Right now I am more focoused on high jump. L can jump reasonably high for my age and level.
Here the stats.
Age- 17
Height 5’9
Standing vertical- 31-32"
Standing long jump- 9’-9’6"
Hurdling over something- 5’3"
high jump- 6’2
Strength:
Maxes- bench- 190
Squat- about 300
Speed:
100- ??? Guessing 11.8-9(Not very fast)
400- Around 54-55
And now heres a weird stat-- Running long jump- average 17ft, PR is at 20’8"
I will now go through my long jump-
Run-up is 8strides, last 4 steps I usually begin to hesitate and stutter step or reach for the board and look down.
Take off- My left leg(Take off) is way infront of me and bent. My last step is also pretty long. When I take off, I strike my heel first, and then slowly I go heel to toe, which my coach says totally kills my speed. She told me I should just press my whole foot hard and just take off. She also told me instead of my last two strides being long, it should be long short.
I’ll put a video up very soon hopefuly. I’m ready to give up on long jump, because high jump is going well, but long jumping is going no where. I know I have a little potential so I’m gonna hang in here. It just pisses me off a little, people who can barley touch the rim easily fly pass 20’, but I can get a foot above and can rarley even break 18 ot 19’.
It is too difficult to perform an explosive event and think about mini details at the same time. Sometimes it is better to do some things that your body will naturally respond to.
In the LJ you can have your coach or fellow athlete stand about 6 feet from the board (towards the pit) and hold up a Towel over the rake high in the air (not too high) for you to reach up and touch as you LJ into the pit.
A similar thing would be to put a soft hurdle about 6 feet or so from the take off and clear that. The angle should be such that it is about 30 degrees. You can just touch the hurdle with your foot.
Don’t think > jump. There are a few good videos out there. Tom Tellez has some on Champion.
#1- You must get consistant on the runway. You should be accelerating on the runway until about 3 or 4 steps from the board. At that point just try to maintain speed and prepare for your jump. Your last 2 steps should go long-short like your coach says.
#2- You MUST work on getting a short last step. It will preserve your speed much better than if you have a long step. Next time you’re just hanging around at a meet, put a small piece of tape or a marker about 6’6" from the foul end of the board (put it beside the runway so you don’t get in trouble). Watch the length of the good guys’ takeoff step. I’d be willing to bet that the best jumpers have the shortest last step (probably around 6’6"…that depends on their height & leg length).
To train the short last step, put a piece of tape 6’ in back of the foul end of the board in practice. Take a 1/2 approach and work on putting your next to last step well on or over the tape and takeoff without going over the foul point. Your takeoffs should feel more powerful. In an actual jump at full speed, your last step will be more than 6’ (probably almost 7’) but you want to train it real short so it helps you make the change to shorten it.
#3- once you fix those issues, concentrate more on speed than pure jumping power. You will get more out of getting your 100 down to 11.5 that you will putting 1" or 2" on your vert.
Remember, you want to run off the board maintaining as much horizontal speed as possible. The high jump is the opposite because you want to block most of your speed at takeoff to convert it into vertical forces.
thank you to both of you. And mortac8, thanx for backin up my coaches statement. Anyways, like you said, the last step has to be short. My takeoff is horrible according to my coach. I’ve got the speed, and the jump, but when it comes to the take off, I dont do very well.
My take off is like high jump, My knees are bent way out infront of me and I slow down so much.
The reason I think I bend my knees so much and stick my knees way out infront is because I feel as if I wont get enough height, but at the same time, I slow down so much. I think thats why I have the same distance jumped, whether I’m at 25ft out or 90ft out.
Thanks so much for your reply, I’ll be going to several big meets like Arcadia, mt sac, county championships and I’ll defintly observe other jumpers. I’m gonna print out the things you said, take them to the meet to observe and compete with. I’ll try to get it recorded this time and see what problems I have. Thanx again