Reading through the thread of Long Jump Take Off Mechanics thread about Dwight Phillips i found out my biggest problem in the long jump. When i jump i’m having a problem with my last two steps. When I have my good jumps i foul by a toe and those are over 21 feet, but when i have jumps that are measured they are usually high 19’s. When i have big jumps i feel like my mark is right on and have a good last step for take off which is shorter and i get much more pop and what looks like 21’s, but my worse jumps which are around high 19 i get on the board or behind it but do not have a good feeling or sensation at take off like on my bigger jumps that are fouls(whenever i have those big jumps i feel very good at take off). I’m pretty sure my problem is my last step to take off and having to do with trouble with the penultimate. Would this problem be fixed by just getting my mark and my last step shortening or is it all in my head? any insight and/or ideas on what i could do to fix this problem would be greatly appreciated.
Takeoff Foot placement
-
-
KeymasterI could write a book on this phenomenon and you’re really not unique. It could be a multitude of things and we’d really need to see some video to say for sure but generally what happens is on the ones you foul by a little bit you were running well and not overdoing the setup. How often do you foul?
ELITETRACK Founder
-
Participant
I usually don’t go a competition without fouling. My huge jumps are when my foot is over by about a third of a shoe. I never look down at the board. Many of my jumps that have counted have been far behind the board, or with no room on the board at all.
https://www.globalathletics.com/rltac/2008-12-28/
Long Jump attempt 6 and 20 are two jumps that are on video -
Participant
From what I see on those videos, it looks as if you are slowing down. Especially the last 4-6 steps. There is no gradual acceleration, actually it is the opposite. Since we don’t see the first few steps of your approach it is hard to get an accurate look, but my suggestion would be to focus on the start of the approach being a little slower. That way you can build your speed more gradually. This will definitely help with consistency at the board.
I always tell my jumpers to think of the approach as a ball rolling down the hill. At the top of the hill the ball is rolling very slow. As it travels down the hill it gradually gets faster until it has reached its fastest point at the bottom. The approach is the same idea. Slower at the beginning, faster at the end.
-
Participant
I understand the gradual approach and speed but my school has no access to track or a runway and we only get to long jump at competitions, so i would have no way to practice my approach and picking up gradual speed. Is it worth trying it at competitions because i will most likely be inconsistent with the approach, or would there be a way to do it without much practice?
-
Participant
There is no way to get better at your approach without practice. Do you have access to the hallways in your school? During the winter, my athletes have no access to the track or runway either. We make due by practicing the approaches in the hallways of the school. Not ideal, but it works. When we do have access to a track and runway, my jumpers don’t even touch the runway for quite a while. They have to be consistent on the track before they actually take approaches on the runway.
ex400… Again, I can’t emphasize enough to build your speed gradually. You are making it hard for yourself if you start out trying to run as fast as possible. It is not possible to get faster after you have reached your top speed. You want to be at your maximum controlled speed at takeoff. If you start off at full speed, you will slow down before you takeoff. Thus limiting your distance on your jump.
-
Participant
ex400… Again, I can’t emphasize enough to build your speed gradually. You are making it hard for yourself if you start out trying to run as fast as possible. It is not possible to get faster after you have reached your top speed. You want to be at your maximum controlled speed at takeoff. If you start off at full speed, you will slow down before you takeoff. Thus limiting your distance on your jump.
Wasn’t true for me, but my run-up was only about 35 meters. Given my sprint ability, I would guess I would hit max v at maybe 30-33 meters, so only one or two more strides to the jump. Deceleration was not an issue and I had enough control for a good take-off. As I said, I think it is individual.
-
ParticipantJumps-
How do you “start off at full speed”? To reach top or near top speed you have either accel hard or have a very long approach and accel slowly…
even IF you accel hard, you are STILL gradually increasing speed…
depending on level of the performer it will take anywhere from 25m-50m to reach top speed…approach distances being anywhere from 30m-45m for most jumpers doesnt usually allow for top speed to be hit anyway…therefore it important to accel hard out the back…not 100% like coming out of the blocks, but still hard…
-
Participant
Nick, maybe you misunderstood me. I never said to start off at full speed. I said to build a gradual acceleration. I agree with you on reaching top speed, and the slower the athlete the faster they reach their top speed.
Mferrari3 – Finding the feel/speed for the first few steps depends on the athlete. The start should not be a jog. It should be a push where your legs/feet drive down and back. This begins to drive your body forward at an angle (drive phase). If you jog on the start, your body is moving forward but not accelerating the way it should be.
It is tough to give you a specific answer as to how slow or fast to start. Again it depends on the level of the athlete. Just remember, once you get moving you want to gradually accelerate.
Hope this helps, and is not too confusing.
Here is a link to a video that demonstrates a good approach. I like watching him jump, b/c you can clearly see his acceleration.
-
Participant
Nick, maybe you misunderstood me. I never said to start off at full speed. I said to build a gradual acceleration. I agree with you on reaching top speed, and the slower the athlete the faster they reach their top speed.
Mferrari3 – Finding the feel/speed for the first few steps depends on the athlete. The start should not be a jog. It should be a push where your legs/feet drive down and back. This begins to drive your body forward at an angle (drive phase). If you jog on the start, your body is moving forward but not accelerating the way it should be.
So, as I said originally, it is individual. The two primary considerations are, 1) what gets me to the jump with speed and control for the take-off, and 2) what gets me there with consistency, so I am neither fouling nor giving up distance by taking off far back. Going hard from the first step solved both problems for me, but might not for someone else.
-
Participant
Would the approach work solve my problem of having good jumps only when i foul by 1/3 of a shoe or less, and not nearly as well when i have little room on the board. It seems when i foul i feel alot better taking off rather than when my mark is on? Is this all in my head?
For example the past meet i jumped 20’4 1/2 with no room to spare on the board. Before my next jump i moved my mark back half a shoe and that jump was a foul by about 1/3 of a shoe, but the jump was my best all year and was well over 21 ft, and i also felt sure of my mark at take off. -
Participant
Even though LJ is probably the simplest field event, your question has a lot of possible answers IMO. First, let’s assume that the jumping conditions don’t change during your competition. That is, the temperature and wind don’t vary. Then a couple of possibilities suggest themselves. One is that you are not fully warmed up when the official jumping begins. If that is the case, then with each attempt your stride would likely get slightly longer as you got warmer. If your average stride length increased by only 1/4″, that is 5″ total if you take 20 strides in your run. I have seen this problem with lots of jumpers. Another possibility is that you are inconsistent in your take-off foot placement in relation to your center of mass. In your case, it may be that when your foot placement is too far under you, you hit the board but get a poor take-off and short distance. In effect, you would just be running over the board. Conversely, when you get a better foot placement, and hence a longer jump, your foot is farther forward in relation to your center of mass, in your case, past the scratch line. That should be relatively easy to fix by altering your start mark, IF you are consistent in foot placement in relation to your body.
You say you felt sure of your mark at take-off, implying that you were looking at the board to gauge how you were doing. That gets into a very much debated question of whether you should look at the board or not. I am not certain there is a universal answer to this. Happily (or maybe luckily) I was very consistent while never looking at the board, but others seem to benefit from “steering,” if I understand them correctly. Searching this board should give you plenty to think about on that subject. More than one thread involving Nick Newman has had discussions.
-
Participant
Ferrari…
Make sure you have eye contact with the board as soon as possible in the appraoch. Keep the eyes on the board with normal head alignment until 1-2 strides FROM the board. This should really help you out ok …
Practice this a lot and often…it will start to work for you…
Other than that, there are lots of info on the site about steering…read that.
-
Participant
I guess your right…this is me,
before steering (visual guidance)= 85% FOUL
After steering = 9/11 LEGAL (so far this season)
-
Participant
I’m a masters jumper and have had this same exact problem my whole life (HS, college and now).
I’m probably a 40-50% fouler. Same thing…usually in the 3″-4″ range.I have moved my mark back in meets after jumps and still continue to foul. I don’t feel like I’m reaching. I’m not the fastest guy, but I have been told I have good acceleration at the board. I work on my approaches at least twice a week. Problem is, I’m “coachless” so checkmarks are out.
I read on a thread here once about being crowded at the board. Would it be worthwhile to move back a few feet from my current mark??
I’ll try anything to try to remedy this problem.
Also…Nick..was it hard to get used to looking at the board and to get used to steering??
It seems to have worked for you.Thanks in advance for any help.
-
Participant
Geezer Jumper – without some video it is tough to diagnose. When you jump do you feel crowded at the board?
No..don’t feel crowded. Like the original post..always the best jumps are fouls.
I ALWAYS foul near the end of the competition when I am pressing.If the meet is at a HS track with a 12″ board, I’m usually OK, but once I get back to an 8″ board the problem resurfaces. Weird…because I never look at the board. All in my head I guess.
-
Keymaster
I’m not sure which thread you’re referring to Geezer but I think it was one where I mentioned Boo actually would crowd his foul-prone jumpers because it forced them to steer a little better. Some athletes actually jumped BETTER like this than they would with an optimal run-up.
As for steering, I can’t recommend it strongly enough. When Nick and I first started working together I was actually shocked that no one had told him to do that. In fact, I had actually assumed he was doing it for a couple months before the fouls started mounting up and I just asked about it. It took a while to adjust (probably about 6 months) but now Nick seems to be VERY good at it and the adjustment period was well worth the initial decrement. Almost all of the elite jumpers I’m aware of actively visually steer toward the board. I have one jumper who does not steer and I don’t ask him to because he is one of the very rare few who can be extremely consistent without doing it.
ELITETRACK Founder
-
Participant
hi Geezer…
It did take some time…and INITIALLY (the first 1-2 months of me trying it) it didn’t seem to make any difference at all. I would jump and say to someone “that was good” and they would shake their head and say, “nope you fouled by an inch”. LOL.
But now, (touching every piece of wood i can see) i seem to be very aware of where i am around the board. And now after a couple of meets this season so far, i feel like i can attack the board 110% and not worry about fouling like i used to.
I would suggest, trusting it and practicing it as much as you can, on and off the run way…
p.s. I also do silly things now like, when walking too and from training etc, i pick a spot about 5 meters ahead of me and make sure i get to it with my right foot, with an inch to spare. All without changing my walking rhythm….sad right? lol
-
Keymaster
Nick’s entire post really hints at the very important point that steering well is a skill. That’s why there was an initial dropoff before things got better (as there is when learning most skills), why it’s become almost auomatic for him now, and how the other ‘silly’ activities that he’s been doing may have actually been helping his skill level on the runway by, at the very least, keeping him always mindful of the deficiency.
ELITETRACK Founder
-
Participant
Thanks for the advice..it looks like steering is something I’m willing to give a try.
I’m a little confused though. Wouldn’t steering cause some inconsistencies…like stuttering, slowing down, lengthening strides, etc., just to try to get on the board?
How exactly do you practice it? Nick said to begin to look at the board early in the approach which I understand, but what is actually happening near the end of the approach?
Sorry for the questions, but I’m trying to understand something that is obviously new to me.
Thanks for all the help.
-
Keymaster
There’s a couple things to keep in mind:
*You need to establish enough consistency, regularity and repeatability for the first half of the run to get you close enough to the board (around the midpoint) in a position and speed where any steering will be minor adjustments.
*Steering should be gaze directed…do it by tracking with your eyes not by dropping the head down.
*Better people will make adjustments from further out so that the adjustments don’t affect takeoff velocity.
*We did some interesting things to improve Nick’s steering. Varied approach lengths within a given step protocol by +/- 1 foot; randomized approach step length protocol in a given practice; gradually extended approach length over the course of training as a means of overload; etc.ELITETRACK Founder
-
Participant
-
Keymaster
It’s not necessarily experience. Some people are naturally very good at it (as is the case with any skill). You can make minor adjustments just prior to takeoff.
ELITETRACK Founder
-
Participant
Nick-You a legit lj’er now…your statement below is evidence of that i.e., that’s the inner game.
p.s. I also do silly things now like, when walking too and from training etc, i pick a spot about 5 meters ahead of me and make sure i get to it with my right foot, with an inch to spare. All without changing my walking rhythm….sad right? lol
-
Participant
Mike has said most of the things i would have said…
However,
I look at the board as soon as i have finished driving out during my first few steps. I keep eye contact on the board until about 3 strides out now. by then i have usually made ENOUGH MINOR adjustments in order to hit the middle of the board. I emphasise MINOR because for the sake of speed maintainence OR increasing speed it is vital the many minor adjustments are made OVER 1-2 major adjustments. As that will decrease speed a lot.
It may sound hard for people who have never done it. But trust, these adjustments are not really a conscious decision, they just happen… Slowly but surely you will get it…and some of you will get it very fast indeed.
Another point, when i began to do this, i kepy eye contact with the board until take off. Then as i improved i moved it back a step etc etc…now im back to 3 steps away roughly!
-
Participant
I read that with a steering jumper if they foul by , let’s say 5 inches, you should move your mark up 5 inches because you are overcompensating or lengthening out your stride too much. True?
False. Steering occurs regardless. The only way to truly know is to breakdown the jump backwards till the start of the approach. Often times you’ll find everything bad begins at the approach start and compensations are occurring everywhere. Someone who is fouling can be fouling for a multitude of reasons and lengthening of the last step maybe a result of a faster approach as much as it is them reaching for the board. Moving someone’s approach mark in competition for either case is going to be likely unproductive. If you are going to err on the safe side then you move the mark backwards, but moving it forward can cause problems for an inexperienced coach dealing with an athlete. Sometimes the answer is to move it forward, but its a hard call to make in competition. If you know you can make the athlete scale back the approach velocity a tad by moving them forward then by all means do it, but it takes a good understanding of the athlete and what they are doing wrong to make this work and most coaches can’t look at one or two jumps and move the mark forward.
-
Participant
For an inexperienced jumper/steerer moving the starting mark back will not help at all…if you foul by 5 inches, and move back 5 inches, you will probably still foul by 5 inches…
For practice purposes, if you foul by 5 inches, keep the mark the same and try to get on the board next time but still in a good take off position…
This will take practice…i now try to do run throughs before the meet starts, find my mark and then generally i do not move my mark back anymore during meets…i am able to adjust enough to get on the board from that mark (even if i foul my first jump by a little bit)…
You need to be consistant with your steering before you can do this…
-
Participant
For an inexperienced jumper/steerer moving the starting mark back will not help at all…if you foul by 5 inches, and move back 5 inches, you will probably still foul by 5 inches…
For practice purposes, if you foul by 5 inches, keep the mark the same and try to get on the board next time but still in a good take off position…
This will take practice…i now try to do run throughs before the meet starts, find my mark and then generally i do not move my mark back anymore during meets…i am able to adjust enough to get on the board from that mark (even if i foul my first jump by a little bit)…
You need to be consistant with your steering before you can do this…
It’s hard, because I usually don’t care how much they foul by. I want to know why they are fouling and if the approach is too short for their speed, they need to scale it back some. Generally, I want athletes hitting at the back of the board in warmups and then by the time competition starts they start creeping up. That’s my ideal scenario for jumpers going into meets. This doesn’t always happen as other events they are doing are going to interfere. However, the work they do in acceleration helps tremendously as the athletes usually have stride patterns during acceleration which are consistent because they are doing acceleration drills or approach jumps constantly. If I have athletes missing the board with a foul and they don’t hit their coach marks they are generally missing by more than 5 inches, but sometimes they aren’t and their fouls are jumps which are just terrible from cutting the last two sometimes three steps in an overcompensation and you have to move this athlete back. Scaling the athlete back in their approach velocity will either produce another short foul or just a legit bad jump.
-
Participant
Can’t wait to get started on this. Had a meet this afternoon..3 fouls out of 6 attempts. Par for the course for me.
Your absolutely right Nick….moving back does not solve the problem, at least for me anyways. Foul by 4″…move back 6″..still foul by 4″… or more.
Gonna work on this all winter and spring…hopefully I’ll have it down some for outdoors.
-
Participant
Great job! 50% is half way there mate
-
Participant
My coach, a girl long jumper, and myself worked after practice in the halls with approaches. He used the coaches marks and whatnot and we worked on the gradual increase to top speed and our penultimates. Felt great at practice, my mark was dead on and felt great at the speed i was going at perfectly controlled. Next meet it this weekend, doing hurdles saturday, and long jump sunday. WICKED PUMPED!
-
Participant
It’s hard, because I usually don’t care how much they foul by. I want to know why they are fouling and if the approach is too short for their speed, they need to scale it back some. Generally, I want athletes hitting at the back of the board in warmups and then by the time competition starts they start creeping up. That’s my ideal scenario for jumpers going into meets.
This too is my ideal scenario.
As for steering, it is an immense tool/skill, that can make quite a bit of difference. As evidence of Nick’s jumping. I do believe there is not as much attention to it as there should be, but as time goes on it will pick up. I think it is not pushed for three reasons.
1. Many coaches don’t know exactly what it is.
2. Even if they do, they don’t know how to have their athletes utilize it.
3. Coaches don’t want to make things more complicated than they have to.
As Mike said in a previous post, he was shocked that no one told Nick about steering. I know from Nick’s college experience and coaching there that steering was never utilized. Probably not even mentioned. It wasn’t for mine! I didn’t learn about it until my career was over.
-
Participant
[quote]It’s hard, because I usually don’t care how much they foul by. I want to know why they are fouling and if the approach is too short for their speed, they need to scale it back some. Generally, I want athletes hitting at the back of the board in warmups and then by the time competition starts they start creeping up. That’s my ideal scenario for jumpers going into meets.
This too is my ideal scenario.
As for steering, it is an immense tool/skill, that can make quite a bit of difference. As evidence of Nick’s jumping. I do believe there is not as much attention to it as there should be, but as time goes on it will pick up. I think it is not pushed for three reasons.
1. Many coaches don’t know exactly what it is.
2. Even if they do, they don’t know how to have their athletes utilize it.
3. Coaches don’t want to make things more complicated than they have to.
As Mike said in a previous post, he was shocked that no one told Nick about steering. I know from Nick’s college experience and coaching there that steering was never utilized. Probably not even mentioned. It wasn’t for mine! I didn’t learn about it until my career was over.[/quote]
I don’t know how coaches don’t setup an athlete to succeed. I know coaches and athletes both get greedy about get next 1/4″ advantage off the board at the higher levels. However, you can’t get greedy with an athlete who is inconsistent about steering. I usually don’t have to bring up steering, the athletes will bring it up themselves and I play by ear. I want to know what they feel makes them hit the board before I introduce my 2 cents.
So I set out a couple of rules which help me deal with the adverse affects of steering/guidance (as we all know some rules can be bent or broken except for #1) this usually eliminates a lot of fouls but I give up about 7-8 inches with some jumpers. The idiot coach says, they need to get better at hitting the board while he’s had 2 or 3 jumpers in the same competition not even score on a jump. The smart coach says, they need to get faster or get better at warming up.
1. Start mark will be from a point where the athlete hits behind the board on every attempt in the warmup.
2. Run backs to get marks are done from the front of the board. (Don’t ask me why, it just works better, probably because the athlete isn’t fully warmed up in warmups and the CNS will hit full power once the competition starts when the adrenal system starts pumping)
3. The run back marks and practice marks should be within 12″ of each other. If they aren’t I know the athlete is nowhere near being warmed up.
4. The approach run throughs should have the athlete creeping up on the board and maybe even striking it. I set my coaches marks at this point in time for each athlete, sometimes I place some of them beforehand if I have them measured out from practice.
5. The athlete will attempt at least 2 warmup jumps (2-3 minutes apart if time permits) and the athlete is done with warmups once they hit 2 jumps within 6 inches of the board. This rule is one most likely needed to bent or broken, I don’t like more than 5 or 6 run throughs and jumps total before competition starts as it means the athlete didn’t adequately warmup. At some HS meets this is like going through a meat grinder as the long jump is run cafeteria style at a majority of meets.
I like for my athletes to do our regular warmup with accelerations then move to the jumps area for marks, run-throughs, and practice jumps. The one thing this basic template does is eliminate the number of errors an athlete is likely to produce and when an error like fouling occurs it is because the athlete is faster/mark is too close/used the wrong mark each of these things is easily identifiable at this point. Steering/guidance almost become second hand to the athletes as well because we move back throughout the season. About every 3 weeks the number steps in the approach will change or we have to move the start mark because they are running faster thus they are learning temporal and spatial relationships. It easier to work with newer jumpers this way, and jumpers who have had different coaches sometimes have a hard time comprehending my kooky ways. While I agree with Dr. Wu from his video on practice variability. I think its use with Nick is fine, but I have a hard time making my practice variable in the context of hitting the board. I think there are other variable factors which are more important to a young developing athlete as opposed to someone who is elite or border-line elite(Nick).
-
Participant
-
Keymaster
If the foul is consistently less than 4 inches don’t bother move the starting point. That will always do more harm than good. All it does is add another layer of variability to a problem that is already unstable. When it’s inside of 4″ make a mechanical change.
Another thing to consider is the environmental issues that can affect approach distance (top layer surface, underlying surface, wind, depth perception behind the pit, crowd, etc). Savvy competitors will know how to manage these variables and adjust the approach accordingly. In such cases, I’d make a baseline adjustment to the starting point and then once the competition begins use mostly technical changes to modulate accuracy.
ELITETRACK Founder
-
Participant
[quote]It’s hard, because I usually don’t care how much they foul by. I want to know why they are fouling and if the approach is too short for their speed, they need to scale it back some. Generally, I want athletes hitting at the back of the board in warmups and then by the time competition starts they start creeping up. That’s my ideal scenario for jumpers going into meets.
This too is my ideal scenario.
As for steering, it is an immense tool/skill, that can make quite a bit of difference. As evidence of Nick’s jumping. I do believe there is not as much attention to it as there should be, but as time goes on it will pick up. I think it is not pushed for three reasons.
1. Many coaches don’t know exactly what it is.
2. Even if they do, they don’t know how to have their athletes utilize it.
3. Coaches don’t want to make things more complicated than they have to.
As Mike said in a previous post, he was shocked that no one told Nick about steering. I know from Nick’s college experience and coaching there that steering was never utilized. Probably not even mentioned. It wasn’t for mine! I didn’t learn about it until my career was over.[/quote]
I’m honestly more frustrated with myself than anyone else. I never in 2-3 years even thought about looking at the board! haha! i can laugh now because it seems so stupid to me. All i focussed on and researched about was training methods training methods and more training methods and jumping far. I achieved the jumping far part but none them counted. The one thing which, meet after meet kept holding me back, i just seemingly ignored…
Still, looking back…the further jump i ever did was 7.80m (which was last year with Mike) so in terms of distance development i wasn’t really held back at all…
Good things come to those who keep trying and never give up!
-
Participant
In such cases, I’d make a baseline adjustment to the starting point and then once the competition begins use mostly technical changes to modulate accuracy.
I guess I’m confused here Mike.
What type of technical change are we talking about? I’m assuming a minor stride pattern change??
Thanks.. -
Keymaster
Rhythm of the approach, push angles (especially the initial ones), postural alignment throughout the approach, transition to upright running, (and many more issues) can affect approach length as much as a meter. So trying to move starting position forward or backward by 2-4″ without addressing any errors or inconsistencies in these issues is like a blind man hunting.
ELITETRACK Founder
-
Keymaster
If it’s wrong, especially if it’s an error that doesn’t occur every time, then you should fix the error not change the starting point.
ELITETRACK Founder
-
Participant
It starts in training guys..
You must aim for a consistant first 10m. This will take care of a lot of things as Mike said. I posted somewhere on this site something from Pete Stanley (top jumps coach, J edwards old coach) saying the exact same thing…
If you starting machanics differ everytime, then what will moving your mark back actually do? Nothing is the quick answer.
-
Participant
It starts in training guys..
You must aim for a consistant first 10m. This will take care of a lot of things as Mike said. I posted somewhere on this site something from Pete Stanley (top jumps coach, J edwards old coach) saying the exact same thing…
If you starting machanics differ everytime, then what will moving your mark back actually do? Nothing is the quick answer.
Nick…do you use any kind of checkmark for yourself…somewhere in the first couple strides??
-
Participant
I do not use a check mark. But have ran the first 10m in an identical way (meaning effort, angles, stride length and rhythm) about a gizillion times this season…i can hit a mark around 10-12m from the start of the approach 90% of time…
Now, 2 years ago, i couldnt do it 10% of the time…
But, Mr. Stanley and i also recommend a check mark about 10-15m from the start of the approach. After that mark the athlete will be into full running (tall and bouncy). This “middle” portion of the approach is also critical for consistancy. The final 4-6 strides however should be down to visual guidance.
Steering will not solve all problems. Approach accuracy is down to (repition of the controlled phase AND visual guidance). The TWO must work together for a successful run. After all, steering needs to happen without a great loss in speed. This can’t happen if the controlled phase of the run is SO OFF that you have to drastically change your strides to hit the board (this would show good steering, but a BAD approach.
Over the course of the season for a more advanced jumper, the controlled phase may vary 1-2 meters but not much more than that. This is good, because it enables you to practice it over and over again…
-
Participant
I do not use a check mark. But have ran the first 10m in an identical way (meaning effort, angles, stride length and rhythm) about a gizillion times this season…i can hit a mark around 10-12m from the start of the approach 90% of time…
Now, 2 years ago, i couldnt do it 10% of the time…
But, Mr. Stanley and i also recommend a check mark about 10-15m from the start of the approach. After that mark the athlete will be into full running (tall and bouncy). This “middle” portion of the approach is also critical for consistancy. The final 4-6 strides however should be down to visual guidance.
Steering will not solve all problems. Approach accuracy is down to (repition of the controlled phase AND visual guidance). The TWO must work together for a successful run. After all, steering needs to happen without a great loss in speed. This can’t happen if the controlled phase of the run is SO OFF that you have to drastically change your strides to hit the board (this would show good steering, but a BAD approach.
Over the course of the season for a more advanced jumper, the controlled phase may vary 1-2 meters but not much more than that. This is good, because it enables you to practice it over and over again…
Thanks for taking the time to explain Nick.
Looks like I’ve got some work to do. I’m pretty consistant near the board..unfortunately it’s about 4″ over most of the time!
Thanks again.. -
Participant
Yes…
If your approach length is 16-20 strides…have a check mark at 4-8 strides from the start. Basically throughout the drive phase of the appraoch. Pick a foot and learn to hit that mark everytime with that foot.
-
Keymaster
Usually early check marks are best for an athlete and mid-point check marks (~10m out from the board) are best for coaches.
As for steering, it’s really only the icing on the cake. You’ve got to make sure you have consistency in mechanics to get to the point where you can make the minor adjustments with visual steering that can change the takeoff foot placement +/- 6-9 inches as needed.
ELITETRACK Founder
-
Participant
Jumped today, 20’6 mark on, 19’5 5 inches behind board, foul by 3-4inches 21+ ft, 20’4 mark on, 20’4 mark on, last jump was bad and tried to over do it way too much. Felt like i was didn’t have enough speed on some jumps, or didn’t have enough height on some jumps. Getting frustrated that i can’t hit 21 ft legally.
Viewing 57 reply threads
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.