The Max Jones Quadrathlon | A Practical KPI for Assessing Explosiveness in Athletic-Based Sport Athletes | Coach Joe "Big House" Kenn

Before we dive in, let's establish who this blog is written for. In my system, we classify athletes using the term: Athletic Based Sport Athletes (ABSA)

Athletic Based Sport Athletes (ABSA) ABSA refers to athletes who compete in team or individual sports that require a blend of speed, power, agility, and technical skill — including ball-and-stick sports, court-based sports, field sports, gymnasts, wrestlers, track and field athletes, and others who rely heavily on explosive movement qualities.

These are the athletes who live in an explosive environment, and that’s exactly why the Max Jones Quadrathlon has so much value for them.

Most coaches in the U.S. have never even heard of the Max Jones Quadrathlon — and that’s a shame, because it’s one of the simplest and most valuable explosive power KPI batteries I’ve ever used.

I first stumbled onto this test back in the early 1990s when I was coaching throwers at Boise State University. Max Jones, a national-level throws coach from England, originally designed the Quadrathlon as a way to monitor explosive power qualities in throwers and decathletes. What I quickly realized was this: It’s not just a thrower’s test — it’s a pure “athlete test.” And it became one of the most useful tools I ever added to my football program.

Back then, the typical collegiate testing battery was built around strength numbers (power clean, bench, squat) and a few traditional speed and jump tests. Very few football programs were measuring horizontal power like the Standing Long Jump, and even fewer were tracking something like the 3-Hop Test. Everyone sprinted the 40-yard dash, but hardly anybody recorded splits, and change-of-direction testing was usually limited to the 5-10-5.

The Quadrathlon gave me something different: a simple, field-based evaluation of raw explosiveness — the kind of power that carries over to almost every Athletic Based Sport Athlete (ABSA).

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What’s in the Max Jones Quadrathlon?

The classic Quadrathlon includes four events:

1. Standing Long Jump – horizontal double-leg power

2. 3-Hop / 3-Jump Test – three consecutive horizontal jumps

3. 30-Meter Sprint – acceleration and maximal sprint speed

4. Overhead Shot Throw – backward overhead toss for total-body ballistic power

Each event is scored using a point-conversion table originally published by Max Jones in 1992. You can find multiple versions of the calculator online today.

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Practical Notes for Coaches in the U.S.

A few nuances matter if you implement this test:

1. Convert everything to metric.

All measurements — jumps, throws, and sprint — must be recorded in meters because the original scoring model was built on metric standards.

2. The scoring was built from elite track and field populations.

Most of the published benchmarks come from throwers, sprinters, and decathletes, not football players, volleyball athletes, or lacrosse midfielders. That means the scoring table below represents a high bar, and your team’s numbers will almost always fall lower on the scale. That’s OK. What matters is: Build YOUR OWN team-based norms over time.

• When I reviewed old files from my collegiate football teams, most athletes fell in the 200–280 point range. I only found one athlete who recorded a score over 300 in my data search and he was one of the three most gifted athletes I ever coached. Also, with emphasis on max acceleration and max velocity training in field work, you could easily swap the 30-meter sprint with a flying 10 or 20. When we substituted the 10-yard time into the formula most athletes were over 300 total points.

3. Suggested attempts

My long-standing protocol:

• Standing Long Jump: 3 attempts, best score

• 3-Hop Test: 3 attempts, best score

• Overhead Shot Throw: 3 attempts, best score

• 30-Meter Sprint: 2 timed attempts, best time

This aligns closely with most published methods, which traditionally recommend 3 attempts per station.

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Why I Believe the Quadrathlon Matters Today

In an era where coaches are collecting more KPIs than ever, the Quadrathlon remains:

• Simple

• Fast to administer

• Low equipment

• Highly repeatable

• Highly relevant

It’s primarily a linear, sagittal-plane evaluation — but that’s fine. Most programs are already testing COD, agility, and reactive drills separately. The Quadrathlon fills a gap: it gives you a clean snapshot of raw explosiveness in the qualities that transfer to nearly every ABSA.

Looking back, I wish I had used this test with all my teams — not just football.

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Max Jones Quadrathlon Scoring Table

(Adapted from Max Jones’ original scoring model; widely reproduced via TopendSports)

Total Score Interpretation These categories are based on available track & field norms and adapted for practical use across team-sport athletes.

Remember: Your team’s norms will differ, and those are the numbers that matter most in your program.

Score Range	Performance Level	General Interpretation
350+	Elite	World-class explosive ability; typical of international sprinters, jumpers, and throwers.
300-349	Exceptional	National-caliber explosiveness; top NCAA D1 level.
240-299	Above Average	Strong collegiate athlete or top high-school senior.
180-239	Average / Developing	Solid general explosiveness; room for growth in multiple areas.
<180	Below Average	Early-stage power development or deficient in multiple explosive qualities.

Reference: Max Jones Quadrathlon Scoring Table (1992). Summary and calculator versions available via TopendSports.

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Final Thoughts

If you're looking for a practical KPI that blends speed, horizontal power, and ballistic strength, the Max Jones Quadrathlon is one of the most efficient tools we have. It’s old-school in the best way — simple, honest, hard to cheat, and meaningful across nearly every sport where explosiveness matters.

At the end of the day: Athletes who can jump far, throw far, and run fast — tend to play fast. And that’s the goal in almost every competitive environment we train athletes for.