Yes, squats increase vertical jump height. The relationship between squat strength and jump performance is one of the most well-documented connections in sports science, with correlation coefficients between back squat strength and countermovement jump height reaching as high as 0.89 in trained individuals. But how much squats help, and how you should structure them, depends on your current strength level and training approach.
Why Squats Transfer to Jumping
The vertical jump is essentially a rapid, explosive squat. Research published in the Journal of Human Kinetics describes the vertical jump as “a simpler version of squats,” noting that the takeoff phase of a jump and the ascending phase of a squat share similar characteristics because both aim to drive the body upward. During both movements, your hip extensors (glutes and hamstrings), knee extensors (quads), and ankle muscles all fire in sequence to produce upward force.
This overlap matters because the muscles you strengthen in the squat are the same muscles responsible for getting you off the ground. Your hip extensors generate torque throughout the entire upward phase of a jump, your quads fire hardest early in that phase, and your calf muscles contribute a final push near the top. Squatting under load trains all three of these muscle groups to produce more force, which directly increases the power available during a jump.
What the Numbers Show
In a study of strength-trained adults who could squat roughly 1.7 times their body weight, countermovement jump height correlated with squat strength at r = 0.89, which researchers classified as a “very high” correlation. Peak power during the jump showed an even stronger relationship at r = 0.93, classified as “extremely high.” For the static squat jump (no countermovement), the correlation with strength was still significant at r = 0.76.
The two primary contributors to jump height are peak rate of force development, a measure of explosive strength, and peak force, a measure of maximal strength. Both improve with squat training. Peak rate of force development correlated with jump displacement at r = 0.68, and peak force at r = 0.51. In practical terms, the faster and harder you can push into the ground, the higher you go.
One study of 21 men, however, found no significant correlation between traditional squat 1RM and countermovement jump performance, highlighting that raw strength alone doesn’t guarantee jump gains. The speed at which you can express that strength matters just as much.
How Much Jump Height You Can Expect to Gain
A meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine pooled data from multiple training studies and found that plyometric training improved countermovement jump height by an average of 8.7%, squat jump by 4.7%, and countermovement jump with arm swing by 7.5%. These numbers reflect explosive training programs rather than pure heavy squatting, but they give a realistic range for what structured lower-body power work produces.
For someone with a 24-inch vertical, an 8.7% improvement translates to roughly 2 inches. That may sound modest, but in sports like basketball and volleyball, 2 inches can be the difference between blocking a shot and missing it. The gains tend to be largest in people who haven’t done much structured strength training before, since they have the most room to improve both force production and coordination.
Squat Depth Changes the Transfer
Not all squat depths produce equal jumping gains. A 16-week study of 28 college athletes (all of whom could squat at least 1.5 times body weight) compared quarter squats, half squats, and full squats. All three groups improved their vertical jump, but the quarter squat group saw the greatest transfer to jump height and sprint speed.
This makes sense when you consider the joint angles involved. During a vertical jump, your knees and hips don’t bend nearly as deep as they do in a full squat. The quarter squat more closely mimics the range of motion and joint positions you actually use during takeoff. That said, full squats build broader lower-body strength and muscle mass that supports long-term athletic development. The practical takeaway is that if jumping higher is your primary goal, quarter squats should be part of your program, but they work best alongside deeper squatting variations rather than replacing them entirely.
Heavy Squats vs. Explosive Squats
Traditional heavy back squats build maximal strength. Jump squats, where you explode upward with a lighter load, build power and speed. Both contribute to vertical jump performance through different mechanisms, and combining them produces better results than either alone.
Research on jump squat optimization found that peak power output occurs at a barbell velocity of roughly 1.0 meters per second, with a jump height of about 20 centimeters during the exercise itself. The load that produces this optimal power zone varies by sport and training background. Track and field athletes achieved peak power at loads near 100% of body mass on the bar, while soccer players peaked around 76% and endurance runners around 67%. The key principle is that the load should be heavy enough to challenge your muscles but light enough that you can still move explosively.
A training method called contrast training, which pairs a heavy squat set immediately with an explosive movement like box jumps or depth jumps, has shown a moderate to large effect on jump performance in meta-analyses. One systematic review found that this approach produced a significant moderate effect (SMD = 0.62) on jump height compared to traditional training alone. The heavy squat temporarily increases nervous system activation, which makes the explosive movement that follows more powerful.
Programming Squats for Vertical Jump Gains
If you’re relatively new to strength training, simply getting stronger in the squat will improve your vertical. Building a foundation where you can squat 1.5 to 2 times your body weight gives your muscles the raw force capacity they need. During this phase, standard sets of 3 to 5 reps with heavy loads work well.
Once you’ve built a solid strength base, the emphasis should shift toward expressing that strength faster. This means incorporating jump squats at moderate loads, quarter squats with heavier weights, and pairing squat sets with plyometric exercises like tuck jumps or depth jumps. Training two to three times per week with at least 48 hours between sessions gives your nervous system enough time to recover and adapt.
The speed of every rep matters more than most people realize. Whether you’re doing heavy squats or light jump squats, the intent should always be to move the bar as fast as possible during the upward phase. Research consistently shows that athletes who train with maximal velocity intent produce greater power adaptations than those who lift at controlled speeds, even when the actual bar speed is similar due to heavy loads.