By Tom Kaberna

When I am asked to look at any athlete for the long or triple jump the first thing I do is make sure their running mechanics are sound.  The best jumpers typically have very good running mechanics as well.  Improper running mechanics cause a whole myriad of problems in every event on the track and in the jumps. 

The first thing I start every freshman with is how to start.  We utilize a rollover start for the athletes because it is simple and can get the athletes into nice strong angles at the beginning of their run.  We start with the athletes feet staggered about a foot apart from each other.  (Pic 1 Above) 

After their feet are setup properly I ask them to drop their chest to almost parallel with the ground and allow their weight to shift from the back foot to the front.  At the same time their hips will shift forward a little as well as their shin angles.  After their chest falls they will look similar to being in the “set” position in the blocks.  They are then going to push very strongly out of this position to get their body in the proper beginning of acceleration.  (Pic 2 above)

The next 4-6 steps will be focused on pushing very strongly back to get their momentum going and their hips up underneath them.  If you watch your athletes from the side and you are not seeing straight angles with every push then they are either not pushing completely or are too bent over at the waist.  The other thing I look for is to make sure their hips are rising with each step and there is a slight bounce to their run.  If their hips stay at the same height then they will end up sitting when they get up tall as their hips never got up tall. 

The other problem I see with athletes in this stage of their approach is that they have too high heel recovery.  If you look at their feet they should be close to the ground at the beginning so their foot plants underneath them and they can push long enough to cause a gain in speed.  With high heel recovery the foot plants will end up too far behind them and it will not allow a sufficient angle for their body to give a little and then push to continue the acceleration.  The direction of pushing is below.  Notice there should be an upward push even on their first step.  Next post I will talk about the transition into max velocity and the final steps on the runway. (Photo 3 Above )