The best way to achieve the step

There are many ways to train the step and as I've always said it depends on the athlete biotype, their physical, and especially the quality level. There are three very important things in the triple jump which are very essential to take an athlete from 16m to 17m +. These three things are coordination, sense of rhythm and speed between jumps. Definitely there are other things that are also important to get results, but these three in my view are essential for proper development of the jumpers.

A jumper can often jump up to 16m, despite having difficulty with the rhythm, speed or coordination. (When I talk about speed I'm talking about the speed between jumps) Mostly this is because many athletes use the running speed as the most essential to achieve the distance. From one point of view this is not bad, but the triple jump is a discipline where everything must be in balance.

There are two types of triple jumpers, the speed jumper, and the power jumper. The Power Jumper is physically strong with personal record in the 100m from approximately 10.20 -10.50m/s and typically, they jump from 7.20 - 7.30m in the long jump. These athletes generally use the speed of the approach to power their jump, but the technique between jumps is mostly bad.  The result of poor technique generally brings injuries that in many cases can be serious.

 The Speed ​​Jumper, also uses the speed of the approach and although the technique is not good, they  are able to maintain good speed between jumps and generally almost always reaches  the 16m sooner  than  the  power jumper. One of the good reasons why the speed jumper can better the power jumper at a distance of 16m, is because they are able to keep the body light during jumps.

 Moving from 16m to 17m + is a job where the athlete needs to have a good sense of rhythm, coordination and be prepared to maintain speed between jumps. Many times there are athletes with a very good technique and have almost all the qualities to jump over 17m, but they are still not able to jump over 16.50m. When an athlete is in this situation, he urgently needs to analyze the following;

- The system and training programs,

- Motivation.

- Emotional control.

- Responsiveness (external feedback)

- Analytical (internal feedback)

- Concentration.

- Confidence.

There are also many athletes that don`t rest for the hours necessary to recover his body for the next day's workout. There are athletes who drink alcohol at least three times a week, or even a day, or who go partying before a major competition , thinking that their body is adapted to these stresses to the system, but what they don` t know is, that they are stopping the development of their physical ability and destroying their special talent. Such lifestyle patterns can be a major block to an athlete reaching the distance of the 17m.

I just received a letter from an athlete who trains triple jump on his own. In his letter he told me - “I train very hard with the training program that my coach sent me on-line  also I train with training programs that I find on the Internet and I jumped 16.05m on my own, but after jumping 16.05m, I haven` t been able to make progress and I don`t see any results in my development”.

I want to clarify to all those who have in their hearts to be triple jumpers and want to reach the elite of this discipline- triple jump is a very difficult discipline and therefore a coach by your side is absolutely essential. Please take note that anyone can be a coach but when it comes to carrying an athlete to 17 m + the quality of the coach should be very good and would have to possess a lot of knowledge in this area. Training on your own is a really hard work, and on top of that the athlete on his own cannot see or record the quality or the maximum power of the training.

Mario- thanks for sending me your letter, I really appreciate it. I want to explain to you that training a triple jumper is based on the individual qualities of each jumper. I mean the training program must be specific to develop strength, speed, explosiveness, reaction, coordination and the natural rhythm of each athlete; this can be accomplished only with a good coach by your side. On the internet you can find all the programs that you want about the triple jump. As explained before this is an unnatural discipline and you have to realize that your technique should be almost perfect.  Every program that you find on the Internet is based on the general experience of different coaches or athletic organizations who are trying to expand this discipline via media like the internet. They are also trying to make programs more accessible to those who want to expand their knowledge to a new level. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but when it comes to training for the elite, these on-line programs are not effective enough for the development of an athlete to the next level.

In my life as a professional coach I've noticed that many coaches only recognize the athletes who already have results but they have no idea of the qualities and the talent of the athlete. For example, if an athlete jumps 15.50m for the first time without practising this discipline before and he is 18 years old, for many coaches he's a very talented triple jumper. But they forget the fundamental thing, which led the athlete to be a triple jumper; his movement, strength and natural technique, rhythm etc.

This ignorance means that many athletes in the world can only stay for a short time practising this discipline and have to finish their career with serious injuries only because of the lack of knowledge of the coach. Also I have to say that many big talents with the qualities to be top jumpers didn't reach their goals because of the same problem that I spoke of previously. I have seen very talented jumpers with a very bad technique and when you talk to them, they all have the same answer-“I did not have a good coach when I was young.”

 The new coach of course is looking for results, forgetting that every athlete, no matter the age or sex. has to work on the basis of the triple jump.

My advice to you; if you want to get to the elite level, then you have to try to find a good coach with capacity to lift your qualities and develop your talents as an athlete.  Above all, work on the fundamentals basis of the triple jump. If you don` t have the opportunity to have a good coach at least try to find someone with a little knowledge on that field, able to see your personal qualities ,and who can implement training programs according to your special ability. Please try every three months do a test to see if your program is effective or not. If you do not see progress, you have to sit down with your coach to analyze where the problems are. Remember he is the only one who knows what you do and as such, should be in the position to recognize perfectly the movements of your body.