High Jump (1960)

[Music] various styles of jumping have been developed over the years of these experience has shown that the straddle or belly roll is the most efficient most great jumpers use the straddle including all of the seven Footers take off is from the inside foot or foot near to the crossbar the Strat La belly roll then is the jump that will be considered in detail the serious jumper must eventually Master this style we will examine the principles of the jump and the techniques used to carry out these principles in this model let the block represent the jumper the X his center of gravity the task is to get the block over the crossbar to accomplish this the block center of gravity must rise hence we lift the block until the x is higher than the crossbar but this is still not enough to clear the crossbar is dislodged now the process is repeated once again the block is raised until its center of gravity is higher than the crossbar this time however the block is turned on its side in this position the block can pass easily over the crossbar hence we see that the high jump has two parts lift of the center of gravity efficiency of clearance all high jump technique stems from these two simple parts we can now clearly understand the basic task of the jumper he must obtain the fullest possible lift and the most efficient clearance he can get of these two goals that of lift is by far the more important 95% of practice practice time will be spent in improving the ability to lift lift is the heart of the jump and the object of full concentration on every single effort with every stride the Jumper's attention is focused on his legs he is preparing for a powerful drive against the ground cadences increased note the length of the takeoff stride this position of power and balance permits the athlete to drive a center of gravity high in the air compare the full takeoff we have seen with this athlete's effort the sharp contrast and takeoff position is striking here the athlete has lost concentration and is attempting to rush at the crossbar even fairly good jumpers sometimes destroy the effectiveness of the takeoff by anticipating the clearance note the premature role port takeoff position has caused him center of gravity height this time the athlete seems more stride conscious he's ready to pay attention to the spring a much improved takeoff position has enabled him to get more power into his lift clearly then an early layout interferes with the ability to lift but there is still another injurious aspect of the lean returning to our model let us tilt the block to simulate the early roll or lay out because the center of gravity is now lower the mass must travel farther to reach the C first the lift then the clearance the two parts are separate and must not be combined now we can see that the main goal is to keep separate the two parts of the jump during his approach the jumper concentrates on the power stroke from the ground as soon as he is even even a thousandth of an inch clear of the ground his center of gravity height is completely determined nothing he can do will alter this height only now is attention turned to the role lift comes chiefly from two sources spring and the conversion of forward motion of these two spring is by far the more important and the Run should never be fast enough to interfere with spring note the lean back in this powerful takeoff position the lean back is made possible by a relaxed upper body only after the athlete feels the lift does he turn his attention to the rooll the lead leg plays a vital part the takeoff foot is just leaving the ground but the lead leg is already higher than the bar this is true of all fine jumpers compare the full swing of the lead leg we have seen with that of this athlete though the takeoff has been made the lead foot is only partway to the crossbar failure to develop a full lead leg swing means loss of power a simple demonstration shows clearly the enormous importance of a full swing of the lead leg the athlete steps on a scale and notes his body weight now notice the results of swinging the lead leg during the first part of the Swing the body is heavier it is lightened during the last part of the Swing again heavier lighter a good leg swing can lighten the mass by at least 50 lbs clearly then the serious jumper must develop a full swing of the lead leg we have delayed our discussion of the Roll because a good roll or clearance depends almost entirely on a good lift the jumper must first give full attention to his preparation for the spring only then does he drop his head and rotate about the crossbar rotation should be continued to the pit note the height to which the head Rises it now drops quickly and the body is rotated the excellent clearance is made possible by a good takeoff the cross bar and body are parallel after first Rising the head will drop close to the bar a rotation of the shoulders will initiate a turning of the entire body in this way the trail leg is rotated clear of the bar there is a dropping of the upper body and a rotation of the entire axis the average jumper has trouble with his roll primarily because he is anxious to enter the perpendicular plane of the bar compare this headlong Rush with a parallel position we have just seen there is no way for this athlete to rotate efficiently hence he cannot clear his Trail leg only a full lift will permit a smooth and relaxed rotation about the crossbar almost any beginner will start with the oldfashioned scissors jump in this style take off is from the outside foot and clearance is in a sitting position the outside foot produces a good lift but the clearance is obviously inefficient yet the early scissors jumping is not wasted it affords excellent takeoff practice the beginner will naturally observe his more experienced teammates but since very few jumpers can demonstrate the straddle style perfectly our candidate must not imitate blindly he must understand what others are trying to do and become aware of their mistakes the candidate is asked to jump from the inside foot his instructions are simply to jump any style will do this time he'll be asked to do essentially the same thing but with one added inst struction he will be asked to lift just as before but at the height of his lift he is to look up at the sky lift then look at the sky this scene is one of great significance in his first straddle try are beginner is performing better than he will for a long time to come the reason is simple but highly important under his instructions he has kept the lift separate from the roll later on as as the crossbar is raised he will tend to mix these two there will be a harmful tendency to blend together the lift and the roll when the bar is low he is still able to lift and then turn his head again a lift and an easy turn of the head as the bar is raised it will act as a magnet and interfere with the Jumper's concentration on a full lift with each New Height the roll tends to be made earlier the bar makes the jumper anxious and he tries to rush by it this anxiety prevents the needed lift there will be a critical height for the beginner at which he'll be too distracted to carry out the essential parts of the jump compare this jump with the earlier ones at lower Heights the athlete was comfortable he was able to lift then roll at this greater height he is anxious to cross the bar working with a check mark often brings a beginner's attention to his legs and takeoff initially four strides are about right striking The Mark with his left foot he tests without making an actual jump as time goes by the number of strides in the approach will be increased everyday's practice must begin with a warmup it is an essential portion of the workout and should never be omitted and of of course running will always be part of the warm-up as will the various limbering up exercises the experienced athlete never regards his warmup as an unimportant preliminary he knows that the warmup does more than prepare him for jumping it is also a necessary part of his conditioning program after a full warmup has been completed attention is turned to the jumping pit a series of jump ups helps to establish the feel of the approach and lift but even more important they are excellent drills for developing the lead leg action the actual jump itself is the heart of the workout almost all great jumpers like to jump and it would be hard to keep them away from the pit the well-conditioned athlete is capable of hard work but for a Saturday's competition Wednesday should be the last day of jumping the wise jumper is eager to get the help of his coach he knows that the coach is in a position to observe where he cannot for his part experience has taught the coach that the events that take place on the ground are the important ones most coaching effort will be directed toward increasing the power of the lift he will constantly suggest ways of improving the balance and effectiveness of the takeoff concentration is needed to carry out the coach's instructions as in most other Athletics weight training has become increasingly important to the high jumper work on the leg pressing machine helps helps develop the strength needed for a powerful Spring High jumpers were once a sheltered group with most other activities for a bidden hurling because of its value for conditioning and because it helps develop agility and timing has found its way into the training routines of many jumpers but nothing is quite so good for jumping as jumping itself the conditioning program and strength building exercises ready the athlete for long periods of jumping the well-trained athlete does not Tire easily instead he is able to jump with Effectiveness and the concentration so necessary on every effort the athlete who works hard and maintains good condition will derive great satisfaction and achievement from this fine and ancient event the running high jump am