Some of the conversation on the double arm talk thread stirs this post.
We live in a world where it is easy to be horizontal in nature, we see this all the time with younger jumpers, they often struggle in creating vertical impulse.
The triple jump is obviously a very horizontal event and we coach it as such. A trip to Tigerland this fall has re-thought for me the way that I have cued and am teaching the triple jump. What is often missed about triple jump is the necessity for there to be a vertical component to the pushes that we have, especially in our bounding activities. What I am finding is that when I cue the bounding and short jump activities to feel more vertical first and then add a horizontal component, elastic responses are much more optimized, the jump itself feels slower and more in control, and greater forces are able to be generated with the swinging segments.
All this from a man much smarter than I, but has been very helpful for me in getting better results.
