The Hop in Triple Jump

The triple jump is a specialty which is divided into the approach, hop, step and the jump; today I want to talk about the hop. When an athlete performs the hop very high, usually the distance at the end of the jump is poor, and the same happens when the hop is very low.  Technically, to make a good hop, the jumper must jump horizontally.

However, it is not only the height of the hop which can impair the distance, there are also other technical elements such as incorrect co-ordination between the arms and legs, not being able to maintaining the pendulum (high knee) and the foot horizontal to the ground, and   most importantly in my opinion, not knowing how to lead the jump to the front.

There are many Coaches who think that when an athlete doesn`t cycle very well, this can affect the jumps completely. Theoretically, this is a problem but in practice, all depends on the coordination and the rhythm of the athlete and how he biomechanically can make the movements. Not all athletes have the same elasticity or the same ability to perform the exercises fluently. However even with this drawback, many can jump 17m +. The reason being that they can keep the speed in the second two phases and this is the most important and at the same time the most difficult thing in the triple jump.

What is the best way to train the hop? Many athletes train the hop combined with the long jump- the goal is to use the “walking on air” technique and land with one foot in the sand pit.  Bounding is also used in order to refine the hop, but it is often forgotten that everything in the triple jump is about balance. As I said earlier if you make the hop too high, usually on the landing you will break down and if you make it very low, you block the  landing. By this I mean you lose the momentum and the transition and this problem causes that the jumper loses the speed between jumps.

Therefore it is very important that an athlete not only works with the bounding or uses the long jump to improve the hop, but also works with plyometric jumps for action and reaction, and for uphill and downhill, together with many special jumping exercises with hurdles for triple jump. Also needed, are plyometric work with boxes in different positions, and especially the work of fiber. Fiber is what gives an athlete the reactive power of the jump, so it is very important that the coach applies exercises for each individual athlete according to their qualities to prevent injury.

If anyone has any questions or queries about the topics I cover in this blog, you are welcome to post them here and I will be happy to respond to them.