Rest--Very Important for Triple jumpers.

The training of a triple jumper is considered as the most rigorous in athletics. If we look at this discipline, the fact that the impact on the jumper’s legs is 8 times his body weight, we can determine level of training that a triple jumper has to undergo.

If an athlete with good technique is undergoing a crisis in training, almost always the reason for this crisis is because the athlete has not given the physical progress time enough to settle. Hard workouts weaken the body but rest allows the body to repair itself, becoming stronger than before.

I want to clarify that in my experience the rest of a triple jumper is not only the stopping of training, or not doing anything for a couple of days. Staying active like running for 30 or 45 minutes in an easy way --ice baths (cryotherapy) or employ restorative practices, Including massage or even yoga is one of the most effective ways to achieve full recovery and improve performance. As recovery is a fundamental basis for all athletes, they have to learn the importance of this type of Sports Break.

I want to clarify that not all athletes react in a positive way to the break, therefore is it so important to make an effective planning break for each jumper. The recovery is the most important in the improvement of performance, and periods spent in  recovery, will allow you to maintain that very difficult balance to  between rigorous training and rest, and to feel in the best conditions and compete at your best.

Many sports scientists have formed a theory about rest which generalizes to almost all athletes from different sports. But when we talk about Triple Jump, rest is almost unmatched with any of the other disciplines of athletics or other sports in general. Thus, warm up, adequate hydration and eating well, are all needed in the rest period so that the body recovers well and assimilate the training sessions. Good quality sleep is also necessary in order for the body to recover and assimilate good training sessions. For a full recovery, the athlete is required to sleep at least 8 hours, although elite athletes require at least 10 hours of sleep daily.

 Although the recovery period means taking a break from the sport, a well-prepared and fit athlete will not lose his condition if he takes some rest without training. In fact an athlete who is good and does no physical activity may end up losing 5% to 10% of his physical form, but this is something   he can easily recover. 

I am looking for one or two athletes:

It has been a while since my last comment in my blog-I’ve been busy with some research on a training program for jumpers, especially for long jump and triple jumper. In connection with this, I am now looking for one or two athletes (male or female) who are willing to train with me for three months in London. The location is at Battersea Park Athletic Track

You have to be able to train Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday in the morning session from 10am to 12.30pm.

I want to clarify that the athlete who is prepared to share these three months with me has to be punctual, responsible and willing to get to the top level. You don` t have to pay me, but will have to pay your own entry fee into the track, which is 3 pound per day,  and if you come from abroad, you  will have to be able to arrange your own  accommodation in London.

This is a good opportunity for athletes to improve your technique in either Triple Jump or Long Jump, under expert tuition. Any interested athletes can contact me by e mail at

panicoach@gmail.com.

                               “Benefits of Weightlifting for jumpers”  

The performance of the jumper is based on the need to develop power, which is the product of force and velocity. The generation of power in many sporting contexts, is created by the stretch- shortening cycle, or plyometric response.

In order to train the recruitment of a maximum number of motor units (a motor unit is a motor nerve and all fibers innervated by the nerve) the multi-joint and multi-muscle exercises must allow maximum force generation in minimum time, and therefore it is necessary to create a new training program for each jumper.

The snatch, clean and jerk and their derivatives are some of the major training exercises to develop the power of jumpers.  I want to clarify that apart from these exercises, triple jumpers have specific weight exercises just for them, whose specialty is to develop power and reaction, and these exercises are made specific for each individual athlete. Only coaches with experience and knowledge of kinesiology and the basic mechanics of the training are able to do and plan this type of weight training. I also want to emphasize that these workouts require effective transfer between action training and athletic performance and it is important that the movements used in this training facilitating plyometric actions.

Why it is that explosive weight are important for Jumpers?

Effective training of power to the jumper begins with knowledge of the basic mechanics of training movements. The kinesiological analysis (the study of muscle actions, and joints in a movement) of any sports movement, indicate that the primary basis of the training exercises for strength and power for an athlete, should be closed kinetic chain exercises, which allow the development of maximum strength in major muscle groups (especially in the legs, hips and trunk) in a minimum of time.

It is particularly important before starting with the weight programs, that the warm-up each athlete must perform specific explosive exercises with light weights.  It is also really important to plan a good weight training program.  Each program must be made for each of the athletes according to their physical quality. Weight training must be in balance, according to the athlete's jumping power.  It doesn’t make sense put to work an athlete, for example, with 200kg squat, when the athlete is struggling to pass 7m in long jump or 16m in triple jump. I always believe that everything has to be balanced- speed, strength and explosiveness must be accompanied by almost 100% technique- then we would have to consider whether it is necessary for the athlete to work more intensively with the weights.

             The warm up for long jumpers and triple jumpers

If we want to prevent injury, keep your body in good condition and have the body prepared for any type of sporting action, the warm-up is the essential medicine to keep our body always healthy.

Here, I would like to explain clearly, for athletes of any level, exactly what the warm means and what it should entail.

The warm-up is the set of actions and exercises prior to the great efforts of the training sessions and competitions, that athlete do to prepare the body and ensure their efficient operation during the main effort, to avoid a crisis of adaptation, and the accumulation of waste products in the tissues.

It has two main objectives: to help prevent injuries and to prepare the athlete physically, physiologically and psychologically for the start of more intense activity than normal.

Warming up is something really important and it is most important before a competition. After the huge time devoted to the preparation, it would be crazy to enter the set-up for a competition with stiff muscles, cold body and with a lack of positive mental attitude. We must protect everything we have accumulated in training, by warming up properly and coming to the competition with the necessary adjustment of mind and body to achieve optimum results.

Most of the jumpers and especially the triple jumpers or long jumpers, do ​​a bad warm up, as they generally doing it in a mechanical way, and copying what they see other athletes doing, without experience or knowledge of what they should be doing. Some warm up too much, unaware that they are doing so, while others fall short, in the belief that a long warm up it will subtract energy from training or competition

The warm up, either for training or for a competition must be considered in two parts: one general and one specific.

The general part is done through gentle runs, fluency exercises and coordination, aimed to stimulate the circulation, so that the large muscles and the joints become warm.

The specific part, as the name suggests, provides movements directly related with the skills of the long jump or triple jump. Generally, we use technical exercises of the training, whose purpose is to tune the neuromuscular system and review the techniques to use.  The result of these exercises is a very active nervous system.

In general, the warm-up should look like a miniature workout using exercises with a limited number of, reps and distances.

The volume and intensity of warming up varies between disciplines, and also according to the weather conditions. The triple jump or long jump involves a tremendous  effort, and needs a more voluminous and intense warm up in those situations where starting techniques require more caution, for example, athletes have to warm up more on cold days, than in the hot days. 

 A very important factor to consider when warming up for a competition, is the time elapsed between the completion of the warm up and the start of the competition.   A well-trained athlete can recover from a warm up within five minutes, therefore it makes sense to keep the time gap between warm up and competition around this optimum time of 5 minutes, as a longer break could ruin their physiological values.  However, experience shows that a warm muscular system can be retained for much longer as long as the athlete is sheltered properly. Either way it is advisable to conclude the warm up between 3 and 8 minutes before the competition in order to make tactics reviews and to recover the breathing a little.    

                        WHY DO WARMING UP?

Ø Improves your neuromuscular performance

Ø Reduces the risk of injury

Ø Allows the body to go through a series of modifications that ensure a supply of oxygen, nutritive materials and optimal metabolic functioning.

Ø Increases a mental attitude for training or competition. Many athletes influence adversaries thanks to the exercises performed during warming up.

            

         WARMING UP EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE

With the passage of time, discussions have arisen about whether warming up is beneficial or not to sports performance. In addition to these discussions, most coaches are agree that warming is essential for the athlete. Maybe coaches will be more aware of the values ​​of warming up if they know the effects it produces in the body, predisposing it for better performance.

The warming effects vary depending on several factors, among which we can mention:

Ø Rate of warming process

Ø Existing Motivation

Ø The state of physical condition

Ø Athlete performance  level

Ø Heating load (volume and intensity)

Ø age

Ø The time of day

Ø The environment.

Ø  The temperature and other climatic factors

                  WHAT PRODUCES HEAT EFFECTS IN THE BODY?

If the warming is well made ,it produces in the body varied and positive effects to increase performance during the main part of the training or competition.

Ø Increased body temperature

Ø Decreases the viscosity muscular

Ø Increases the pulse frequency

Ø Increases blood pressure.

Ø Intensification of breath

Ø Release of glucose into the circulation

Ø Stretching of tendons and ligaments

Ø Enhanced blood circulation in the capital

Ø Increased stroke volume

Ø Dilation of the arteries and capillaries that supply blood to the muscles.

A good warm up for a jumper, must have duration of between 45min to an hour.

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.  

How do we perfect the hop in continuation with the step?

One of the most important exercises for triple jumpers is “Plyometric” When I`m speaking of the term plyometrics, I am speaking of the use of the deep jumps in their most natural variant, I mean double contact. However from this variant, there are also other variants which can serve for practical work for coaches with a view to developing the power of the jumpers.

All of them are closely linked with Athletics but this doesn't mean they couldn't be used by other sports specialists.

I`ll show you these simple examples that can be used by high performance athletes and also by young people who begin their life as a jumper.

Deep jumps with double contact

This is the most recommended option for athletes who are new to the practice of this kind of jump. In this sense it should be included at the end of the general preparation phase and the beginning of the special phase preparatory period in order to create a foundation of strength that continues the use of the remaining deep jumps variants with simple contact.

Example: (static position), from the box, jump off with both feet-  landing on one leg and perform two explosive jumps, I mean a big hop followed by two low explosive jumps.

After the fall, we can perform the following combinations:

Perform a long jump, and keep the lunge position in the air,

Overcome two hurdles consecutively, with the proviso that the last hurdle must be of greater height

Touching an object hanging above the site of the fall

Deep Jump (double contact) with additional counterweights, such weight or weight vest

During the execution of this exercise, unlike the previous one, the coach shouldn't ever lose sight of the height of the fall; this should be about 40 cm or less. However, the coach must pay close attention to gender and skill level of the athletes when selecting this variant. Many athletes use a box of up to 50 cm height, thinking they can improve the impact strength after landing of each jump, and what they don` t know is that they are destroying the power of reaction and increasing the risk of bad injuries. In my experience as a professional coach, it is not the height which determines the power improvement of the athlete, but the technique with which the exercise is being applied, for each of the jumpers.

Deep jumps (single contact) after the fall do the following combinations:

Example: 1 execute a long jump (hop jump)

This version starts with the technical execution of a "hop" and after the fall, performing a long jump into the sandpit for the proper execution of the exercise. So I recommend calculating the distance from the place of the fall to the sandpit. Here the indicator is, the horizontal distance overcome in the second jump.

Example: 2 overcoming an obstacle after the fall

This is the second variant used in the training of jumper’s (mainly triple jumpers), and from it, we can make other combinations with the approach run. The initial move in this variant also begins with the execution of the technique of a "hop". After the fall, the athlete must overcome a certain obstacle placed at a certain height in contrast with the previous exercise.

Example: 3 From 6 strides, perform a hop jump.

This exercise is a very difficult exercise for all the jumpers. If an athlete has never worked on the basis of development for the triple jump, it will be difficult to perform this exercise at 100%. The athlete will have to spend at least 8 or 9 months to realize it in perfection.

Example: 4 perform a triple jump (static or standing position) using cone,

The technical implementation of this exercise is similar to the triple jump without approach run, using cones to work the distance in combination with the pace.

These are a few easy examples of plyometric exercises, and I will discuss this topic further in my next blog post.