Depth Drop → Rebound
Reactive power off the floor
How to do it well
The set-up and the rep in full, then the cues the app shows on the exercise card — the short version, for the moment you are standing in front of the bar.
Set-up
Stand on the edge of a low, stable box with clear floor in front of you. Start low, somewhere between mid-shin and knee height. You will step off it, not jump off it.
The rep
Step forward off the box and drop with both feet together. Land on the balls of the feet with the knees only slightly bent and, as fast as you can, rebound straight up into a maximal jump. The floor should feel hot. Land the second jump softly, then reset on the box. Each rep is judged by how little time you spend on the floor, not by how high the box is.
On the exercise card
- Minimal ground time
What goes wrong, and the fix
| What goes wrong | The fix |
|---|---|
| Sinking into a deep squat on contact | That turns a reactive jump into a slow one. Stay stiff through the ankles and keep the dip short. |
| A box that is too high | If the heels crash down on contact, the drop is more than the legs can return. Lower it. |
| Jumping off the box instead of stepping | A jump adds height and changes the drop every rep. Step off so every landing is the same. |
Make it easier, or harder
- Easier
- A lower box, or pogo hops on the spot to learn short, stiff contacts first.
- Harder
- A slightly higher box, only once contacts stay short, or rebound up onto a second box.
How Train Smart prescribes it
The sets and reps below are the authored starting point. The actual weight you see is calculated from your own last top set and the week you are in within your four-week block.
Gymnastics is reactive. The punch off a springboard and the rebound in a tumbling pass both happen in a fraction of a second, and this trains that quality directly. It sits in the power-to-weight session at four sets of four, kept low because each rep is maximal and carries a big landing load.
| Program | Session | Sets × reps | Load |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gymnastics | Power-to-Weight Strength | 4 × 4 | BW |
What it trains, and who trains it
- Region
- Lower body
- Classified as
- Plyometric
- Prescribed in
- gymnastics
If you cannot do this one
Rack taken, kit missing, or it does not suit you. These are the swaps the app offers, matched by movement pattern and body region — each with the reason it is a fair substitute.
| Alternative | Why it works as a swap |
|---|---|
| Countermovement Jump | The baseline jump — measure it, then chase it |
| Vertical Jump → Stick | Land and freeze: teaches the knee to absorb force instead of collapsing |
| Depth Drop → Stick | Step off a box and absorb — the purest landing-mechanics drill there is |
| Split Jump → Stick | Scissor the legs, land in a lunge and hold — decel in a running position |
| Broad Jump → Stick | Horizontal force then a dead stop — the hardest landing to control |
| Single-Leg Hop → Stick | One leg absorbs everything, exactly like it does in a game |
This exercise, in a program that knows why it is there
Train Smart puts this movement in the right session, at the right point in your block, at a weight calculated for you — and swaps it automatically if you do not have the kit.
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