[grprahl]

grprahl on April 23, 2007 at 1:14 am #12995

I have a video of me jumping 5'10" to tie for first, then missing 3 attempts at 5'11". I would like to know what you think of the jump, approach, bar clearance, etc. and especially the take-off spot. I have a feeling it's too far out and I'm jumping too much horizontally. I don't know though. I really need help, because I feel I have the height for 6' if I can get my form down, and my goal for the spring is 6'2". By the way, on all the misses, I hit the bar with my butt. Maybe my hamstring on the 2nd miss, I have yet to clip it off with the calves. Maybe I'm kicking too early?

https://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/teenathlete3030/?action=view&current=Highjump07.flv

[grprahl]

grprahl on April 24, 2007 at 5:31 pm #64334

I moved my mark about a foot closer. By doing that I cleared 5'2"-5'10" without touching the bar. 3 misses at 6', but they were pretty close. I definitely had the height on some of the jumps.

[grprahl]

grprahl on May 5, 2007 at 11:25 pm #64335

I heard from another site that I'm not getting enough rotation around the bar. You can tell this because I land on my back instead of my shoulders. Also, I don't quite get my jumping leg up as high as the non-jumping leg, and a lot of the times it's the right thigh that grazes the bar.

Can anyone give me advise on what I need to do to fix my approach. Right now my mark is 7' out and 53' back. I basicly need to make it so I can get that rotation over the bar to allow my lower body to clear and land on my shoulders.

[asian-sensation]

asian-sensation on May 6, 2007 at 12:40 am #64336

the rotation comes with the curve run. Your approach is soo tight that its very hard to allow your body rotate. I'm also a very tight curve runner, but my curve is at 12'3" while your's is at an even 7. Move your 7' to about 10-11'. Your curve run will be a bit uncomfterable, but with practice and repetition you should be well on your way to clear 6'. I'm stuck at 5'11" too.

[grprahl]

grprahl on May 6, 2007 at 5:05 am #64337

I made a different approach. It's about 11.5' out from the take-off and 43.5' back. I still am having troubles. It seems that no matter where I go from I still land on my back. Just for fun I tried a C approach from about 10' away from the bar (extreme lean) and I did land about on my shoulders. If I can just get that kind of lean from a normal approach….well, I'll have to work on it.

The only thing I seem to have happen, is when I make the curve really wide, by the time I get to the bar a lot of momentum is going closer to parallel to the bar instead of toward the pit, and my body hangs over the bar longer, giving a greater chance of falling right on top of it.

[riseabove]

riseabove on November 27, 2007 at 12:58 am #64338

Yes- your approach is far too tight, your not getting any lean in your shoulders- from what i could tell from the choppy video.  I would move out closer to 13' and really work on leaning and staying away from the bar at take off.  It looks like your collapsing right into the bar off the ground, as opposed to driving up and away from the bar.  Allow your body to rise to maximum potential before arching and getting over the bar.  A 11-13' approach isn't really that "wide" you just have to stay leaning so at take off your momentum will carry you into the pitt.  Focus on your left shoulder being above your right at takeoff.

[Chad Williams]

Chad Williams on November 27, 2007 at 3:50 am #64339

In addition . . .

1) I would get away from the "tri-rock" start. It just creates inconsistency. Rock back and go.

2) Once your curve has begun, begin to turn the shoulders towards the center of the curve.

3) Your take-off foot should face the opposite standard, yours seems to be facing the camera. Which means you are trying to rotate your whole body in one motion.

4) A cue I use for maintaining an arch. After driving upwards with your left-arm allow the arm to extend outwards perpendicular to the body and then let the arm lead the shoulder into the mat.

[johnstrang]

johnstrang on November 27, 2007 at 8:38 am #64340

First i would recommend your fix your approach.. you start out fast then slow down then speed up again, unless you impliment some sort of bound in the middle you should go from slow to fast.  Second you do not need to move out to 13 feet i think that would be too far because you are not running fast enough for that to be effective.  Dwight Stones (who i dont like very much) says you normally dont need to be past 10, i personally just moved out to about 10 and 1/2.  And everything CW said was right on your foot plant is parallel with the bar and that is probably why your jump leg is hanging, also you could have a little better knee drive and i would just reccommend you work getting a good lean in that approach and planting with your foot angled more towards the back corner of the pit

[Mike Young]

Mike Young on November 27, 2007 at 1:01 pm #64341

I have many of my athletes in on a relatively tight turn. It's definitely harder to master than the wider turn but it does provide some benefits.

CW's cues are good. Instead of focusing on foot positioning though I have most athletes focus on the attitude of the body leading up to takeoff. If the athlete is running towards the opposite rear corner of the pit then the penultimate and takeoff foot generally line up where they should.

ELITETRACK Founder

[grprahl]

grprahl on January 8, 2008 at 9:50 am #64342

I worked with a coach who used to coach women's track (that won some national titles at D3) and was a decatholete in college. Now he's a personal trainer.

He had me do a completely different approach, one that is 11 steps, but allows for a much better accelleration through the curve. He worked me on all aspects, picking out minor details to work on one at a time once I got the main stuff down. The speed is better, I fixed the takeoff foot pointing the wrong direction, and learned not to cave the head and shoulders in too early.

I have also been weight training with him, and have put on 7 inches on my running vertical since football ended. I am jumping higher than ever, and now have a good approach and better technique. I am doing winter indoor track for the first time too.

Getting the school record of 6'4" should be no problem, as this is my junior year. I'll try to put up results and maybe video to see how much I've improved.

[Chad Williams]

Chad Williams on January 9, 2008 at 1:45 am #64343

Good luck to you. Sounds like you have some solid coaching now. I will be interested to see some video of you.

[grprahl]

grprahl on February 14, 2008 at 6:41 pm #68464

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdE8On_Ex2k

I jumped at the USATF state indoor championships. I was very worried because the day before I got hurt during a basketball game. I bruised an adductor muscle and had shooting pain every time I lifted my knee. Luckily the pain went away once I was warmed up.

I’ve been doing a lot of training but nothing with either a sand pit or high jump pit, since we don’t have the resources.

Old PR’s, HJ: 6’0″ LJ: 18’2″ TJ: 33’0″ (never really did it before)

Already I know on my high jump I need to hold my upright posture longer and not throw my head and right leg back so early. Also I need to increase the turn speed and takeoff speed.

[johnstrang]

johnstrang on February 15, 2008 at 2:02 am #68473

You also need to work on your long jump and triple jump form. Especially when your landing, you cut yourself short a couple feet in each by letting your feet drop way too early.

[grprahl]

grprahl on February 15, 2008 at 2:44 am #68474

Yes, those do need a lot of work. Especially the fact that I need to accelerate more off the board and overall takeoff technique. Landing is pretty easy to fix. Part of the reason I landed bad in the triple jump is that I’ve never really done it before. It’s like once I get to the end I’m surprised I made it into the pit and didn’t really know what to do with it. Hitting the heel on the board of the last phase really threw my balance off too.

[the-fern]

the-fern on May 4, 2008 at 7:44 am #69571

Your high jump looks like you run along the bar a bit too much. You spend a lot of time over the bar which is never a good thing. If you started going at the bar from the start of your turn and really put some speed into it you will be amazed at your rotation over the bar. Look at some of the other jumpers on Youtube and you will see what I mean. Especially look at the top people. Yes they are bigger, stronger and faster, but the women have similar approach angles as well.

I like to get people to have their take-off foot pointing midway down the far side of the landing pad…basically in the same line that they are running on towards the bar.

The point out from the standard that you are is personal to each jumper. I used to think that it had to do with how tall you are. Back in the 70’s and 80’s when I was jumping 7’2″ I was 12’6″ out and I am 6’1″. Dwight Stones told me he was 14’6″ out and he was 6’5″. But as I have coached now for almost 30 years I find that you can use height as a starting point or you can use formulas based on stride length, but ultimately you have to experiment and find the approach that literally throws you up and over the bar.

Cheers.

[grprahl]

grprahl on May 18, 2008 at 6:50 pm #69843

Here’s my newest video of clearing 6’4 at the conference track meet. I felt like the form was pretty decent and it looks like I had some height to spare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuVapZqLpBQ

[highjumpcoach]

highjumpcoach on June 6, 2008 at 11:19 pm #70227

Maybe Im kicking too early?
————————

You should not have to kick at all. If your legs are not clearing, you are not spinning fast enough. This does not mean you can let your lower leg dangle though. Minimize the knee bend in flight.

Glen

[Daniel Andrews]

Daniel Andrews on June 10, 2008 at 3:53 am #70329

Yes, those do need a lot of work. Especially the fact that I need to accelerate more off the board and overall takeoff technique. Landing is pretty easy to fix. Part of the reason I landed bad in the triple jump is that I’ve never really done it before. It’s like once I get to the end I’m surprised I made it into the pit and didn’t really know what to do with it. Hitting the heel on the board of the last phase really threw my balance off too.

Actually for a HS kid your Long Jump approach was a bit long for indoor season. Start out at 5-6 strides and move back throughout the season. You probably shouldn’t be more than 9-10 strides till your state meet/summertime. It’s hard to accelerate off the board or have any consistency in your long jump when you likely are decelerating before hitting the board.

From the progression the videos show, you’ve done a better job of creating a far better inward lean on your HJ approach with better curve running and a wider curve definitely helped you because you don’t have the strength yet to hold a tighter curve with good inward lean to keep your speed. IMHO, if you learn to hurdle (3 step at least 80% of the race) and pole vault (bend and turn on the pole) in HS, you could be a decent collegiate decathlete.

[grprahl]

grprahl on June 30, 2008 at 11:39 pm #70721

Actually for a HS kid your Long Jump approach was a bit long for indoor season. Start out at 5-6 strides and move back throughout the season. You probably shouldn’t be more than 9-10 strides till your state meet/summertime. It’s hard to accelerate off the board or have any consistency in your long jump when you likely are decelerating before hitting the board.

Since this video I’ve learned better long jump approach technique. I finally know how to push hard out the back in the drive phase. This way I can have the same approach distance with 2 less strides, and I’m much more relaxed off the board. Last weekend I had a meet where I had a couple scratches over 21′, which doesn’t concern me that I scratched because I know I can do it now.

From the progression the videos show, you’ve done a better job of creating a far better inward lean on your HJ approach with better curve running and a wider curve definitely helped you because you don’t have the strength yet to hold a tighter curve with good inward lean to keep your speed.

Right now I’m about 10′ out. As I get stronger, I am able to move my mark back, increasing the speed. This way my curve isn’t so deep, and I get a lot of rotation and less time over the bar. I just need to make very gradual changes instead of drastic ones. BTW, I jumped 6’4 at state and finished 3rd place as a junior. Next year I enter as the favorite.

IMHO, if you learn to hurdle (3 step at least 80% of the race) and pole vault (bend and turn on the pole) in HS, you could be a decent collegiate decathlete.

Interesting you say that. I actually have recently been trying to start the hurdles, and had planned on being a decathlete in college. I entered the 110H’s last weekend and tried it for the first time ever. I had the lead over a 15.5 guy at the first hurdle, but then my bad hurdling form cost me. I was leaping the hurdles, which not only added time but tired me out, so that I had to start 4 stepping after about 5 hurdles, which caused me to start tripping over hurdles. With a couple months practice I should be able to run low 16s or high 15s I would think.