Amazing news for would-be Olympic athletes- IAAF lowers Jumps Limit for Olympic Entry Level

How many triple jumpers or long jumpers out there are struggling to achieve the limit for the Olympics? Many people think that triple jump is an easy discipline but they have no idea how hard you have to work to achieve each centimeter every year. A few days ago the IAAF made changes to the limits for the Olympics 2016 in Rio for some disciplines and amongst those was the Triple Jump.

I heard some comments on whether such a change could lower the level of the elite jumpers. I respect the opinion of each person, but in my opinion this change will develop and provide better growth to this discipline. When an athlete manages to jump the limit for the Olympics, almost always the results during competition in The Olympics are better.  Also if we want to develop this discipline and put it on a higher plane, this change has come at a perfect time when a couple of months ago the Olympic committee began talking to eliminate the triple jump as Olympic event.

I want to tell to all those triple jumpers in the world, please do not lose hope.  I know there are many of you who have not the possibility to train with all necessary conditions to achieve  your dreams. Also some jumpers have no support from any organization (sponsor) nor even from his own federation.  If you really want to participate as an athlete in the Olympics and believe you have the possibility to be there, then you know the sacrifice that you have to make to achieve it. If you do not have a good coach, look for one that has the knowledge to take you up to 17m+ in a short time.

Remember that to achieve these objectives, you already must be jumping over 16m+, you have to be injury free, you have to be strong mentally, and prepared to achieve your goal. Another  very important thing is that you have to be prepared to put your training as a first priority, and leave aside many of the things  that you normally do weekly, such as party, drink etc. If you believe in yourself, do what you have to do to achieve your goal however difficult  it is, and remember just one jump can change your life.  

If you, as an athlete, do not have the conditions or the possibility of having a good coach, and for some reason you are in London, or are able to travel to London, you can contact me and we can discuss how I can help you with your training. Also if your federation can’t help you, and perhaps they could benefit from my experience and advice, they also can contact me at panicoach@gmail.com

Approach question.

Today someone asked me if it is appropriate to train the approach in the Preparation Stage. If you have programmed into your training program to start the competition season with indoor competitions, of course you have to practice the approach in this period. Here you have to be very careful with the approach distance, speed, control and rhythms.

When we start the competitive season indoor, the athlete never uses the full approach. Depending on what the level and quality of the athlete is at that time, almost always it is recommended that athletes start with the 7 step approach. Why? As I explained before, in the preparation stage the athlete's body is overloaded and to achieve results it is necessary to have a good controlled approach in order to maintain speed and rhythm in balance.

There are many athletes who maintain the full approach indoor as outdoor. If the athlete has to compete in one of the major competitions like the World Championship or the European Indoor Championship, of course the approach should be different. For the first indoor competition, I recommend to my athletes to use the 7 step approaches, as explained before, depending on their level. You can change the distance as well as the speed, according to the competition results of the athlete.

Each coach makes his own decisions, as to whether the athlete needs more distance or not, and also the coach will know clearly when or in which moment the athlete needs to apply it.

How often you should train during the week    III

Triple jumpers or long jumpers have to have a training program well organized for 5 days a week. Many athletes in Europe train only three times a week, and the workouts are only organized for one hour and thirty minutes. If you as an athlete really want to get to the elite level, it is impossible that you will achieve good result with three time’s week training.

The stage of Physical Preparation is very important for the development of the jumper. At this stage the physical trainings are very strong so the importance of designing a training program for five days a week is essential. The jumper at this stage has to begin to strengthen their entire body and also has to work with endurance at the same time. Also, coordination work is very important in this period, during which specific exercises for triple jumps with hurdles must be used. (These exercises with hurdles are also important for the long jumper or high jumper.)

These exercises can be performed in the sand, track or grass and if you have a coach with a lot of knowledge in triple jump, you can also perform these exercises on a hard surface. When the athlete works on the hard surface directly, he is working on an explosiveness and reaction upon each landing and takeoff.

 (Note: Never perform these exercises without the assistance of your coach).

Coordination exercises with hurdles must be very varied for example, 

-      Exercises to improve the coordination between arms and legs,

-      Rotational movement exercise to improve the coordination and balance,

-      Coordination and rhythm exercise, these exercises are to improve the time and space etc.

There are many different types of coordination exercises with hurdles but as I usually say, each exercise should be done according to the quality of the athlete and what the athlete really needs

I want to remind you that this is only an example and not a trainings program that you have to follow.     

A LEGEND 

When we talk about world class triple jumpers, we must speak about Yamila Aldama, who is preparing to represent United Kingdom Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil next year. I personally have great respect for all triple jumpers in the world, but when we are talking about Yamila Aldama we are talking about a true legend in this discipline.

Many athletes in the world, when they reach 32 years of age begin to retire to be active in sports, and especially triple jumpers. Yamila Aldama , at 43 years of age, has been able to maintain her  elite level physical qualities , and her psychological power has turned her  into   one of the greatest jumpers of all time.

Only a triple jumper can describe the work and the constant effort to be made to achieve a centimeter every day. To reach that level, it takes years of hard work, a perfect psychological preparation, and above all a great motivation.  All those who have knowledge of this field are well aware of the number of jumps which an athlete has to do during training each year.

We must not forget that at each jump, the legs have to bear the impact of 8 times the body weight, so you can imagine the physical preparation to be taken to resist this overload at each training and competition.

Yamila Aldama is an example for all jumpers ,both women and men, but also for those who have great talent, and just because they reach 30 years of age they considered themselves veterans and haven`t  the strength to keep fighting because others people considered them too  old.

Yamila Aldana is a living example to follow for all those athletes who still dream of reaching the elite. Remember that having 30 years in this discipline does not mean that you are too old to be in the elite or that you have to stop dreaming to be in the top. It is up to you to decide what you really want and remember; never let other people determine when you should stop training because according to them, you’re too old. Yamila Aldama is a great example for every body and she has become a great legend.

PREPARATION PART  II

Preparation is the road to success- by that I mean that every athlete has to have a good workout plan that is perfectly organized. This will give the opportunity to the athlete to maintain a good monitoring throughout the preparation stage.

The triple jumper, depending on their quality and skill, has to work in several different ways, for example, you have to know how to combine strength and explosiveness, and work in different fields. The exercises begin in the sand, then pass to the grass and finally go to the track. Of course this happens during the preparation stage, not in one day.

As regards power, training must take place not only in the gym with weights, but it is also necessary to train our natural strength without the help of any material medium. For example, jumping drills in the sand, such as continued short and long distances jumps, continuous vertical jumps, horizontal jumps and cross jumps, etc. When we are performing these exercises it is better to divide the workout into two sessions, for example, beach (sand) in the morning session and weights (gym) in the afternoon session. In the sand, we are training the natural power but not explosive strength. The explosive strength you will gain during the training with weights. Remember at this stage, the athlete will feel a very heavy body so sometimes it is difficult for a coach to see the development of the reaction and explosiveness. It is therefore advisable to perform each month, an evaluation test, such as standing explosive jumps to analyze the reaction and explosiveness of the athlete.

 Power also can be combined with the endurance, for example,  exercises  such as 30m horizontal jumps ,followed with  speed drills  in the last 30m uphill,  30m alternate jumps followed by 30m speed or 30m combined jumps followed by 30m etc………

PREPARATION PART  I

For all jumpers, especially for triple jumpers, it is very important to start the stage of the general physical preparation in October. Many athletes begin the physical preparation stage in November, but according to my experience, when an athlete begins the general preparation in November, almost always the end results are not so good. The general preparation is the most important stage for all athletes, so it is the need for a proper preparation program is very important.

What do we have to work on in the first three months?  Endurance, strength and explosiveness.   The explosiveness has to be performed by specific games for jumpers, such as games like volleyball and basketball.  Remember   all the games always have to be programmed so that an athlete is forced to jump. It is also very important that the coach prepare and invents other special games containing active vertical jumps.

For triple jumpers it is very important to work with exercises that strengthen the knees, ankles, pelvis and back. These exercises have to be performed on the sand and in the grass. When the athlete has to work on the grass, the field in this period should be irregular, i.e. uneven.  It is very important to take care with these exercises, because if the athlete is not prepared to work under these conditions the consequences can be dangerous, which can lead to serious injury. If you work under the guidance of a good coach the results will be very good. These exercises in the sand and the grass will strengthen completely the ankles and knees…….

“How to reach the limit for the European Championships or Olympics”

The World Athletics Championships in Beijing China have now ended, but now come two new challenges- The European Championship in Amsterdam and the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. How many athletes could not participate in the World Cup?  For some, it was because they could not reach the limit set for the competition, and for others it was even more painful, as their distance stood a few centimeters away from the qualifying limit imposed by the IAAF.

I really feel the pain of those athletes , and personally I had have lived through very painful experiences with respect to these decisions, but I want to tell all those athletes  that it is never too late and never give up. Only you as an athlete can change this situation and give yourself new plans to address the next two major competitions which are coming up.

Before you begin the preparation, you have to be aware of what it is that you really want, and analyse everything that you have to leave behind in order to achieve these goals. If you think that your conditions will not allow you to achieve your goals, then don't waste your time, as you will only receive another disappointment.

Here I write some ideas of what you can do to achieve those goals

Note: Each coach has to work with the objectives of assessing the problems to improve the athlete.

The first thing to do is, a deep analysis the work done this year, and a review of the training program which led up to the world championships.

-  Here you have to check very well, all technical and tactical factors, from the preparation stage until      the competition

-  Injury or illness that caused the noncompliance of the training program

-  The nutrition and rest

-  The psychological character of the athlete

In the technical and tactical factors, many coaches make the mistake of focussing ,eg  on working to improve the speed, because this was the biggest problem that caused the athlete to  not reach the desired limits. The problem is, that when we focus to improve a technical failure, often without realizing it, we forget other factors which may be harmful to fulfilling 100% the technique. Everything in triple jump has to be balanced from the approach until the final jump.

Imagine a chain with 4 links in a straight line, and visualize the chain in this way;

                      Approach---hop--- step--- jump

If one link is broken (in this case the approach), and you try to stretch the chain, it probably will break .When we repair this link (approach) we have to re-polish the material in order to maintain it`s strength and quality. This process will maintain the strength, stability and quality and that will improve performance (remember that when the technique is good we avoid injuries). This is exactly what happens with   many jumpers, most focus on improving a single technical defect and they begin to lose quality in the other technical aspects and of course this causes a destabilization of the balance which unfortunately ended with poor results. It is highly important to pay attention to all the elements of the technique, and not just focus on one thing.

Injuries and illnesses during training are something that greatly affects the results of an athlete, therefore it is important to have a regular medical check. If an athlete misses training just for one day for whatever reason,  immediately he will start losing centimeters in their preparation. Punctuality in training is very important even when the athlete has an injury. If he  has an injury, for example in the knee or ankle, the coach should organize a special training program for the athlete to keep continuing with their physical activities. Of course if you cannot use your legs, the program should be  dedicated to train the upper body  for example; Core stability, abs etc.

Too often, we see  many jumpers devote most of their efforts to control and improve techniques and   physical fitness, neglecting other key aspects such as rest and food. We have to take into account the physical demands which  elite athletes are subjected to daily ,both in training and competition ,and the potential impact on performance, which could result  in not following a diet according to their energy needs. It is important to note that adequate food will not be enough to win a competition, but with a poor diet, even if there are good preparations, you can lose a sporting event.

I want to clarify that a balanced diet will help the jumper to keep in good health and make the most of their potential physical abilities to get the best results. I also want to clarify that there are no food or miracle diets that allow one to achieve a spectacular result.

If after having analyzed all the factors you discover that everything was achieved 100% and there was no problem that caused such poor results, then you have to deeply analyze the psychological factor. There are many athletes who during training get to jump several times over the 16.60m or 16.70m but at the time of the competition always stay below the 16.20m 16.30m. Here we are in the presence of a mental block that causes the low result in any competition. Although many athletes do not trust a sports psychologist, I recommend that when you are with this performance problem the best thing to do is try to talk to a sport psychologist.

In conversations with different athletes I always hear the same thing, I am 29 or 32 years old with personal record of 16.20 or 16.85m and I have not the support needed to train five days a week and because of my age it is impossible to get a sponsor. Forget the sponsor and forget that you are 33 old, find yourself a good coach and the first thing you have to do is:

- Listen to your coach and of course make sure that he also is able to listen to you

- Trust your coach 100%

- Analyze every detail of the training program, even changes that occur during the weeks

- Be present in each daily training

- Do not try to push your body, wanting to do more than what is programmed, 

- Take seriously every break, programmed by your coach

High Performance and sports psychology in athletes

To achieve good results in sports performance, it is crucial to maximize all available resources I.e. physical, technical and mental. Only then they can pass the limits themselves, expand the capabilities and aspire to be on top of the discipline.

The aim is to forge elite athletes, using special processing techniques, evaluation, diagnosis, training, nutrition, rest, etc.

At high levels of competition differences, marks and performance psychology play a fundamental role and stand out as the key issue in preparing competitive athletes. However in many cases, it’s a shame that many athletes do not have adequate specialists in this field for mental psychological work.

Current high performance requirements demand another level of professionalism to be at the level of the best. Many strategies that work for acceptable performance do not work for high performance and can even be contradictory. Many mechanisms usually used to create confidence in athletes end up being negative. Improving mental performance is a process that requires time and patience. The process allows elaborating the concepts to change old assumptions and beliefs by more advanced and revolutionary premises.

To expect an instant result, is to not understand the workings of the mind in sport. Professional work with the athlete should consider the mental aspect at the beginning of the road. Many athletes seek help with the sports psychologist in a crisis of results; this shows the lack of importance of the mental aspect. The results of the sports psychologist's work can only be seen after several weeks of work.

The results are not direct but in less than a month, if the job is well done  it can reap the first results. The principles of sport psychology are difficult to implement, but the extent to which you can improve the athlete, the higher level of development.

Each coach must have knowledge of sports psychology to generate their own thoughts and apply them with his originality and personal style to his athletes. Many coaches and athletes are successful but that does not necessarily mean they are  clear how they reached this success. Looking at the World Athletics Championships in China recently, many athletes arrived with a good personal record and were favorites for the tournament , but many of them never reached the final. This explains how essential   is psychological work with the athlete. If an athlete is well prepared physically, and has had good results throughout the season, but at the time of the great competition does not get the expected results, obviously there is a lack of mental preparation along the way to competition. It should be noted that many athletes do not believe in sports psychology and believe that with hard training can create a strong mentality. They forget that if the brain is not sufficiently prepared for action, his body never receives the message expected to achieve great results.

Although I have spoken about this subject many times, it seems that some people still don't quite understand how to divided a training program en sessions.

High jump, pole vault, long and triple jump

Each of the four Olympic jumps, high, pole, long and triple jump, have specific aspects but  also have differences, which would be necessary to analyze in a more detailed study of the subject. In this case it is much more instructive to consider them interchangeably.

Let's start by saying that the work of the jumpers is not the same all year long. Looking to the requirements of the current sports training as principles of progressivity, specificity, alternation, etc, we can consider it divided into three periods which match somewhat with the season’s weather ,as follows;

Period 1- Winter. - Generic preparation or General preparation, (November-February).

Period 2- Spring period. - Or specific preparedness and fitness or Pre-competition period (March to May).

Period 3- Summer period - Or competition and maintenance of the shape (June-October).

Note: It should be clear that when we are talking about professional athletes or elite athletes these phases  become four periods. The fourth period, I personally called (transition period) this is a small period of two months (September and October). After breaks the athletes have to do a preparation to enter in to the winter period (or general preparation).  

This period many athletes consider it the strongest period of the year. I work with this period only depending on the quality and results of the athlete during the year.

The work is not strictly the same in each of these phases having a logically phased transition from season to season

OUTLINE OF TRAINING PURPOSES:

In short, all the annual preparation of the jumpers is focuses on the acquisition and increase of the general condition (physiological improvement) and specific power, technique and speed, loading more emphasis on one aspect or another depending on the time of preparation.

DEVELOPMENT OF GENERAL CONDITIONS

1. - The race in all its forms: interval training; followed by cross forest, beach or park; "Fartlek" or "cross entertainment" using the natural terrain obstacles for sandwich spontaneous series of jumps and exercises.
2. - The practice of sports association, including volleyball and basketball, thereby forcing the athlete to jump almost constantly.
3. - The "circuit training", I.e.the strengthening of bodybuilding system. The next distribution of exercises and repetition brings the at the same time improvements of the overall organic strength.

WINTER PHASE

Its no exaggeration to say that this period represents the fundamental part of the preparation of every athlete and therefore,  can be considered as sub-divided into two parts:

First sub period or start (October to December).

Characteristics:

1. General Condition: Increased numbers of fractional sessions, cross race or "fartlek" circuits and association games, it seeks primarily organic progressive improvement after the short period of inactivity.

2. Empowerment: Beginning of the generic preparation with progressively increasing loads and  a few specific preparation exercises, (no technical or sprint).

Second sub period, or proper winter preparation. (January February)

Characteristics:

1. - General Condition: Continuing races and games.
2. - Empowerment: Maximum intensity of generic and progressive exercises

Note; when we are talking about professional athletes in this period there has to be a special change in the programme.Remember that athletes are beginning the indoor competitions in December and I as a professional coach particularly use these competitions to measure the athlete's development during the period. Of course everything depends on the training program and the competitions scheduled for next year. If the World Cup is scheduled in the program as part of the most  important competitions of the year, the general Terms and empowerment have to be different.

SPRING PHASE

As I said, this pre-competitive phase is the most technical, stylistic and physical.

Characteristics:

- General Conditions: First games,  and then cross sessions, gradually decreasing .

- Empowerment: Reduced in intensity, to improve an explosive performance and quality.

- Technical: . Assimilation of the special jumps exercises.  Complete jumps with full approach which will progressively increase.

- Sprint: 100-120-150 Series 75-80% speed, 50-60-80 Series 90%, on track or grass.

SUMMER PHASE

During this period, are the competitions themselves who determine the distribution of training throughout the week.

15 MONTHS FOR THE OLYMPICS IN RIO BRAZIL

During my workshop, some of the athletes asked me about what kind of training program a triple jumper must have in preparation for The Olympics. A professional athlete has to have a training program for a term of four years in preparation for the Olympics, and if he has a good coach, the coach has to be prepared to do that.  It is crazy that most of them want to start training for the Olympics only one year before they start of the games. 

Here I want to write about a numbers of factors which any coach can use to make a training program for any athlete, bearing in mind that a good training program has to be made for each athlete according his quality and ability.

When we analyze the specific needs for triple jump we have to take into account a number of factors:

- Analysis of the movement and gesture of the triple jump, knowing the movement patterns needed for the triple jumper, and the involvement of different muscles and muscle groups. With this analysis we can define what type of training will raise and work with muscle groups.

- Analysis of the relationship between strength, power and muscular endurance. The results of this analysis are indicative of the base from a physiological point of view and fitness.

- Analysis of the history of injuries and diseases.

Along with the needs analysis we must make an assessment of the training status of the athlete and his physical level, with the aim of collecting the data necessary to know "where we started." Points to evaluate are:

- Experience in training, analysis of coordination, rhythm, speed jumps and speed, to assess the important technical jumps knowledge and experience in conducting exercises and ability to execute. 

- The duration of Pre-Training, the sports history and quality, and the level of intensity and development.

- The existence of "cross training", that is, if you perform other physical activities (both sports and everyday life), and the possible of positive or negative synergy.

This analysis is completed by the application of physical tests, to objectively know through reliable data that allows us to propose a training program with a solid foundation. These data will assess the development of training and compliance goals through training methods that can set objectives over a long period of time.

 Triple jump is a hard discipline; therefore the athlete has to train at least 5 days a week, but rest plays a very important part. If you are an athlete with a good technique, the training level will be easier, so you train more for quality than quantity. i.e. you can train 4 days a week with 2 days’ rest, but this also depends of the quality of the athlete.

A coach with experience and triple jump knowledge is the only person capable to make that kind of training for you, but when you have to reach the 17m+, your coach has to have a lot of experience, knowledge and be an improviser in the field, able to recognize any error committed by an athlete during training or competition.   

     

CUBANS JUMPERS ARE STILL FLYING..

Pedro Pablo Pichardo’s whirlwind start to 2015 continued when he improved his Cuban triple jump record to a world-leading 18.08m at the Copa Cuba-Memorial Barrientos meeting in Havana on Thursday evening (28).

The 21-year-old Pichardo, the 2012 world junior champion and 2013 world silver medallist, has now improved the national record at three successive meetings in 2015.

He jumped 17.94m in Havana on 8 May and then broke through the 18-metre barrier with 18.06m to win at the first IAAF Diamond League meeting of the season in Doha on 15 May.

He has now gone two centimetres farther to consolidate his place as the third-best triple jumper of all time, behind only Great Britain’s world record-holder Jonathan Edwards and the USA’s Kenny Harrison.

His big jump in Havana came in the second round after he had opened with 17.93m. He passed his remaining four attempts.

"I did not expect this result because since my return (from Doha) I have been working on technical improvements, focusing on my run up and take off, but I still felt great,” he told local reporters.

Another amazing result by a Cuban trained Triple Jumper-where does the success of the Cuban jumpers comes from?

Cuba has the best training system in the world- even the IAAF claim that Cuba has the best jumps school in the world. These results are not only from hard training, but also from a combination of a great relationship of trust between athletes and coaches.

When an athlete has good results, everybody puts all the attention to the athlete and nobody talks about who is the coach behind all that work.  Journalists and commentators just mention sometime his name, but nobody knows what a coach has to go to through to bring an athlete to the top.   

To be an elite coach in Cuba is not easy, and sometime politics play an important part in this matter. This can make it difficult for many new coaches to reach the elite position, but it does not mean that they are inferior coaches-as I’ve mentioned before, to qualify as a coach in Cuba, you have to study for at least a 5 year degree in Sport Science, making even the minimum standards very high compared with many other countries.  Cuba has project work in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, sending many coaches abroad to do exchange work with different countries.  Among them are the jumps Coaches who, for the last 15 years, have done amazing jobs with many different athletes.

What few people know about, is the conditions in which the Cubans coaches have to work to achieve these results. For example, I have traveled all over the world and I have been in different places with really nice facilities, indoor and outdoor. Cuba as a tropical country, fortunately does not need an indoor track, but although they have a nice athletics stadium, the conditions can  never compare with an athletics track in Europe, in terms of the sophistication and range of equipment available.

For example, the weight room is very limited, and the equipment is really old, but the knowledge of the Cuban coaches, and their ability to improvise, is so developed, that although it is difficult to work under these conditions, nothing will stop them achieving their objectives. Cuban coaches are highly qualified and have a brilliant knowledge of athletics and their specialties, and therefore are recognized   as among the best coaches in the world.

My observations of common problems of trainee athletes. Part 2 Speed during The approach.

In one of my recent workshops I was focusing on the approach and the speed for Long jump and Triple jump. I saw many problems with the approach, but I want to mention the problem which was the most significant to me. If you are an athlete with a personal record of 6.60/6.80m in Long jump, it is not possible to have an approach of 45m long. Everybody thinks that the longer the approach, the better they will jump, but if you have to have a 45m long approach to jump over 6m, imagine how long you have to run when you have to jump over 7.80m. For this reason, it is really important to work hard at running techniques in combination with speed, together with the most important work of speed control. 

The other problem is, there is a big lack of technique coordination and rhythm. The athletes don’t know anything about drills exercises for coordination and rhythm, and this results in  bad coordination between the arm and leg movement.

Another problem is that they can`t lift the knees high, and the worst things is that they let the hips drop down during the approach, something which also often happens with triple jumpers. When you let your hips drop down during the approach, you have to make more effort to achieve the height and distance, and so the end result is always poor. 

Now, about speed in  Triple jump-  I have to say that I can`t remember how many time I heard it said in Europe that the best triple jumpers have to run between 10.05/10.80ms in 100 meters. Of course speed is very important, there is no doubt about that, but an athlete can run 10.00m/sec in 100m and may still not be able to reach even 15.00m in triple jump.

Why? Everything  in triple jump is balance- a good approach is essential, and of course you have to run fast, but the issue is  how do you build  speed during the approach? For example; if you have a 35m approach, you know that the last 15m before the board, you have to be at your max speed. This   means that the first 6m you have to start to drive and build your approach (you can drive from 6 or 7 steps etc according to your quality).  You then have 14m to increase the acceleration to reach the max speed in the last 15m, to be capable to run to the board with maximum explosiveness.

 

A fast approach is not everything for a good jump. but a combination of control and balance are essential. One of most important things is to try maintaining the speed between the jumps- for example, I know athletes that with a (7) step approach, are able to reach 17m. Why? Because they are able to keep the speed during the jumps, and they work really good with time and space.

To my surprise, during both of my recent workshops, I sow triple jumps athletes who are unable to do bounding properly, do single leg hops, a combination of jumps as hop-hop-step jumps, or quintuple. There neither seems to be any knowledge about specific hurdles exercises or plyometric exercises for Triple jump. 

All of the above elements are fundamental to the technique of Triple Jump, and without this knowledge, I’m not surprised that little significant progress is being made.  In training my athletes, as a coach I try to correct as much as possible any technique issues of each athlete, and know that this will result in more productive training sessions, better results, and better athletes. However, it does seem to me that there is big lack of knowledge about this discipline in some coaches, and that this is the main reason for the poor results of this discipline.   

My observations of common problems of trainee athletes. Part 1 The Warm Up

A Long time ago I wrote about the importance of the warm up for the jumper, but I would like talk again about this theme, because what I see is that there is a great lack of information about this very important part of training.  I get so frustrated when I see athletes running only two laps on the track, and without any warm up they immediately start training.

This week during my first workshop, I was watching what the athletes were doing as a warm up ,and to my surprise ,everybody just ran 2 or 3 laps on the track and they were ready to start training. My first question was, “for how long have you trained in athletics?”  The answer also surprised me-  all of them had  trained in athletics for more than 5 years.  My second question was-“ what kind of warm up do you do?” Another surprise- they said “just running and immediately we start training.”

I want to explain something to everybody- the warm up is crucial as it prevents injuries and prepares the body for any practice of sports and also prepare the athlete physiologically and psychologically.

The Aim of the Warmup is to:

-          Prepare the body to effect an intense physically activity (the body adapts to the stress gradually) and psychologically.

-          Facilitate the stimulation of the nervous system and activation of the vegetative functions (cardio-respiratory).

-         Avoid or reduce the possibility of muscle or joint injuries due to increased body temperature.

I know that here in the UK athletes train for only one hour and in that time they have to do everything but the coaches have to teach the athletes the extreme important of warm up and let them know that this is fundamentally important before starting any physical activity.  The coach is the only person who has the responsibility to stress the extreme importance of these issues.

If you are a jumper (long jump-Triple jump- High jump etc), no matter  in which level you train, and  even if you have only one hour to do your program, a sufficient  warm up must  be included as  one of the most important parts of the training program. 

 Example of how to make a general warm up, divided into 4 stages, as follow. It is important that the stages are done strictly in the same sequence as below:

1.      Joint mobility: This is to put in motion the major joints that we will use in the subsequent activity (especially if we are in the early hours of the morning).

2.      Exercises to increase muscle temperature and increase the number of keystrokes: these are intended to increase the pulse so that more blood comes to the muscle, and to increase the temperature ,enhancing the subsequent stretching exercises

3.       Stretching exercises: These will be made at this stage, not at the beginning of warm up, because we have now increased the internal temperature and therefore are in a position to have stretched without risking injury.

4.      General Exercise: these exercises are intended to equate the heart pulsations at an approximate rhythm activity. In order to get this progression there will be a change of rhythm, direction, skipping and all those exercises of the second stage, done with a higher intensity.

I want to remind you that this is only a general warm up. Each individual athlete should analyse with their coach which types of exercises are best suited to your needs.

   

Fault diagnosis and correction in jumps technique

As previously written, I am currently organizing a series of workshops here in London in July and August, aimed at providing my specialist advice and training on Long Jump/ Triple Jump technique to developing athletes who are struggling to make improvements in their performance.

I have worked as a professional coach internationally for the past 25 years, and have spent the last 4 years here in the UK. I have had many young athletes contact me for private 1-1 coaching, as they know that they have excellent potential, but are failing to make progress in their performance. I always begin my training with an analysis of the athlete’s technique, and I'm finding that I am coming up against the same types of problems again and again, problems which are quite simply linked to a lack of an understanding of the very basis of Jumps Technique, and without a correct basis, the athlete can train as they like at running and jumping, but no progress will be made.

 After a diagnosis session, I spend the next session giving advice as to what the athlete is doing wrong in their technique, and go on to advise the corrections that I recommend. Usually they are completely astonished at how much they need to learn and correct, and are equally delighted with the improvements they make, once the corrections are implemented in further training with me.

Here in my blog, I would like to write over the coming weeks about some of the problem areas I am coming up against in working with UK athletes, and will offer some advice as to how these problems might be corrected. Hopefully this will offer insights and advice to aspiring athletes who may not have access to specialist training, but of course nothing beats having face – to – face coaching, and anyone interested in 1-1 or group coaching here in London, can contact me directly at panicoach@gmail.com.

I am also available to travel to coach internationally, and if you are interested in this please contact me with your details.

For further information about me, my background and my work, including testimonials form athletes I have trained, please visit my website on www.osoriocoaching.co.uk. 

New Additional Dates Long Jump and Triple jump Workshops, July 2015.

I've had a great response to my last post re my planned August Jumps Workshop in London, so much so that I am adding more workshop dates in July, to meet requests for earlier summer dates.

At the moment, the planned dates are …Sat 4th July, Sat 11th July, and Sat 18th July.

Price: £45 for 3 hours.

The focus will be on specific areas of technique such as drills to improve the hop and step in Triple jumps, and drills to perfect the attack of the board and improve maintenance of body orientation during the flight phase of the long jump. 

  

If you are interested in taking part in any of these training workshops, please e mail me at panicoach@gmail.com , with your details.

Planned Long Jump/ Triple Jump Technique Workshop, London, August 2015

I have been working in many different training programs for the development of Long jump & Triple Jump. In my 24 years’ experience working worldwide, I learned a lot of different techniques to train athletes, and how to bring an athlete to the top.  I know the Cuban technique is good, but I have to say that although they are really good, when they come to the real competitions, like the World Championships or Olympics, Cuban Athletes don`t achieve the results that they are supposed to achieve.  They are different reasons for these results, but this is something I will talk about on another occasion.

Cuba is the only country in the world which has at least 10 triple jumpers over the 17m, so the training quality is high. The Cubans work really hard at power, technique, reaction, distance, coordination and the most important, rhythm. Rhythm is the most important thing for all triple jumpers, when you lose it, it will takes time to get  back again to your level.

The Americans work hard on power and speed, and the majority of the athletes are power jumpers. Power jumpers have pros and cons.  Pros- if you are a strong athlete and can keep the speed between the jumps, just with a little bit of balance you can achieve a good distance. Cons-because the technique is bad, the jumper start to get injury problems and this results in reducing the average life of the athlete to as little as 4 years as a triple jumper, instead of the expected 10 years  as a professional. I have to recognize, however, that mentally the American jumpers are the strongest athletes in the world.

Europe has different styles and techniques and I can recognize just by seeing an athlete jump, which country he comes from. European athletes work hard with speed, leg power, technique and rhythm, but the majority of the European countries don`t work on the basis of  triple jump. They work really well with the plyometric exercises, but I don`t see any coach combine special circuit weight for Long and Triple jump in combination with plyometrics and then speed. Also they don`t work with special hurdle exercises to improve body position, reaction and distance.

Neither do I see any work on what I call fiber exercise. Fiber exercises are special triple jump exercises to improve the reaction on the ground. Also I don`t see  any long jump or triple jump drill on the sand, special exercises uphill, downhill in combination with speed drills etc.
 
I think that we have a lot of long/triple jump talent in Europe and America, and we can do more to develop this discipline. At the same time, it’s up to athlete to take the first step and take this discipline seriously.

With this in mind, I am planning to organize a series afternoon training workshops for athletes who are interested in improving their technique.

This will be a special opportunity to benefit from my extensive professional experience coaching internationally over the past 23 years. The workshop is open to both UK athletes, and athletes from abroad who may want to combine the workshop with a trip to London. ( 1-1 coaching can also be available –contact me for more details and pricing)

The first workshop will focus on a special hurdle exercise designed to improve body position, technique and rhythm for long and triple jump, and is aimed at both male and female athletes.

The venue will be Battersea Park Athletics Track in London, the date options are the afternoon of Sat 8th, or Sat 15th August, 1-5pm and the price is £45 for 4 hours tuition.

If you would like to register for the workshop, please send me an email to panicoach@gmail.com   with your details.
                       

Part II Body Position by panih20