Vertical jump test and the explosive strength rating table

You can measure your vertical jump with a two-second video, for free, with no jump mat and no app. All you need is your phone: upload the video, mark the start and end of the jump, and you get the height in centimeters, calculated from flight time.

➡️ Try the free tool now

How the JHP jump meter works

1. Upload the video of your jump (MP4 or MOV, 2-6 seconds is enough).
2. Mark the moment your feet leave the ground and the moment they land.
3. Hit the button and read the result in centimeters.

You don't need to be a tech person. The analysis runs inside your browser, so the video is never uploaded to any server and never leaves your device.

What the measurement is based on: flight time

The math starts from a simple physics principle. While you're in the air you're a body in free fall, so the height you reach depends only on how long you stay off the ground. The formula is h = g × t² / 8, where t is flight time and g is gravitational acceleration.

That means two practical things. First: the more frames per second your video has, the more accurate the measurement, because flight time is counted frame by frame. Second: you have to land where you took off and with your legs in the same position, otherwise you artificially stretch or shorten flight time and the number comes out wrong.

It's the same principle behind the contact mats used in performance centers. The tool states its own margin of error alongside the result, so you know how much to trust the number.

The other ways to measure a vertical jump

Sargent test (or wall test). You stand side-on to a wall, mark the highest point you can reach with your arm while standing, then jump and mark the point you touch. The gap between the two marks is your vertical. Free and instant, but the accuracy depends on how good you are at marking the point while you're in the air.

Vertec. The pole with the swivel vanes you see at combines. Accurate, but it costs money and someone has to set it up.

Force plate or contact mat. The lab standard: it measures flight time down to the millisecond. It's the reference, but you don't have one at the gym.

Video analysis of flight time. That's what the JHP tool does: it takes the contact mat method and applies it to the frames from your phone.

How to read the results

Analyzing the jump test lets you estimate the elastic explosive strength of your lower body. Taken once, it tells you very little: the real value comes from comparing it with previous tests, because that's where you see whether the work is paying off.

The tables below refer to a standing jump, no approach. If you measure with an approach, the numbers aren't comparable to these.

How often to retest

Every four weeks is a good compromise: it's the minimum time for a training block to produce measurable adaptations, and it's short enough that you'll notice a program isn't working before you've lost months on it.

Three things to keep the numbers comparable: always measure under the same conditions (same shoes, same surface, same type of jump), when you're fresh and not at the end of a session, and take three attempts, keeping the best one.

You've got your number. Now what?

The test tells you where you are, not how to improve. The centimeters come from maximal strength, plyometrics and the way those two get alternated across the week.

The JHP subscription gives you 13 programs with day-by-day plans and a video for every exercise, for €99 a year:

• Jump Higher Program — 10 weeks of bodyweight jump training (€60)
• JHP Gym Edition — 16 weeks in the weight room on maximal strength and power (€60)
• The French Contrast Method — heavy strength alternated with explosive movements (€90)
• Jumping Monster — 14 days of intensive plyometrics (€40)
• All JHP courses, if you'd rather buy just one

You might also like: how to assess your vertical jump improvements and 3 bodyweight exercises to get started.