3 Exercises to Help Jumpers Knee

Chances are, you want to be able to jump higher. I mean, who wouldn’t want to, right? Whether you want to be able to dunk a basketball, block shots, or improve your high jump in Track & Field, there are many reasons to want to improve your jumping ability.

Usain Bolt is really, really fast. I mean, really fast.

Following on from their epic tussle a year earlier at the world championships was always going to be a tall order, and so it proved with the highly anticipated rematch proving to be a disappointment for everyone except Carl Lewis. The reason for this was an injury to Mike Powell, who insisted on competing in the tournament anyway, but meant he was operating at maybe 70%. The pain etched on his face every time he launched himself into the pit was truly heartbreaking.

Back to summer again then, and moving on to 1990 or 91, I cant remember which. I can remember it was the World athletics championships and boy do I remember the long jump competition. The long jump record at the time, 8.09 metres, had stood for over twenty years and was set by a man named Bob Beamon.

Climbing trees, jumping over fences and logs, swinging from bars and ropes and many other activities that were common place 30 – 40 years ago have all but disappeared from a child’s repertoire in today’s society. The replacement activities such as iPods, mobile phones, Xbox, and Wii have left us with a generation of kids with a lack of the basic components of fitness.

Coaching kids is a specialty within itself and it requires a whole new set of rules, not just modifying adult programs. As a coach of talented kids who have aspirations to pursue sport as a career giving them a solid base from a young age is essential not only for their skill acquisition but also developing a passion and commitment towards sport that comes from within.

A few of my jumpers experienced approach run difficulties a little while ago. Here is an account of one session I did with a 25 year old female jumper with a pb of 5.91m [5.83m this indoor season].

Strength and conditioning is an important part of any sport. Specific strength is most important. Focus on the four components of athleticism: strength, power, speed, and agility.

The hitch-kick style of long jumping is one of the most aesthetically pleasing movements you could imagine. To see it being performed well is to observe a long jumper ‘walking in the air’ seemingly defying the law of gravity.

Without a well-structured and rehearsed approach run the long jump performance will be compromised. The approach run is a serial complex skill and must be treated as such.

There are traditionally 4 phases to the Long Jump. They are: approach run:take-off: flight phase and landing. But there is one important component always missed out and that is TOUCHDOWN. On the last stride to the board and just fractionally before the take-off leg/foot touches down on to that 20cm white board the jumper MUST do the following…

Runway running is a serial, complex skill. The ability to run at high speeds and then be able to place the take-off foot/leg on a 20-cm board without losing any horizontal velocity is a high level skill and must be treated as such.