Barbell Quarter Squat Jumps (Complete How To Guide)

Barbell Quarter Squat Jumps is an advanced barbell exercise that focuses on power and hip explosion.

In this guide, I’m going to teach you how to correctly do Barbell Quarter Squat Jumps including important coaching points and a few alternatives.

How To Do Barbell Quarter Squat Jumps

Equipment Needed

Barbell
Weight Plates (optional)

How To

Set up on the barbell in the rack as if you were preparing to Back Squat (high bar position).
Unrack the bar and step back out of the rack.
Actively pull the bar into the shoulders and engage the lats. This is to keep the bar from floating away from the shoulders and potentially hitting the back of the head.
Place feet shoulder-width apart, breathe in and brace the core.
Dip the hips about 4 to 6 inches, keeping feet flat on the floor and torso mostly vertical.
Immediately explode out of the dip and jump as high as possible in the air.
Bend the hips and knees to absorb force when landing, making sure to keep the core braced.
Reset and repeat.

Coaching Points

I cannot overemphasize how important it is to brace for each and every rep. Aggressively dipping, driving and landing with weight loaded on the shoulders without being properly braced can lead to injury.

How Many Reps?

Because of the combination of emphasizing power development and the importance of staying focused and braced on each rep, I keep the rep range for sets of Barbell Jumps low. I typically will program 3 to 4 sets of 3 to 5 reps per set. Never more than five reps per set.

Barbell Quarter Squat Jump Alternatives

Looking for an alternative to Barbell Squat Jumps? Here are a few other explosive exercises that will give you many of the same benefits, but either uses different equipment or are more beginner-friendly.

Power Jerk

Power Jerks are a perfect substitution for Barbell Quarter Squat Jumps. Set up is very similar, brace and dip are the same and the drive is the same.

The difference between the two is Power Jerk finishes by driving the bar overhead instead of simply jumping off the floor.

Trap Bar Pulls

Trap Bar Pulls are another explosive movement, using a trap bar and pulling from the ground. The movement ends with the same explosive triple extension as the jumps.

I chose Trap Bar Pulls here, over Clean or Snatch Pulls just because the Trap Bar can be a little easier to learn on for beginners. Any of the Olympic pulls would make a great alternative though.

Pro Tip: Trap bars can vary quite a bit in weight. Keep that in mind if you’re using a trap bar that you’re not familiar with.

Med Ball Cannonballs

Medicine Balls on Field — No gym? No worries! All you need is a medicine ball and a field to get good work in.

If you’re not comfortable with some of the more technical options listed here, you may want to give Medicine Ball Cannonballs a try.

It’s pretty much the same movement pattern, and same explosive triple extension, but done with a medicine ball that is much more forgiving of any technique errors.