Most people who have never trained specifically for jumping can get roughly 30 to 40 centimeters (about 12 to 16 inches) off the ground in a standing vertical jump. That range comes with enormous caveats, though, because “average” depends on age, sex, body composition, the type of jump you perform, and even how the measurement is taken. A study comparing humans and bonobos, for example, pegged typical human maximal performance at 0.3 to 0.4 meters, and large population data from Finland puts peak jump height somewhere in the late teens for both sexes before a long, gradual decline.
What Counts as a Vertical Jump
Before talking numbers, it helps to know that researchers distinguish between at least two standing jumps. The countermovement jump starts from a standing position: you dip down and immediately spring upward. The squat jump starts from a held squat with no downward dip. Almost everyone jumps higher with a countermovement, because the quick dip lets your muscles and tendons load up energy before the push-off phase begins.1The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. The Difference Between Countermovement and Squat Jump Performances: A Review of Underlying Mechanisms With Practical Applications Recreationally trained men show the same pattern: countermovement jumps consistently produce greater heights than squat jumps.2PubMed Central. Comparison of Countermovement and Squat Jumps Performance in Recreationally Trained Males When someone casually says they have a certain vertical, they almost always mean a countermovement jump, usually with an arm swing, which is the highest-scoring version of a standing jump.
How Much Arm Swing Adds
Swinging your arms during a vertical jump adds a surprising amount of height. One study found that participants jumped about 8.6 centimeters higher with an arm swing than without, and roughly 72 percent of that gain came from a higher takeoff velocity rather than simply being taller at the moment of liftoff.3PubMed. Understanding how an arm swing enhances performance in the vertical jump A simulation study confirmed a similar figure of about 9.1 centimeters, with around 62 percent of the height gain attributable to increased velocity.4Journal of Biomechanics. The mechanisms that enable arm motion to enhance vertical jump performance—A simulation study
The mechanism is more interesting than a simple upward tug. Swinging the arms loads extra force onto the legs during the crouch phase, which makes the hip and ankle joints do significantly more work. In one analysis, the increase in lower-extremity work caused by the arm swing was about twice the energy that the shoulder and elbow joints themselves contributed.5PubMed. The effect of arm swing on lower extremities in vertical jumping So your arms are not just pulling you upward; they are forcing your legs to push harder, and your tendons to store and release more elastic energy during the push-off.
Why Measurement Method Changes the Number
If you have ever tested your vertical at a gym and then compared the result to a lab study, you may have noticed the numbers did not line up. That discrepancy is real, and it can be large. A study comparing a common jump mat to a laboratory force plate found the mat reported an average jump height of 50 centimeters while the force plate, considered more accurate, reported only 34 centimeters for the same jumps.6PubMed. Accuracy of a vertical jump contact mat for determining jump height and flight time That is nearly a 50-percent overestimate. A Vertec device, the pole with plastic vanes you swat at the top of your jump, showed no significant difference from the mat, meaning both were inflated relative to force-plate measurements.
A separate validation study confirmed the pattern: contact mats underestimated jump height by about 11.7 centimeters compared to the criterion device, while a portable force plate and belt mat came within about 1 centimeter of the gold standard.7PubMed. Validity of vertical jump measurement devices The practical upshot is that any number you see needs context. A “50-centimeter vertical” measured on a mat and a “34-centimeter vertical” measured on a force plate could describe the exact same jump. When you read population averages or compare yourself to norms, the testing device matters as much as the person doing the jumping.
How Age and Sex Shift the Numbers
A large Finnish dataset covering more than 30,000 people provides some of the clearest numbers available on how jump height changes across the lifespan. Countermovement jump height increases throughout childhood and adolescence in both sexes. By around ages 11 to 15, boys already jump higher than girls. Jump height peaks at roughly 16 to 20 years for males and 21 to 25 years for females based on group averages, though a statistical model placed the actual peak slightly earlier: around 18 years in males and 17 in females.8PubMed Central. Effect of Age and Sex on Lower Extremity Power Production Capacity Throughout the Lifespan Based on 30 217 Finnish Participant Data
After peaking, the decline is slow but steady. Males maintained their level until about 26 to 30 years, while females started declining sooner. The annual rate of decrease after the peak was about 0.9 percent for jump height in both sexes, calculated over several decades.8PubMed Central. Effect of Age and Sex on Lower Extremity Power Production Capacity Throughout the Lifespan Based on 30 217 Finnish Participant Data That sounds small, but compounded over 30 or 40 years it adds up. A study of masters track and field athletes found similar rates of decline in both sexes, with body composition changes playing a contributing role.9PubMed Central. Age-Related Decline in Vertical Jumping Performance in Masters Track and Field Athletes: Concomitant Influence of Body Composition Even lifelong athletes lose jump height, though they start from a much higher baseline than the general population.
Body Composition and Muscle Factors
If you want a single variable that predicts vertical jump height across a broad population, body fat percentage is a strong candidate. A study of college-aged men and women found that body fat percentage had the highest correlation with countermovement jump displacement, and regression models using body fat percentage along with sex or body weight explained about two-thirds of the variation in jump height.10The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. Do Lower-Body Dimensions and Body Composition Explain Vertical Jump Ability? A study of martial arts athletes confirmed the same inverse relationship: higher body fat percentage was associated with lower jump height.11PubMed Central. Prediction of vertical jump height from anthropometric factors in male and female martial arts athletes
This makes intuitive sense. Jumping is about accelerating your body mass upward, so any mass that does not contribute to force production (fat, in this case) works against you. But it is not just about being lean. The composition of your actual muscle tissue matters too. Early research established that the proportion of fast-twitch fibers in leg muscles is significantly related to jump performance, both in squat jumps and in countermovement jumps.12PubMed. Mechanical characteristics and fiber composition of human leg extensor muscles People born with a higher percentage of fast-twitch fibers have a built-in advantage for explosive movements.
Muscle architecture plays a role too. In elite volleyball players, the cross-sectional area of the vastus lateralis (the large muscle on the outside of your thigh) and the fiber length of the lateral gastrocnemius (a calf muscle) were significant predictors of approach-jump height.13PubMed Central. Muscle structure predictors of vertical jump performance in elite male volleyball players: a cross-sectional study based on ultrasonography A comparison of good and poor jumpers reinforced the point: better jumpers generated greater joint moments, power, and work at the ankle, knee, and hip, and the advantage came from raw muscle capability rather than noticeably different technique.14PubMed. A biomechanical analysis of good and poor performers of the vertical jump
One factor that gets less attention is left-right asymmetry in muscle structure. In recreationally active women, asymmetry in the vastus lateralis negatively affected jump power, meaning that having one leg’s muscle architecture substantially different from the other was associated with worse performance.15PubMed Central. Influence of gender and muscle architecture asymmetry on jump and sprint performance This suggests that balanced development between legs matters, not just overall strength.
What About Tendons
You might expect that stiffer tendons would mean a higher jump, since stiff springs store and release energy efficiently. The evidence is more nuanced. Achilles tendon stiffness was not significantly correlated with squat jump or countermovement jump height in one study, though stiffer tendons were linked to shorter ground contact times during drop jumps.16PubMed Central. Relationship between Achilles Tendon Stiffness and Ground Contact Time during Drop Jumps An earlier investigation found that while tendon stiffness did not predict absolute jump height for either type of standing jump, it was inversely correlated with the performance gap between countermovement and squat jumps. In other words, people with stiffer tendons were better at exploiting the stretch-shortening cycle, the quick dip-and-spring that makes countermovement jumps higher than squat jumps.17PubMed. Influence of elastic properties of tendon structures on jump performance in humans Tendon properties seem to matter most in reactive, bouncy movements rather than in a slow, deliberate push upward.
Training Your Way to a Higher Jump
The good news is that vertical jump height is highly trainable. A 12-week study randomly assigned men to plyometric training (box jumps, bounding, similar explosive drills), weight training, a combination of both, or no training at all. All three training groups improved their vertical jump significantly compared to the control group, but the combination group improved the most.18The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. Evaluation of Plyometric Exercise Training, Weight Training, and Their Combination on Vertical Jumping Performance and Leg Strength If you only have a short window to prepare, an eight-week study found that plyometric exercises alone were more effective than weightlifting derivatives for improving unloaded vertical jump performance, particularly for people without prior weightlifting experience.19PLOS ONE. Weightlifting derivatives vs. plyometric exercises: Effects on unloaded and loaded vertical jumps and sprint performance
These findings suggest a practical split: over the long term, combining explosive plyometric work with heavy strength training gives the biggest gains. For quick results or people without coaching in complex lifts, plyometrics on their own do the job efficiently.
Time of Day and Repeated Testing
If you are tracking your vertical jump over time, you might wonder whether morning versus afternoon testing skews the result. A study examining repeated jump testing over two consecutive days found that jump performance was largely unaffected by multiple assessments within a 32-hour window. Squat jump metrics showed small improvements between morning and afternoon sessions, but countermovement jump height was mostly stable.20The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. Effects of Repeated Jump Testing and Diurnal Changes on Subsequent Countermovement Jump and Squat Jump Output and Force-Time Characteristics In practical terms, this means you can test yourself multiple times across a day or two without fatigue artificially lowering the result, though a slight afternoon advantage in squat jumps is plausible.
Your Shoes Make a Small but Real Difference
Shoe stiffness has a measurable effect on jump height. An early study found that shoes with a stiffer midsole (created with embedded carbon fiber plates) increased vertical jump height by an average of 1.7 centimeters across 25 subjects. The mechanism was not about storing and returning extra energy through the shoe. Instead, the stiffer sole reduced the amount of energy lost at the toe joint during push-off.21Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Influence of midsole bending stiffness on joint energy and jump height performance A more recent study confirmed that stiffer shoes produced a significantly faster takeoff velocity and shorter takeoff time during consecutive jumps.22PubMed Central. Shoe Bending Stiffness Influence on Lower Extremity Energetics in Consecutive Jump Take-Off The gain is modest, but for anyone testing their vertical in soft-soled running shoes versus firm court shoes, the footwear choice alone could account for a centimeter or two.
Landing Forces and Why They Matter
Jumping gets most of the attention, but the landing side of the equation deserves a mention, especially for people who plan to train with repeated jumps. Landing impact forces from jumping exercises were classified as high impact at every stage of a progressive training program, exceeding four times body mass. Trained women experienced higher impact loads than untrained women at every stage, in part because trained individuals jump higher and land harder.23Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. Landing Impact Intensities for Jumping Exercises From the OPTIMA-Ex Trial in Trained and Untrained Women
There is also a developmental angle. A study of young athletes performing drop-jump tests found that males showed improved landing mechanics as they matured, with the ratio of landing force to takeoff force decreasing through pubertal stages. Females did not show the same improvement between stages.24Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. Preparticipation Physical Examination Using a Box Drop Vertical Jump Test in Young Athletes: The Effects of Puberty and Sex This sex difference in landing mechanics is one of the reasons ACL injury prevention programs emphasize jump-landing technique for young female athletes. For any adult adding jump training to their routine, learning to land softly with bent knees and hips is at least as important as the jump itself.
Can People Accurately Eyeball a Vertical Jump
Here is a humbling finding for coaches and gym-goers who rely on visual estimates: assistant collegiate basketball coaches were unable to accurately or consistently rate body angles during a vertical jump just by watching.25PubMed. Validity and reliability of visual ratings of the vertical jump Humans are better at estimating the overall outcome than the mechanics behind it. Research on perception found that observers could reasonably estimate another person’s maximum reach-with-jump height without ever seeing them jump, and that accuracy improved after watching the person walk.26PubMed. Perception of another person’s maximum reach-with-jump height from walking kinematics Something in the way a person walks apparently broadcasts information about their explosive leg power. Still, for your own training, an actual measurement device beats anybody’s eye.
Humans Compared to Other Primates
For all the attention we give to dunking and combine results, humans are fairly mediocre jumpers in the animal kingdom. All bonobos tested in one study reached jump heights above 70 centimeters, roughly double the typical human maximal range.27PubMed Central. Vertical jumping performance of bonobo (Pan paniscus) suggests superior muscle properties The remarkable part is that a 34-kilogram male bonobo produced about the same total mechanical output during push-off (around 450 joules, with peak power near 3,000 watts) as a 61.5-kilogram human male. The bonobo achieved far more height from roughly the same energy because it had far less body mass to accelerate.
Scaling matters even more at smaller body sizes. A tiny mouse lemur jumps only about 33 centimeters in absolute terms, which sounds underwhelming next to a human’s 30 to 40 centimeters. But relative to what you would predict by shrinking a human body down to mouse-lemur size, that 33-centimeter jump is more than five times what the scaling math predicts.28PLOS ONE. Effects of Isometric Scaling on Vertical Jumping Performance Rats can clear 50 centimeters or more, similarly outperforming the scaled-down human prediction. Humans evolved for endurance locomotion, not explosive leaping, and our jump height reflects that trade-off.