Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

i have a friend (someone i’ve trained with) who is 15 year old, 5 foot 9, 150 lbs and is a triple jumper…

he has never broke 7.70 fat for the 60m, cant long jump over 6.40m, cant full squat his body weight, cant clean more than 110lbs, yet has triple jumped over 15.20m this year already, only 2 meets in…

how can this be?

Are you just envious?  The answer to your question is....... he has great TJ technique!  Or else it was a bad measurement.

Triple jump is a weird bird in that you get guys who are really fast and those who have just average speed jumping the same. If you look at guys like Conley or Davis (both with world class sprint speed) you’d think they’d be jumping 20m or something based off their speed....but they’re not. Likewise, if you look at guys like Willie Banks there’s no way you’d think they could jump 18m+. One of the female triple jumpers I’m working with is a great example of this. She has below-average speed and she’s jumped 13.25m.

While technique plays a lot in to this phenomenon, I think some guys / gals can just bounce and their ability to maintain speed allows them to overcome any shortcomings in top end speed.

yeah for def Mike...it is a very specific event,

as for you ex400, ummm lol...are you serious? really? a 15 year old boy, I’ve watched him come up since he was 12 and i always said he could be something special so why exactly would i be envious? ? ? i love watching and training with talented athletes of all ages…

know someone before you assume stuff…

my post was posted for the reasons that Mike picked up on, not at all for the reasons you picked up on ex400. I wanted to make the point, that we all talk about strength and speed and how to develop it so much, but sometimes people who seemingly do not have these abilities are still fantastic at their sports. Also i’ve never seen anyone else before with such a differential between long and triple jump distances, hence the title, born for one thing…

I think this kid if developed right could be an amazing triple jumper…

Sorry, Hops, I was just joking about the envy, but obviously it didn’t come across that way to you in print.  Apparently, for whatever reason, good technique in TJ just seems to come naturally to him, because his LJ/TJ ratio is amazing.  Or as Mike suggested maybe he just has “Crazyhops!”

yeah for real...when he was jumping 12m his technique was JUST LIKE Mr Edwards...lol...actually was very simular, he does that thing on his step where it looks like he does a double pump thing...he foot contacts are also quicker than any of his running strides lol…