I am a high jumper, and this is my first meet of the year, 60degrees outdoor rainy conditions.
My upperbody was sore from the previous day from intense weight training.
Anyhow, my warmup was pretty good, but not the greatest. I didnt stretch at all, just warmed up.
My jumps where clean all the way to 6ft, when I hit it on the way down, or on the way up with my elbow. This was also off random steps, either 5 or 6 steps.
Can a high jumper or coach please watch this video, if you can help me, by trying to watch it slow motion or pausing it, I would greatly appreciate any advice.
Also, if you pause, my upperbody was over it by atleast 8inches, but I look up with my head, and when I am coming down, my legs come close to the bar, if I keep looking back for longer, will my legs stay up?
Do you guys think I have 6’4 in me in terms of jumping ability? Would appreciate any insight
I am a high jumper also, just watched your film several times through. I don’t claim to be an expert but there are a couple things I noticed:
-your take-off point looks pretty good in terms of distance from the bar. Whether or not you hit the bar on the way up or the way down on your misses makes a huge difference in what adjustments you would want to make- I tend to hit the bar on the way down, so I am always moving my starting point back.
-The actual run-up itself is what sets up the last two steps of HJ and since I can’t see it, I can’t say much about that. If you turn the volume all the way up you should be able to hear the rhythm of the last two steps: long- short. With good high jumpers this is very pronounced. Yours is kind of there, but could be better. Eventually what you want is to have the next to last step heel-strike out in front (lower your center of gravity) and then your jumping leg snaps straight down as fast as you can. When you hit it you get that sweet popping feeling and you can definitely hear that rhythm.
-one element of HJ approach I have come to appreciate a lot is the lean around the curve. I can’t emphasize enough what a difference this has made in my approach. Take whatever your lean is right now and lean a lot more, more than you think you need to until you almost feel uncomfortable. If you are strong enough to hold a big lean, you will jump high even if other elements of your approach are off. I guarantee you need to lean more without even seeing your full curve. LEAN LEAN LEAN
-lastly… what the hell do you mean random steps… do you have an HJ coach?? Before we even took any jumps this year we worked on finding a consistent approach measurement. It is essential! Usually we had kids start off at 8 steps and then move to 10… I’m sure you are familiar with this. If you are jumping 6’ with a half-assed approach I would definitely expect that you could jump at least 6’4 with a consistent and longer run. I saw a kid last year in HS jump 6’9" picking a random spot on the floor, running up to the bar and jumping- with a consistent approach he could have jumped 7’.
As far as your over the bar clearance, the one in the film looks pretty good. I also have a problem hitting with my legs, but holding the arch may not be what you want to do. Think of it has head to heels, chin to chest. Once you feel your hips clear, bring chin to chest and think about getting your legs up. Holding the arch position while moving horizontally in the air will bring your hamstrings back into the bar.
I seem like I’m criticizing a lot, but really it looks pretty good and I think you have great potential. I can make adjustments in HJ and coach people over heights, but I am not an HJ coach… you might want to ask or PM CoachMdd, I believe he is a college jumps coach and has coached some extraordinary high jumpers.
Hi, thank you very much. Really appreciate your comments, and will work o what you said.
I’m an incoming junior in high school, anyhow, I cannot get coached for high jump till feb 14th, CIF reguolations. So that is the first time I jumped since like may.
As for the approach, it was about a 5 step approach, and it wasnt a “j” approach, but rather a straight diagnoal “” shaped approach.
1 question if you can please help. What are some ways, or drills to improve my lean? And what exactly does the lean help?
A drill we use to work on lean is actually very simple- we run in a circle (in spikes) leaning as far in as possible. If just trying to lean is difficult (it should be far enough to feel pretty unnatural) you can also concentrate on keeping your right shoulder back and having your left foot actually step and pull over your right. Esp in the beginning of training my coach had us do approach run-throughs without jumping, just running through and emphasizing the right shoulder back so much that our shoulders would actually be facing the bar as we came in. The more you emphasize a huge lean in drills, the more you will retain something when you go to jump in comp. (Thinking too much during actual comp= paralysis by analysis=very bad.)
The more you lean, the more likely you are to lower your center of gravity and convert your speed into vertical height. Just think- if you come in running straight up, it is harder to get your foot out in front, you have less power, less pop, and chances are you’ll jump right into the bar.
We did a lot of circle runs (in both directions), figure 8 runs (accelerating on the curves) and circle runs with pop-ups. They are very simple drills, but the best in the world do them!
Lastly about the diagonal vs. J approach- obviously a diagonal doesn’t allow you to get your lean which is not good. However, you do NOT want your J to become flat at the end. When you take off, your left foot should be pointing somewhere between the middle of the mat and the back left corner. I made the mistake for a long time of making a complete J so that my left foot was parallel to the mat at takeoff and that brought me straight into the bar.
Again… great great potential if you’re jumping so well only halfway through HS on basically what you can do naturally. With some technique work you will probably come far… remember the approach sets up the jump and the better your approach is technically, the better your jumps will be. Re-hauling my entire approach meant that I jumped crappy for a few weeks, but now that I am getting the hang of the new approach I can really appreciate how important it is and how much it works.
I will post a video hopefully next week with a full approach.
Our runway is hella small, hope fully that wont be a problem. On an 8 step approach, two of them will have to be taken on the grass, which I hate. Oh well, I guess I Have to get use to it, considering the leagues championships will be held here. I just moved to a new school, and I think the coaching staff will be a lot better then my last school, in terms of high jump atleast.