Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

have you guys ever seen one? a former tjer of mine is at a D2 school (44-8 pr) and he was told by his coaches that he is muscling through his phases without any bounce (my interpretation of their comments). he is pretty strong (300 bsq, 200 clean, 200 bench). he does hunch over just a little and his knees go above his hips. what could be the problem? thanks.

I had the same problem coming out of high school and ended up getting injury more easily because of no “elasticity”.  I fixed the problem by having my coach monitor my cleans, snatches, or whatever olympic lift like that… and he would make sure I was bouncy with it on the catch.  So when I was cleaning or snatching I was very stiff, I didn’t really absorb the weight I just caught it in an isometric contraction with my legs.  So watch this athlete do his cleans or whatever olympic lift, and see if he is too “stiff”.  This athlete may be different than me, so it may be something else.  Also, jumping on a trampoline helps the feeling of being elastic…the more of an elastic jumper I am on the trampoline I can go much higher than being a “stiff non elastic jumper”.  So maybe have this athlete get the feeling of being elastic with that or a pogo stick might work as well.  Just some thoughts from personal experience.

When an athlete increases his strength in the weight room they sometimes lose some elastic qualities.  I believe that is a quote from Todd Lane from an earlier post I read from a year or two ago.  Maybe this athlete is not balancing their multi jumps/throws and or sprinting and their focus is on the weight room because that is what they are good at/makes them feel good.  Just some thoughts.

thanks a lot for the insight. i think you are both right.

When I think of a “muscle” jumper, without any video, my best guess would be his ground contact times are longer than they should be. Ask him about his free leg and arm swings? Are they moving as he approaches the ground?

yes his ground contact times are longer than most tjers.

It could be that his form just needs some tweaking. He could be striking in front of the com or have a delayed free leg swing or something else I am not thinking of. I would get some video of his tj form before changing up anything else.

update: the inelastic jumper pr’ed by 1.5 feet at the conference meet and his coaches said he looked “bouncier”. i talked to the young man and he said his shins were really bothering him until two weeks ago when he purchased some compression sleeves. he claims the sleeves made it possible for him to train relatively pain free the last 2 weeks before the big jump. also, they did not squat during the last two weeks.