Box Jump

A box jump is a vertical jump from the floor up onto a sturdy raised platform, landing in a soft squat on top of the box. Because the athlete lands at a height close to the apex of the jump, the landing impact is lower than for a maximal floor jump — making box jumps a relatively joint-friendly way to train concentric jump power and triple extension.

Technique: stand a comfortable distance from the box, counter-movement dip with an arm swing, explode up, and land softly and fully on top with the whole foot, hips back, knees tracking over toes — do not land on the toes/edge. Step down (do not jump down) to spare the joints and avoid Achilles strain; jumping down repeatedly turns the drill into a higher-impact depth-jump-like stress. Choose a box height the athlete can land on with hips above parallel; excessive height just increases hip flexion (a "tuck") rather than power and raises shin-scrape risk on a miss.

The box must be stable and non-slip on top (see plyometric-surface-footwear). Box jumps are mainly a concentric/triple-extension drill; they are not a strong SSC/reactive drill unless rebounded.

• Two-foot jump onto a raised box; land soft on top, hips back, knees over toes.
• Lower landing impact than a floor jump (lands near jump apex).
• Step down — do not jump down — to reduce joint/Achilles stress.
• Box height should allow landing above parallel; excess height = more tuck, not more power.
• Primarily concentric/triple-extension; box must be sturdy and non-slip.

• plyometrics-definition — a box-based jump plyometric.
• squat-jump — the floor-jump counterpart.
• depth-jump — uses a box for step-off rather than jump-up.
• plyometric-surface-footwear — box stability requirements.
• quadriceps / gluteus-maximus — prime extensors.