The Jumping Jack is a beginner-friendly bodyweight plyometric exercise that targets the quadriceps and shoulders, with the glutes, calves and abdominals working alongside. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Primary musclesQuads, Shoulders
Secondary musclesGlutes, Calves, Abs
EquipmentBodyweight
LevelBeginner
TypePlyometrics
3D demo in the EGON app
01 Execution
How to do the Jumping Jack
Stand tall with your legs straight and your arms at your sides.
Bend your knees slightly and load the feet ready to jump.
Jump your feet out past hip width as your arms sweep overhead.
Land softly through the whole foot with the knees slightly bent.
Jump the feet back together and bring your arms down to your sides.
Keep the rhythm continuous for the prescribed time or repetitions.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
Raises heart rate using nothing but bodyweight and a small footprint.
Works legs, hips, trunk and shoulders in one simple repeating pattern.
Scales down to a low-impact stepping version for any fitness level.
03 Don't do this
Common mistakes
Landing with straight, locked knees, which sends impact into the joints.
Cutting the arm sweep short, which drops the shoulder work and the heart rate.
Performing them on concrete, which raises injury risk on repeated landings.
Piling on volume with no strength base, which the joints will register first.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Jumping Jack, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
