So Latif has asked me several times to write a post giving coaches opportunities to improve their jumpers’ technique even when coaching large groups, without a jumps facility or when athletes/coaches are pressed for time. Over the summer, one of our horizontal jumpers competed for her country, Ghana, at the Commonwealth Games and the IAAF…
Archives for high jump drills
Drill Progressions for Jumpers (Early Season)
Early Season Technical Development As much as we like to think the opposite, I assume athletes don’t participate in many organized activities. Most of our track and field athletes are working on their general fitness during the summertime. I looked to my favorite hip-hop artist, Joe Budden, for inspiration. When beginning my annual training plan,…
Special Considerations for the High Jump Approach
Importance of the High Jump Approach When projected into flight, the center of mass of any object (including the human body) follows a predetermined, predictable, unalterable parabolic curve. Thus, establishment of the proper flight path is totally dependent upon proper force application during ground contact. Since all takeoff forces (including eccentric forces) are…
Is ‘back arch’ important in the high jump?
Normally we equate a large degree of back arch as a beneficial element of ‘over the bar’ mechanics in the high jump. And by ‘we’ I mean ‘I’ because that is what I thought. But as I was watching Boo Schexnayder’s High Jump Technique and Teaching DVD, he said something quite different. When I posted…