Why We Test Before We Train

How four different jump types reveal what one never could

Imagine two athletes who both jump exactly 20 inches on a vertical jump test. Most coaches and most parents would assume they’re equally explosive. At KPI, we know that’s rarely the case.

One athlete may reach 20 inches because they’re exceptionally strong. Another may reach the same height by relying on momentum and elastic energy. On paper, the result is identical. On the force plates, they’re completely different athletes.

That’s why we don’t stop at jump height. A vertical jump tells us WHAT happened. Our assessment is designed to uncover HOW it happened.

Every athlete completes four different jump tests, each helping us better understand how they produce force so we can make more informed decisions about their development.

Countermovement Jump

Question: How explosive are you when momentum is available?

By allowing a quick dip before takeoff, the Countermovement Jump measures how well an athlete loads, produces force, and transfers that force into explosive movement.

If we only performed one jump test, this would probably be it.
But one jump doesn’t tell the whole story.

Squat Jump

Question: How much force can you create without momentum?

The Squat Jump starts from a dead stop, removing the benefit of the stretch-shortening cycle.

Now we’re looking at an athlete’s ability to create force without relying on elastic energy. Comparing the Squat Jump to the Countermovement Jump often tells us more than either test alone.

Two athletes may jump the same height in a Countermovement Jump, but if one athlete’s Squat Jump is significantly lower, we know they’re using a very different force-production strategy.

CMJ Rebound

Question: Can you absorb force and immediately produce it again?

Baseball isn’t a one-jump sport.
Pitchers throw dozens of pitches. Hitters take swing after swing.

The CMJ Rebound helps us evaluate how efficiently an athlete absorbs force when they land and how quickly they can redirect that force into the next jump.

Reactive strength is a critical quality for explosive athletes.

Multi Rebound

Question: Can you repeat explosive efforts?

One great jump is impressive.
Producing high-quality jumps over and over is a different skill entirely.

The Multi Rebound test measures an athlete’s ability to repeatedly create force while maintaining efficiency and reactivity.

It gives us insight into qualities that a single jump simply can’t capture.

What the data says…

Recently, we analyzed force plate data from more than 560 baseball athletes, and one finding stood out. It wasn’t jump height. It was the relationship between the Countermovement Jump and the Squat Jump.

Across our database, athletes averaged just over a 2-inch difference between those two tests, with that gap becoming even larger among many of our college and professional athletes. That tells us elite athletes don’t all produce force the same way.

Some rely more on raw concentric strength. Others rely more on timing, momentum, and elastic energy. They may jump the same height, but they don’t get there the same way.

That’s exactly why we test before we train. Jump height tells us the result.

Comparing multiple jump tests helps us understand how an athlete produced that result, and that gives us a much better starting point for making training decisions.

Every jump tells part of the story. Our job is to understand the athlete behind the numbe