Plyometrics are widely used by athletes to improve jump height. To further enhance jump height many coaches are now recommending a butt kick plyo jump. In this exercise, as you leap up off the ground you bring the heels to the buttocks.
Upon landing, you immediately go into another jump and repeat the butt kick. Success in this exercise depends upon how quickly you can bend the knees to kick the butt.
Is this however, an effective exercise to improve jump height?
When doing the butt kick you must concentrate on quickly bending the knees to have enough time to bring the heels to the buttocks and to then straighten the legs for the next landing. Because of this, you may not get complete extension of the hip, knee and ankle joints on takeoff.
However, if you do not get full extension of the lower extremities, you will not get a maximally high jump. This in turn does not improve your ability to jump higher. In essence, this exercise becomes a negative in regard to improving your performance.
In addition, the butt kick has little if any value in improving athletic performance. Because this action is not seen in execution of jumping or running it will not transfer to execution of the jump in gameplay.
The butt kick is seen most often in running drills and exercises. But even here practicing the butt kick most often leads to slower running. The reason for this is that emphasis is placed on bringing the foot to the buttocks rather than bringing the knee forward as quickly as possible. See Explosive Running for more details on the negative aspects of the butt kick.
As a result, the butt kick is not recommended for improving jump height or running speed for athletes. Most often you will see after doing this movement for an appreciable amount of time.
For more information on the butt kick see Explosive Running and Build a Better Athlete.