Introducing the Plyomat Power Score (PPS)

By Richard Burnett, MS, SCCC, CSCS, APCC, CAFS

When assessing Lower Body Power as mentioned in last week’s blog: Switch Mats as a Force Plate Alternative - jump height alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

An athlete who weighs 220 lbs and jumps 20 inches is generating far more total force and power than an athlete who weighs 180 lbs and jumps the same height; yet most testing systems treat those performances as equal.  To round out this key performance indicator, it would be prudent to assess how much total energy you produce.

That’s why we created the Plyomat Power Score (PPS): a simple, physics-based metric that quantifies total mechanical work during a jump. PPS rewards athletes who can apply more force to the ground, move more total mass, and generate higher overall power outputs. It’s a truer representation of explosiveness, not just elasticity.

With Plyomat, this metric is calculated easily using only an athlete’s bodyweight, any added load, and their jump height, which is something you can calculate easily using this spreadsheet. We are considering adding it into the assessments page in the app as well.

PPS is a field-ready performance KPI that’s meaningful for every coach, every athlete, and every level.

Why We Built It

Force plates are powerful tools for measuring performance, but they’re not always practical in the field. They’re expensive, require calibration, and demand controlled environments to ensure clean data. Most coaches simply don’t have that luxury during live training sessions or group testing days.

PPS gives you a simple, physics-based way to quantify how much work an athlete performs in a jump, in other words, how much total energy they produce vertically. It’s not a theoretical lab number; it’s a competitive, real-world output that rewards both height and mass moved.

The Formula

That’s it.

PPS captures total mechanical work done against gravity — the same concept force plates rely on, but expressed in a way that’s practical for coaches and athletes in the field.

 

If you prefer metric units, use this which results in Joules:

Just note that the standards we put out there for Plyomat will use PPS (ft*lb)

Either way, the result represents total energy produced during the jump. Bigger numbers mean greater total force applied to the ground over distance — a direct reflection of lower-body power.

Why PPS Matters

1. Bridges the Lab and the Weight Room

PPS provides the same physics-based insight as force plate calculations but doesn’t require high-cost instrumentation or complex software. It’s simple enough for every athlete, yet meaningful enough for data-driven analysis.

2. Rewards Strength and Speed

PPS tells you who can move the most mass the highest, true muscular power output. Whether it’s a 300-lb lineman or a 150-lb guard, PPS reveals who’s producing the most total work.

3. Tracks Progress Across Load and Bodyweight Changes

Because PPS incorporates mass, you can track how power changes as athletes gain or lose weight, or as they jump with added load. It’s a field-friendly way to monitor load-velocity profiling: as external load increases and jump height decreases, PPS helps identify the sweet spot where the athlete produces maximal mechanical power.

4. Drives Competition and Buy-In

PPS turns testing into a competition. When athletes know their power score, every jump becomes measurable. It encourages effort, gamifies training, and highlights improvements that go beyond just “how high.”

5. Objective Feedback for All Levels

From youth athletes learning force application to elite performers refining explosive power, PPS offers an instantly understandable score. It’s also useful for rehab professionals monitoring return-to-play progress.

How It Compares to Force Plate Calculations

Force plates calculate jump power by integrating ground reaction forces over time. PPS approximates that same total mechanical output using jump height and body mass, the two key determinants of vertical work.

While a force plate can show detailed force-time curves, the Plyomat Power Score gives coaches the next-best insight: how much total energy was produced without the noise, cost, or complexity.

It’s not meant to replace a force plate in research, but to provide applied performance insight that’s actionable every day.

Recommended Jumps for PPS Testing

To make the Plyomat Power Score (PPS) a meaningful and repeatable performance indicator, it’s important to test across multiple jump types that represent different expressions of force, speed, and coordination. We recommend three primary options that together provide a complete picture of lower-body power development. Or if time is a constraint, simply commit to one of the following.

a.) Seated Dumbbell Jump

Purpose: Pure concentric power

Description:

Athletes start seated on a box or bench set to a height where the hips and knees are at roughly 90°. Holding dumbbells at their sides, they pause momentarily, then jump vertically as explosively as possible without rocking or dipping first.

Why it matters:

This jump isolates concentric force production by eliminating the stretch–shortening cycle. It’s a great measure of an athlete’s ability to generate force from a static position — useful for identifying deficits in starting strength and concentric rate of force development.

Coaching cues:

• Sit tall with neutral spine and feet flat
• Pause 1–2 seconds before jumping
• Drive through the floor aggressively and extend fully
• Land softly and upright

b.) Dumbbell Countermovement Jump (DB CMJ)

Purpose: Maximal power output under load

Description:

Athletes perform a standard countermovement jump while holding moderate dumbbells (typically 10–20% body weight total). They dip quickly and drive upward, focusing on moving both themselves and the external load as high as possible.

Why it matters:

The DB CMJ incorporates the stretch–shortening cycle (SSC) while adding external resistance, creating a balanced measure of force and velocity capacity. It represents the most direct field-based test of overall mechanical power — making it the most valuable single test for PPS tracking.

Coaching cues:

• Maintain upright posture through the dip
• Keep dumbbells tight to the sides
• Jump for maximal height, not speed of movement
• Perform 3–5 reps with full recovery

 

c.) Dowel or Barbell Countermovement Jump

Purpose: Technical consistency and velocity profiling

Description:

Using a lightweight dowel or empty barbell across the shoulders, the athlete performs a normal CMJ. The dowel keeps upper-body involvement consistent and mimics loaded conditions used in velocity profiling or loaded jump progressions.

Why it matters:

This variation allows coaches to compare power output across increasing loads while keeping arm swing out of the equation. It’s particularly useful for load–velocity profiling, where jumps are performed at 0%, 20%, 40%, and 60% of body mass to find each athlete’s optimal power load.

Coaching cues:

• Keep the dowel or barbell fixed across traps (no dip forward)
• Control depth — typically mid-thigh range of motion
• Drive explosively while maintaining posture
• Reset between reps to ensure consistent effort

Putting It All Together

Testing these three jumps gives a full spectrum of insights:

• Seated DB Jump → concentric force capability
• DB CMJ → total power under load
• Dowel/Barbell CMJ → velocity profile and technical control

Together, they help identify where each athlete sits on the force–velocity curve, providing clear direction for individualized power development strategies — and a richer context for interpreting their Plyomat Power Score.

Competition and Standards

To make PPS even more practical, we now have male and female standards charts that classify performance levels based on body weight and jump height combinations. These allow athletes to benchmark themselves, track progress, and compete for higher power ratings.

Here are the levels:

• World Class
• Elite
• Advanced
• Efficient
• Developmental
• Poor

These tiers make it easy for coaches to identify where each athlete stands relative to peers, and what specific adaptations (strength vs. velocity) might drive improvement.

Load-Velocity Profiling Made Simple 

By testing multiple jumps with progressive loads (e.g., bodyweight, +10%, +20%, +30%), PPS gives you a visual profile of how each athlete’s power changes with load.

• The peak PPS value often identifies the athlete’s optimal power zone — where strength and speed meet.
• Shifts in that curve over time help coaches tailor training blocks toward either strength or velocity emphasis.

What used to require a lab can now be done in a gym, weight room, or field with Plyomat.

Final Thoughts

The Plyomat Power Score isn’t just a formula — it’s a bridge between sports science and practical coaching. It empowers coaches to quantify what really matters: how much force an athlete produces relative to their mass, load, and jump performance.

It makes physics competitive, data accessible, and power visible.

The Plyomat Power Score brings the science of force production into everyday training; no lab required.