off was similar: no differences in peak velocity, peak vertical force or the total time of the push-off, although the dip was deeper and the horizontal push weaker in the floor jump. The peak impact force on landing, measured on a force plate on top of the box, was about 51% lower than after the floor jump.² The authors think the likely reasons were their instruction to land softly and a box height, 50 cm, that matched the men's average jump height, 49.5 cm.²

That is one measured force on one box, from three jumps. It measured landing on the box, not stepping down from it, and it doesn't say what jumping does over weeks, so this page makes no claim about that either way.

What weeks of box jumps found

A PubMed search for this page found few training trials with box jumps in them, and most paired them with other jumps or lifts. This page uses one, a six-week trial in 30 trained young men (a year of training or more, back squat at 1.5 times body weight or more). Both groups trained three days a week at 70 to 80% of a one-repetition maximum; the jump group paired each lift with a set of jumps, the first being box jumps onto a 30 cm box after back squats at 80% of a one-repetition maximum. In the jump group, countermovement jump and squat jump height didn't change significantly, while drop-jump height and the reactive strength index improved, as did the first 10 metres and the 20-to-30-metre stretch of a 100 m sprint. The comparison group did matched lifting only.⁵ Each session paired four jump exercises with lifts, so the result belongs to the whole program, not to the box jump alone.

Easier and harder versions

• No jump: step-ups onto the same box. The low-impact page uses the same swap.
• Easier: a lower box, or a bodyweight squat jump to the floor first. The six-week trial used a 30 cm box.⁵
• Harder: more reps or sets before more height. The same trial added a single-leg box jump from a 25 cm box, 2 sets of 5.⁵ Learn the two-foot version first.
• As conditioning: a few jumps a round in a circuit, beside burpees or thrusters. One study's timed circuit had three box jumps a round, after six barbell thrusters and a row.³

The common faults, and a fix for each

• A box that's too high for your jump. If you catch the edge or land on your toes, use a lower box, and aim for the middle with both feet fully on.
• Landing stiff. Bend your hips and knees as you land, the "land softly" instruction the landing study gave.²
• Jumping back down into the next rep. Step down and reset; each rep is one jump.
• Sloppy jumps when tired. When the jumps get lower or you start clipping the edge, the set is over. Use a box that won't slide or tip.
• Jumping through pain. If you have pain, an injury or a medical condition, stop and ask a doctor or a physical therapist.

Sets, reps and where they go

• The trial's dose: 2 sets of 6 box jumps with a minute of rest, three days a week for six weeks, after a squat set at 80% of a one-repetition maximum.⁵
• As a practical start: two or three sets of 3 to 6 jumps on a low box, resting a minute or more so every jump is a good one. This is practical advice, not a finding.
• Early in the session, after a warm-up and before the tiring work, once or twice a week. Cardio and lifting covers how to order the hard work.

Common questions

Can a beginner do box jumps?

The people in the studies above were active or trained, so none shows what happens to a beginner. Start with step-ups and a bodyweight squat, then try a low box.

Which muscles do box jumps work?

As a practical description, the legs and hips drive the jump and the arm swing helps. No study here measured muscle activity during the box jump, so this page doesn't rank muscles.

If you'd rather not plan it alone

The box jump takes a few sessions to find; deciding whether it belongs in your week, beside which lifts, and when to move up is the part a page can't do. Coaching is the version where your workouts live in Trainerize, sized to the days you actually have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one. Coaching to get stronger explains how that works, and here's how to apply. Otherwise: at your next session, after a warm-up, do three sets of five jumps onto a low box and write down the height.