Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

The videos for the bounds (normal and slo-mo):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JGNIk5sefYU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f4NDdiVdT3A

I’d basically like to know what to change so I don’t look like I am dancing ballet.

The videos for the hop-step(normal and slo-mo):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-wyqXLMS2ZU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=c3NCHCDhAo0

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ud5r13QAUNk
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VwN0PGRzBr8

For those I know I should make sure I don’t plantar flex the left foot on hop landing, but the jumps in generally don’t feel and look right, I feel like I am holding back while jumping, and the landing of the hop is always hard and the step is flat.
I appreciate any input.

Thanks

Videos for the bounds:
1. you plant directly under your center of mass.  (big no no) (should be a pull push action, not a push only action).
2. you have the swing action… But no pawing back… it looks as if you wait for the ground and only get a concentric jump rather than a eccentric to concentric.  Hence, your a quad jumper… not a whole leg jumper as should be be, so you look dancing ballet.
3. Too stiff linear body.  Good arm action, but it is wasted by not allowing your left arm to control left leg and right arm to control right leg.  It seems as if you just go through the motions of what it looks like.  Again, that’s your dancing ballet.

Videos for the hop step:
1. The mistakes you make while bounding carry over here, it is quite obvious.  The hop is fine, but again… no paw back action!!!  You just planted that foot right under your center of mass again… paw back and land slightly ahead.  You need to pull, then push.  Your body is moving 18-20 mph.  When you wait for the ground like your doing and plant under yourself… guess what… no time to jump, so you have to jump from behind you with your calf cause your body is moving 18-20 mph horizontally!  That’s where that flat step is coming from.  Make sense? 

Sorry if I come off a little harsh or mean… but I’m the kinda coach and athlete that is intense and a bit eccentric!  Plus you can’t tell tone of voice when typing.  Let me know if this all makes sense to you.

Oh… and your knee is way to bent.  There should only be a slight bend in the knees… not a big bend.  Again that is a result of planting under yourself.  So extend the knee paw back, pull, then push.  When your leg on the ground is past 90 degrees (striaght up and down) (wish I could show you) you should have already jumped and are using the last part of triple extension… ankle and toes.

Thank you,
It makes sense, I guess I’m kind of scared to spend a little more time in flight and I drop the leg down so I touch ground the first possible moment. Maybe I should slow down the cycling of the legs in flight, and still go through the whole motion, so when the leg is in front and extended, I have no choice but to plant it a little ahead of me. How would you go about fixing those problems?

Slowing down the cycling would help if done correctly.  If you slow the cycle, you would still have to paw back the ground at 18-20 mph (however fast you were running) to help maintain speed. 

As far as fixing the problems, I have drills that work really well.  The first one would be a modified B- Skip.  This would be done using double arm on each take off.  That’s really what I comes down to.  Watch any guy who jumps 18m, and you’ll see that it is an inverted B-Skip action.  Then you could progress to various types of skipping with it and then apply it to bounding, and then to short approach triple jumping.  That’s the progression I have used and have seen great results with it.  My other drills are hard for me to explain in words… I would have to show you.  The things that I mentioned in previous posts… you would have to apply to the skipping and bounding drills.

By the way, who are you jumping for?  A college, high school, track club?

I sent you a private message

I thought the bounds looked a bit high, as well as the hop into the step.  That could be my perspective as I am used to looking at 14-18 year olds and not adults like yourself.  It could also have to do with the lack of a pawing action to propel yourself forward.  You look a lot like Jadel Gregorio in that video.  But I don’t think they have blocking sleds in Brazil or Northeast England that I know of.

Cheers.

the fern i think made the best point, its just too high. hop and bound should be flater and the jump phase as high as possible, thats the jump dominated technique, which i think everyone tends to use. A point I would make is that what your doing is fine, dont add in a paw. By paw the ground i mean moving your foot out in front of your hips so at contact you roll over it and then push, dont do that. To project yourself with a flat trajectory your foot needs to be underneath your hips so at contact at each phase you could draw a straight line from head through hip, down to the foot. This only ever happens for a split second then you push OUT flat again, horizontal. thats my advice.