Countermovement jump testing

Abstract

The most common approach to assessing neuromuscular capacity for informing physical preparation is through the countermovement jump. The rationale for using the countermovement jump over other jump tests is that it is relatively easy to control, requires little familiarisation to implement with athletes and with appropriate resources can glean detailed information regarding an athlete’s neuromuscular and slow stretch-shorten cycle function. The evolution of affordable and portable force platforms has enabled practitioners to gather extensive information from jump tests to inform athlete physical preparation programmes. However, to implement this test effectively for athlete monitoring purposes, practitioners need to fully consider a variety of factors to ensure valid and reliable data collection, which forms the primary aim of this chapter. This chapter provides guidelines for conducting the countermovement jump test, including the different equipment options that can be used to assess the countermovement jump, the protocols that should be employed when using this different equipment, how data should be analysed and how the practitioner can effectively use these data to inform their athletes’ training programmes