Jump Squats

[pmdied]

I started doing jump squats about two weeks ago; I figured I'd change things up a bit as I was getting stuck at a certain poundage with regular squats.
I've notice some good changes but was wondering what others thought of this exercise. Provided I'm doing it correctly, will it help increase my anabolic state the same way standard squats will? Granted, I'm using far less weight but it sure hurts like like nonetheless!

 

[kBrown]

Plyos are great... However,

1) Some people do "jump squats" with weight... I don't advise this. Regardless of how strong it may make you look it is horrible on the knees and back

2) Doing them with your body weight is great, work on getting more elevation over time.

3) Don't do them too frequently, or do to many sets, because it will be rough those joints.

What I would advise, for a leg routine
Regular Squat:
1-2 warmup
2 super heavy set (3-5 reps)
2 working sets (8-10)

Jump Squats
2-4 sets (work on high elevation, set reasonable goals and try to jump a little higher one week to the next

Lunges

If your legs aren't feeling great after that...then I dunno what to tell you

 

[bigintensions]

I've started doing jump squats to help me get out of the hole on squats. I like pausing at the bottom for 4-5 seconds and then exploding up as fast as I can. That pause starts to burn like crazy after about 10 reps.

 

[ZiR RED]

I'm going to follow up on what kbrown said.

First off, plyometrics and jump squats will not result in a significant amount of hypertrophy. They also should not be used for conditioning and you should not feel blown or killed after doing them. If so, then you are doing too much, too short of rests, etc. Because of the high impact and CNS demand, these exercises are best done for low reps (2-4), lower volume, and longer rest periods.

Jump squats are best done with 50-60% 1rm max. Too little and you aren't developing enough power, too much and the motion is changed such that is doesn't benefit the vertical jump. In fact, a more accurate way to calculate the load for the jump squat is by considering body weight. Such that
Load = [(body weight + 1 RM back squat) x .4] - body weight

Any how, if you want to improve your squatting ability you're better served with dynamic squats and box squats. Add in some chains or bands. Squat to a deep box, pause, and explode out of the hole.

And don't neglect unilateral work: split squats, RFE split squats, single leg RDLs, etc.

Br