Mr. Triple Jump

Well, the Championships have finally begun.  The women’s triple jump was typical with only one major surprise.  Alekhina from Russia, who looked like she was rounding into shape in early summer, did not qualify for the finals.  I had picked her to be in the finals and give the other top athletes a good fight.  It will be up to the veterans from Cuba and Russia to sort out the championship now.

Lebedeva and Xie, from China, were the only athletes able to qualify for the finals on their first jump.  I am more impressed by Xie than Lebedeva.  Lebedeva is a veteran with a lot of experience in major championships.  Xie, on the other hand, has done most of her jumping in China.  She is relatively new to the big stage but jumped well with room to spare.

Savigne took a few more jumps but comfortably qualified for the final.  There is always a question of whether it is better to take more or less jumps in the qualifying round.  Taking more jumps allows athletes to get consistent on the runway and perhaps get more relaxed for the finals.  On the other hand, many coaches and athletes like to “get one and done”.  I believe that getting one good jump in and retiring for the day is better for the athlete physically and psychologically.  We will see how the ahletes react in the finals…

Over the years of training and coaching I have picked up a fairly consistent training philosophy.  This philosophy helps me to develop incrimentally difficult programs tailored to specific athletes.  The basis of the program is the testing before, during and after significant training cycles.  Please see the presentation I did for a clinic I did in ’07 that will help you understand my process.  Please see the Prelude to Workouts for High School Athletes

On August 15, 2009 at 11am in Berlin, Germany the World Athletics Championship for the women’s triple jump will begin.  I am excited to see who will preform up to their capability and who will not.   I believe women are fast approaching the a new breakthrough in technique.  I look forward to seeing some especially good jumps from Cuba’s Savigne and Russia’s Alekhina.  Both jumpers have jumped over 15 meters but Savigne has been the most consistent.  Alekhina is rounding into form with a world best 15m14 in late July.

Where are the US competitors in this event?  Sadly, the US triple jumpers have not been able to put up a very good effort yet again…

On the men’s side, once again we will see the top men go head to head in a replay of the Olympic Games.  Evora will once again be in contention for the gold medal.  The Cuban athletes, Bentanzos, Copello and Girat are all within a few centimeters of each other and looking to move ahead of Evora.  Waiting in the wings is the Brit, Idowu figuring to be in the mix if he is healthy.

Once again, the US is not much of a threat in the men’s triple jump.  It is going to be a challenge to make the final if the Americans continue to jump the way they have been jumping lately.

The other day I got a call from a very old friend about his daughter who  is trying to decide which foot to use as her take-off leg.  This has been a discussion for many years.  The two sides are adamant that their version is correct.  On the one side are those athletes and coaches that think a jumper should take off in the triple jump with the same leg that they use in the long jump or high jump (the “jump leg”).  The other side argues that the opposite leg (or “opposing leg”) should be used so that you can save the “jump leg” for the last, or jump, phase.

Let me begin by admitting I am a disciple of the latter view, especially since that is the way I jumped.  However, I am not completely sold on the theory for athletes who are used to jumping the other way.  However, I have changed jumpers so that they start their jump using the “opposing leg” because I felt they would benefit from the change.  With that said I will not make comment, negative or positive about using the jump leg for take off.  I will concentrate on reasons why I believe using the opposing leg for take off is a better use of the skills for triple jump.

First and foremost a triple jumper is told that they are supposed to run off the board as opposed to jumping.  It stands to reason that your opposing leg is a better option because jumping is not contemplated at the board.   To punch hard at the board will typically result in a high arching long jump with the resulting step and jump phases being weak and less effective.  It is much easier to use the opposing leg to run off the board.  Atheltes have significant speed from running down the runway so taking that speed off the board will give the athlete sufficient distance relative to the distance gained from the jump leg.

Clearly, when an athlete gets to the jump phase there is little speed left so an active jump is very important.  If the opposing leg is used in the jump phase it is difficult to gain the appropriate distance to make for an overall lengthy jump.  Using the jump leg will provide the lift-off necessary to carry the athlete a significant distance in the pit.

There is also a physical limitation using the jump leg for take-off in the triple jump (especially for men).  The distance from the board to the end of the runway is 42 feet (12m80).  Several athletes can jump 42 feet in two jumps but have to hold back because they don’t have enough runway to really jump.  That is what made it possible for me to jump further than those athletes, I was able to use my “jump leg” to jump the additional distance needed to jump further than them.

The perfect example is Charlie Simpkins, probably the best “hop-stepper” ever to triple jump.  Charlie could hop-step into the pit but never chose to do it.  If I were Charlie, I would have hop-stepped into the pit…turned and looked at the judge, then demanded that an additional board be inserted 45 feet from the pit so that I could break the world record.  Everytime Charlie started his jump I cringed because I was positive he would beat my world record jump.  Thankfully, Charlie chose to stick with his jump leg on the hop step.

Finally, lets remember that maintaining the speed off the board throughout the jump is what determines the longest jump.  “Jumping” off the board will result in reduction of speed and therefore a reduction in the ultimate distance of the triple jump.

The triple jump is not easy.  In fact it is painful if you don’t do it right.   The triple jump requires a lot of talent and a heap of bravery.  That is one reason I never made a full jump in practice and I never ask my jumpers to do a full jump in practice.  Without the adrenaline of competition your body will take a lot of punishment in the jump.  That is not to say that a short run jump is not appropriate for practice.

Similarly,  how a jumper approaches the jump is critical in the success that they will have in the triple jump.  For example, I have a daughter who was a good triple jumper.  She, however, felt too much pressure to be good because of my history.  No matter how much I wanted her to be her own person it was difficult to separate herself from her father.  On one occasion she was not doing very well in her competition and I saw her start to tighten up because I was there watching.  I thought I should leave to prevent her from the pressure.  On second thought I decided to try something that helped me in the past.  I went to her when she was starting to jump and asked her to smile.  This simple thing helped her relax and allowed her to go 2 feet further than she had jumped to that point in the competition.

My exerperience with my daughter caused me to review my personal experince with attitude toward jumping.  I had the best jumps when I was having fun and enjoying myself.  I realized that attituted could be the boom or bust in the triple jump.

One of the most important parts of triple jumping is learning to jump using a flat foot.  Throughout the jump the athlete must land on a flat foot in each phase of the jump, even the takeoff on the board.  Do not land on the ball of the foot or the heel.  The foot must strike the ground with equal force on the ball and the heel forming a solid base for jumping.

Over the years I have seen young athletes using horrible foot placement and wondering why they can not jump far.  The key is to put yourself in a position to jump far.  If your foot strikes the ground using the heel or ball of the boot before the flat hits then that athlete is essentially slowing down the speed of the jump and therefore taking away the potential to jump far.  Effort should be made to practice using a “flat foot attack” method of jumping.  The object is to accellerate the “flat of the foot” toward the ground to create force that propels the athlete forward and up.  The hips must be above the support leg to absorb the impact and allow the body to push off into the next phase of the jump.

The flat foot is the most basic part of triple jumping and needs to be practiced and mastered before any other technique is contemplated.  An athlete should work on placing the foot flat on the ground, then flat on the sand.   The sand imprint can tell you if you are putting equal amount of force throughout the bottom of the foot and give an indication as to what part of the foot is slow to strike.

Single leg bounding over thirty meters is a good drill to master the flat foot.  Measure 30 meters, have the athlete hop on one leg from the start to the finish.  Watch the foot strike and correct any strike that is not completely flat.  When hopping, be sure that the legs are cycling and the hop leg is accellerating to the ground.

Any young athlete that masters the “flat foot attack” will have the basic skill to maximize their jumping ability.  After mastering this technique other techniques will come much easier.

Recently I heard from a coach who’s athlete has a tendancy to foul often.  He has tried to move her back a foot at a time but she still winds up fouling at the board.  In desparation he contacted “Mr. Triple Jump”.  I have had a lot of experience with this type of problem in the past and have tried many things.  It wasn’t until I was jumping in a World Master’s Championship in Spain that I realized the problem.  It is the problem of foot – eye coordination.

There are many culprits to the problem of fouling.  The most obvious is that the athlete has a depth perception problem.  She or he does not know how far the board actually is in relation to their body so the athlete has a tendency to reach for the board, resulting in a foot foul of about one to 6 inchs (2.5cm to 15cm).  A simple test for this problem is to have your athlete stand on the board with their toes on the edge of the board.  Have the athlete take a step backwards and stand at that spot with both feet lined up together.  Have the athlete look at the board to gauge the distance.  Have the athlete then look straight ahead at the end of the pit and take a step onto the board.  Typically, an athlete with a perception problem will step beyond the board.

If depth perception is not the problem then perhaps the problem is in the running.  Often, after injury, an athlete changes their stride pattern but keeps the same reaction at the board.  That will through the athlete off considerably.  The fix to this problem is to practice changing the timing of the foot strike on the board.  Encourage the athlete to practice putting the foot down sooner.  Also, you can try to have the athlete focus on the penultimate foot strike by placing a piece of tape  on the runway one stride away from the board and have the athlete step on the tape before jumping off the board.  This is a great drill for establishing an active penultimate stride also.

There are several other drills that can help this problem but I will save them for another blog.  I hope this helps!

The triple jump has been my life for the last 36 years.  I have a lot of information and expertise in this event and I would like to share it with others.  I hope that I can build a following and help coaches and athletes learn how to be better triple jumpers.

It is sad when I see coaches teach the wrong skills to our young athletes.  It is worse when I see our elite athletes unable to surpass the the jumps that were barely making the finals 20 years ago!  I think it is crazy for a triple jumper to expect respect and praise if they can’t jump further than the 7th place finisher in the Olympic Trials in 1988 (Ray Kimble, 57′-6 1/4″, 17m53).  If the triple jump is ever going to regain its prowess as a sport in the US it will need some better athletes.

In the world the triple jump has come a long way.  In the past the TJ was owned by the US and Europeans.  Recently, many Caribbean and Central American athletes have started to make great strides in the sport.  I personally like the “new kids” because they are at least trying to bring their personality into the event.  I am tired of watching boring jumpers who don’t understand the event or who just have the audience clap for them and don’t even perform well.  It is embarrassing to watch the clapping that I brought to the event being used by rank “amatuers”.

Hopefully, there will be a revolution in the event that will bring back its glorious past!