Why do we have so many injuries with triple jump?

Triple jump is a really hard discipline, and as with all another sport injuries it is inevitable but at the same time avoidable. I have travelled all over the world and it still surprises me how coaches select and train an athlete specifically for triple jump.

For me it is difficult to believe that coaches will continue to use the same training technique over a number of years with the same athlete, when it’s clear that the athlete is not making any progress, and something obviously has to be changed in their training programme. There is often a lack of knowledge about training systems and a lack of ability to improvise while working with individual athletes.

To avoid injuries and keep an athlete healthier, the first thing you have to do is work really well  specifically  on the base of triple jump.

 I know that for an athlete of 13 or 14 years, because his bone density is not sufficiently developed, it is dangerous to work with e.g. plyometric training of hard impact, and also excessive jumps over long distances can cause them severe injuries. This doesn’t mean, however, that you have to avoid working with plyometrics exercises with young athletes- the difference is that the exercises have to be made for each individual athlete according to their talent.  

Before you start to work with plyometrics exercises it is important first to develop his coordination, sense of rhythm, sense of time and space and run technique. All of this, the athlete has to develop during the special base for triple jump. If an athlete brings with him a good technique from the beginning, the chance to avoid an injury is greatly improved.

If you, as a coach want to take an athlete to the elite without injuries, it is very important to keep polishing the technique in all its stages, only in this way can you have the results that you want.    

I’d like to address the question of why it is so difficult to improve the distance in Triple Jump?

Everybody talks about Triple jump as the hardest discipline in Athletics. Why? - Because you have to jumps 3 times in a row and it makes this discipline unnatural.  

Research has shown that, at the landing between the hop and step phases, the force exerted by the athlete on the ground can be up to 22 times their body weight: imagine an athlete of 80kg briefly weighing 1.7 tons, and having to stand on one leg.

This is the highest measured force that a human limb is exposed to during any intentional activity.

For this reason, triple jumpers have stronger bones than normal people; in fact, their thigh and shin bones become thicker and denser in order to withstand the huge forces that they must undergo during the event.

In addition to being incredibly strong, triple jumpers must also be very fast; the fastest athletes in the men's and women's events will hit the takeoff board at around 10.5 and 9.5 metres per second respectively. The problem with the speed is that the athletes have to have  perfect coordination and control to accomplish a good jump.

We are strong, we have speed, coordination and rhythm and still we cannot jump far- what is going on? To develop an athlete, the coach needs to have patience and specific knowledge about triple jump. Being fast and strong doesn’t mean that you will jump far- the athlete needs to work hard and try improve their technique every day.

For example; most men have adopted 'double arm shift' to propel themselves farther, but to achieve good results using the double arm shift, the correct body position is extremely important,  something that athletes have to improve on every day during training, in order to maintain balance and fluidity.

What I am  trying  to say is that each element in Triple jump has to be in balance with the others; Regardless of  how strong or fast you are, if you are not capable of maintaining this balance, it is going to be difficult for you to achieve your goal.         

TRANSITION BETWEEN THE JUMPS.

I as said before, I have received many emails with the question about the transition between the jumps, especially the transition from the hop in to the step. I have to say that almost 80% of triple jumpers have problem with that. For example, if you look at the American Triple jumper, the hop distance is +- between (6,50m - 6.70m) but the step distance is (+- 5.00m or 5.50m) and the final jump is almost (7 or 7m +)  - this one is the powerful jump. If you look at the Cuban jump between the hop and the step, their jump almost every time is 12m, i.e.  6m hop and 6m step, but the final jump is between (+- 5.00 or 5.50m).

I want to clarify that I take those countries as example because they are the most consistent for the last 10 years.  

I know that many coaches train athletes to make every jump equally, but according to my experience when you train in this way, the chance to achieve your gold is not realistic. There are many exercises’ to improve that problem, and of course it won`t be easy but as I said before each centimetre in Triple jump takes time and perseverance.

The problem with transition is that a lot of jumpers, especially young jumpers, make the hop too high instead of  jumping horizontally, so when they land to make the transition to the step, most of the time they breakdown and they start to lose  speed, and this causes the step falls short.  As a result, to end the final jump, they have to pass the 7m long jump to be able to make a jump between 15 or 16m, for men and between 12 or 13m for women. (Of course women don`t need to jump 7m)   

           

If an athlete has a transition problem especially from the hop to the step, the first thing that you have to do is work with coordination and rhythm exercises. The second is work with speed exercises to maintain the speed between the jumps. Third, work with plyometric exercises to improve the reaction time on the ground, and also work with exercises to improve time and space between the jumps. There is one more thing- The Approach. I've heard of many, even professional jumpers, that they only train with short approach even before the competition period ,and they use full approach just in competitions. Every coach has a different opinion about that ,and also respects that, but my opinion is that this is completely wrong.

When you train with short approach, of course it is easy to manage the exercises with control ,but the problem is when you want to jump over 14 or 15m women or 16.90 or 17.30m men, you will need a full competition approach. I know that everybody trains with short approach to improve technique, but you have to train regularly the full approach to be prepared for major competitions.

A lot of people asked me to put exercises in my blog to be able to use in training's. I want to clarify that each exercise is done for each individual athlete. There are athletes who are able to develop their technique with simple exercises. In the meantime if you use those same exercises with another athlete, many times instead of improving what it does with the athlete is to decrease the technique. By this I mean that if you have a good coach, he will always go to find the solution through the invention of new exercises to improve your development. If you as an athlete train with a coach for more than three years and you do not see any kind of improvement in your techniques and results, the first thing you have to do is talk to your coach and together make a deep analysis about the training program and what can be done to improve the situation.

I do not recommend to athletes to change coaches, as in triple jump that can bring bad consequences, but if after having analysed with your coach the problems, and  the problems are still there I think, it is better that you look for a new coach who has a lot of experience and knowledge of triple jump.

  

REFLECTIONS

 I was watching the different Athletics National Trials in different countries, and it surprised me that the qualities of the techniques of the triple jumpers are really poor. I know that out there, there are so many good coaches that they work really hard to have results, but I still think that we are more focused on having results too quickly, and we forget that in this discipline, the athlete needs time to prepare for any competition.

I am speaking here for the two groups both men and women.

I still see athletes with a fast approach, and they attack the board really well, but the transition to the step is poor, so when they have to make the final jump, they don`t make a good distance. Also they have no rhythm, and without the rhythm it is impossible to have time and space between the jumps. When you have time and space, that means that the reaction on the ground is good, and if your technique is good you have to be available to jump well. 

  

Another thing, if you are a young talented athlete, and according to you, you train really hard, it is not possible that you for three consecutive years still jump the same distance or less. In Triple jump you have to train hard to achieve any centimeter but it does not mean that you cannot improve your PB every year. Professional athletes try to stay consistent, when the jump over 17m it’s just a matter of keeping the rhythm to improve the distance.   If you are a young athlete and you still jump the same distance for 2 or 3 years, you need to talk with your coach and try to find out what is the problem.

If you as a young athlete want to be a professional athlete, the first thing that you have to do is work to improve your technique, be patient and be smart. 

A good technique gives you the ability and agility to improve your jumps and the ability to avoid injury. It also gives you the power to practice for longer in this discipline ,and helps to keep you in good  health.

In the next Blog entry, in response to so many people asking me about the subject, I will be discussing the transition between hop and step.

     

CLEAN YEAR

2016 was a really bad year for athletics.  The doping scandal brought much damage to our sport with bad consequences for many athletes.  As a coach I feel really sorry for those athletes that did not have anything to do with it, but have had to suffer because of politician reasons.

I hope that this year of 2017 we can have a good beginning and a clean year for athletics, and that all athletes will be available to compete without any problem. I wish to all jumpers all the best for this year, and also I wish that you can complete your goals and the achievement that you all wish for.

Happy New Year Jumpers!        

The Fundamental Preparation Phase of Triple and Long Jump.

How do you improve your jump by 1 centimeter every year? I know it's difficult to achieve this goal, but it is possible, and I can prove that.  Everything is a matter of discipline, patience and perseverance, the only problem is, no matter how much talent you have, if you as an athlete have never worked on the fundamental basis of triple jump, it will be very difficult to achieve good results.

What is the fundamental basis of Triple jump?  It is the foundation that gives us a sense of rhythm, coordination, speed control, the sense of reaction on the ground at the moment of takeoff and landing, and the power to recognize the time and space between jumps.

The importance of this technique is such, that the athlete always has to work with it jump throughout the whole year -even an athlete who is only beginning to specialize in triple jump, or a professional athlete. When a coach is able to make a good training program and emphasize this type of foundation in all its training phases, work with the athlete will be easier and of an even higher quality. You will also be able to have a better observation of the athlete’s development.

The beginning of the Basis of General Physical Preparation normally start in October, but many countries have different systems of  working  with it; for example some countries  begin in October  and others begin in November. For me the perfect month to start is in October, as indoor competitions begin in December, and it is the perfect time to develop speed and the technique, even when the athlete is overloaded.  

 Many athletes just focuses on indoor competitions and at the same time they want to have better results outdoor. This way is not a problem in itself, but many coaches, without thinking of the consequences, change the training system and they focus only on getting better results in indoor competitions and then forget the consequences that this can bring for the athlete later.  What they are doing is lowering the intensity in the phase of preparation. This means that they have to increase the intensity of workouts after indoor competitions, with the result that the athlete stays overloaded for outdoor competitions, and you don`t need to be  to be a specialist  to see that the consequences will be poor results .

Working on the basis of preparation and improvement of the triple jump or long jump,   is something that you as a coach can never underestimate.  

Also, working with this fundamental stage of development of triple jump , will give the advantage to the athlete of  developing each year, and of course increasing his distance by 1 centimeter every year.

PATIENCE

How many athletes were disappointed this year, some because they couldn’t make it to the Olympics and others because they couldn`t fulfil the results that they wanted at various competitions, or even in the Olympics. I know exactly how they feel ,and the pain that this causes in each of us.  In sport, if you want to have results, you have to work really hard, and almost every time you have to pass beyond the limit.

Sometimes it is really difficult to talk about hard training because many people have different opinion about this theme.  For example, a young athlete thinks that because he is young must train really hard to get to the top level (here I am talking about athletes between 15 and 25 year old). Adult or Pro- athletes  think that because they are more mature they have to train less to avoid injury.

To keep the body strong and healthy of course every athlete has to train hard, but the most important thing is to train smart. Please note  hard training is not the only  way to get results-it is the combination of good training programs which are  especially  based  on working to  develop  the base of the athlete and the psychological preparation of athletes for training or competition at any level.

PATIENCE is a word that you hardly hear among coaches and pro-athletes anymore. Everybody wants to have results now, and so often this means exchanging the idea of patience for training hard instead.  Everybody has to have patience to have results. If you as a coach know the amount of time an athlete has to train to jump every centimeter each year, then you must understand the meaning of patience, and pass on this understanding to your athlete. If you as a coach have all your programs well-prepared for sure, with patience, you will get results.