In this week’s Friday video on my YouTube channel (Fri 1 2022) we take a look at what is known as potentiation. Potentiation involves the specific combination of drills, activities and conditioning methods in a way which is deigned to boost the power output of muscles.
Put simply the combination of dynamic activities is seen to increase neural excitement and enable the body to recruit more amounts of fast twitch muscle fibre and the motor units which recruit them.
Fast twitch fibre is “difficult” to fully recruit under “normal” circumstances, it needs large amounts of neural energy to provide the stimulation.
Potentiating training is seen as a way to provide this stimulation.
There are various protocols and ideas as to how to potentiate training. You can combine related weights exercises with related plyometric/jump exercises - for example, heavy load jump squats and drop jumps. Another option could be weighted sled pulls and/or lighter sled and unresisted runs.
It’s also possible to potentiate competitive and technical jump training. You could, for example, include rebound jumps or jump squats between jumps and there is research on this.
There is a considerable amount of research that indicates that potentiating training works and works well at that.
There are, however, some caveats - for example, some research indicates that those jumpers and sprinters with a higher level of strength will respond more to potentiation.

In the video I focus on potentiating sprinting and jumping directly.
The jump enhancing research I eluded to above - which involved national level decathletes - showed that when long jumping vertical velocity was improved after plyometric activity. Improvements of over 20cm were attributed to the potentiating activity.
The research included a control group who jumped without performing the potentiating plyometrics and they did not improve their vertical take-off velocity and resultant distance in the same way.

THIS GOT ME THINKING “I’LL DO MY OWN EXPERIMENTING”
I decided to start my own research. I want to see how I can potentiate jump training. This would obviously seem to be the most important potentiating transference for me as a jumps coach and I’d assume for many of you reading this. (Note: I do include lots of other potentiating activity in my day to day training - more on this in another post/video). However, I have never - until this point - actually directly tried to potentiate actual jumping.
So, we started with u20 Ruby (best of 6.09m).
I decided to start with Ruby as despite her 6m jump she’s not able to generate as much vertical velocity as I might have thought she could. I have identified this from eccentric overload take-off work in the past. We have been working on developing this quality over the last training phase.

Protocol: Loaded jump squats (concentric emphasis) 3x3 @ 16kg circa 20% of her bodyweight
Eccentric emphasis take-offs from 10 steps with a 3cm mat placed on the pen step (You’ll have probably seen these take-off developing jumps in my videos - I am a very firm believe in them),

Rationale: I wanted to see whether the jump squats would lead to the potentiation of the eccentric long jump take-offs and specifically an increase in height from the take-off
I chose concentric jump squats as a large amount of neural energy is needed to lift up from the weight and due to the jumps being paused between each rep, the landing has an eccentric (blocking) emphasis.

Session protocol:
Ruby did one jump before implementing the potentially potentiating jump squats. She then did a take-off (mat on penultimate step. 10 step approach as noted) 90sec later.
There was slightly more vertical lift at take-off compared to the first jump (this could of course have been a response to the first jump … it’s always going to take some time to get into a session).
Then 90sec later 3 more jump squats were taken and then 90sec later a further jump (take-off) was made. This time I could see more power on the run-up and also at take-off via more height. Obviously I’m going on my coach’s eye here and no high-tech kit was used. However, Ruby corroborated what I saw with how she “felt” when jumping.
Ruby then did a further jump without the jump squats and this one was not do good - note there are so many reasons why a jump may not be as good as the previous or subsequent one … less proficient take-off, less proficient approach and so on.
We did a further 3 jumps squats and another couple of jumps - keeping so similar rest intervals. Interestingly Ruby’s performance of the jump squats was better (consider that potentiation works in both directions) and that on one of the jumps the take-off was really good.

Conclusions
It would seem that the potentiating loaded jump squats may have assisted with gaining height and therefore increased vertical velocity at take-off. This was evident on 2-3 take-offs from the 6 in particular.
I will continue to experiment with Ruby and some of the senior jumpers. I will stick with loaded jump squats initially but in time may also try rebound/drop jumps. It’ll be interesting to see what happens and whether certain jumpers respond more than others.
Potentiation should occur and even if it didn’t the training design will specifically help with developing jump power. With my knowledge of jump training and potentiation it would appear very unlikely that no potentiating benefits would not occur.

Look our for more updates and finding and head over to the YouTube channel for more too.

“They suggest how practitioners could design better training tasks, based on key ecological constraints of competition, to provide athletes with opportunities to explore and exploit functional intentions and movement solutions high in contextual specificity.”
Eur J Sport Sci. 2019 Aug;19(7):913-921. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2018.1564797. Epub 2019 Jan 7
Well, what does that mean and yes, it does refer to the long jump?
I had a look at a some long jump research and there seems to have been a relatively recent small spate of research studies which look at how jumpers respond to their run-ups under competitive situations for example. This has ramifications for training - hence the above quote.
The 2019 study analysed the performance of 244 long jumpers and identified key influencing constraints/factors that affected “long jump behaviour”:
1: … (the) particularly intended performance goals of athletes and their impact on future jump performance.
2: performance environments (e.g. strength and direction of wind) and tasks (e.g. requirement for front foot to be behind foul line at take-off board to avoid a foul jump).
Nothing revelatory there then i.e. conditions external to the athlete and internal i.e. motivation affected jumping.
The researchers also noted: “Results revealed the interconnectedness of competitive performance, highlighting that each jump should not be viewed as a behaviour in isolation, but rather as part of a complex system of connected performance events which contribute to achievement of competitive outcomes.”
For me it’s the quote I started this post with that’s salient and hopefully explains the other above. And here I “translate” (hopefully) what the researchers stated to usable language:
Practitioners i.e. coaches and jumpers should make training task-specific that reflects the competition situation. 
It’s obvious! No doubt there’s more to my simplified interpretation as a raft of sports scientists and performance analysts could be used to interpret and recommend on the relevant practice. 
From my knowledge (backed up by research) I know that full run-ups to the pit with a take-off are key to long jump success (visual acuity and constant “reading” of the run-up make for success). Also manipulating and learning and patterning of the step rhythms into take-off is vital. That’s a contextual skill which must be worked on. The jumper will use kinaesthetic and proprioceptive mechanisms to adjust their run-ups and therefore accuracy. You can’t do this without doing it.
Motivation (aka competitive performance) will also affect the outcome. 
It’s all about constructing a jumper who can control their emotions and use them to stay within the constraints of the competition i.e. hit the board at optimum speed with an optimised take-off set up.
So, we coaches need to maximise this environment and to do this means specificity and variability within training. 
Let’s consider the run-up. The jumper must develop the rhythm and feel of the phases and “know” how to pattern the last steps time after time. To do this needs constant  repetition and feedback on the part of the jumper (and coach). You have to make the jumper the master of their environment and not the puppet in the environment. Pun intended they pull their strings in order to jump far (without fouling)!
At meetings I see as a spectator and experience as a coach jumpers who are unable to control their environment and this has ranged from being expected with young athletes to elite ones (who should know better).
It’s up to us as coaches to produce the jumper who pulls their own strings and is in control of their environment or as those sport scientists put it and as I started (well they started):
“… provide athletes with opportunities to explore and exploit functional intentions and movement solutions high in contextual specificity.”

I regularly use drills and runs with the sprinters and jumpers holding a light bar overhead. In the video below  I explain the purpose and protocols I use for fast running using a bar held at arms' length.
I have used these methods for the last couple of years to great success. The drills and runs improve posture, technique and speed and can potentate performance. So it's a win, win, win and win scenario. Take a look at the video content to get more information. 
The bars we use are readily available - see amazon link below too. 

You'll have heard me talk about about eccentric training on this blog or on my YouTube Channel. This is the type of specific work which will improve your reactivity, your sprint speed and your jump power.
Think of an eccentric muscular action as like stretching out a spring - if you did this the spring would store a huge amount of energy. Energy which will be released when the spring is let go and it recoils at super-fast speed.
In our events the stretch of the spring as noted reflects the eccentric muscular lengthening action and the release the muscular shortening concentric muscular action one.
There's much research that indicates that improving eccentric capacity will improve concentric capacity - hence it's crucial to train this muscular action.
There are lots of ways to this, for example, you can do specific drills, some being more jump orientated and some more sprint orientated.
You can also train eccentrically with weights. If you did this the focus would be on the lowering phase of the movement. For example, when performing a squat you could slowly lower for a 4-5sec count before (or not and leaving the bar in the racks and having helpers lift the bar back to the starting position) extending the thighs to return the weight.
It's actually possible to handle more weight eccentrically then concentrically - up to 25% plus more in fact.
We regularly include eccentric training in our workouts - you'll see two members of the u20 squad doing what I call "Jump forward, block and jump" jumps in the image.
The athlete performs a medium length low height forward jump and then explodes vertically upward. The girl is performing the first part and the boy the second part in the image.
Checkout the latest video on my YouTube channel to find out more and to see this drill and more - all designed to improve eccentric capacity. 
https://youtu.be/zYQRoH8Y-JM

And if you needed a reason to eccentrically train: when triple jumping out of the hop the hop leg has to withstand and return up to 20 times body weight in milliseconds. Eccentric capacity is therefore vital.
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At Coach-Athlete level there are 10 videos on various subjects that will be particularly useful to coaches.
There are videos on Training Planning, Training Transfer, Speed Phase Development, Overcoming Common Coaching issues with young sprinters and jumpers ....

​PEAKING AND WEIGHT TRAINING
HERE'S PART OF AN ARTICLE I WROTE ON HOW YOU CAN USE WEIGHT TRAINING TO PEAK AN ATHLETE.


It’s possible to peroiodise and peak for competitions not only via the mainstays of training but also via strength and conditioning.
There are a number of ways in which to achieve peak performances using S&C. The first and most well-known way is to enable your body to recover from the adaptation to a S&C regime (and other training inclusions). So, this would mean reducing the load of the weights, plyometrics and other S&C means in the period/periods of training leading up to a competition.
The second way is to actually use S&C to create a heightened response from your S&C training – this can include specific sessions in the days prior to a competition. Within this second method are the potentiating effects of specific S&C activities and tonus (muscle tone) outcomes.
Let’s take a look at these “peaking” options in turn.

Using S&C via reducing volume to achieve a peak
In order to achieve a peak the body must be in an adapted and recovered state. This does not mean that training loads need to be significantly reduced – although the prior intensity and volume of training will have a large effect on the extent of any reductions – that’s to say, the more training mature an athlete is in terms of volume and intensity the lower the percentage reduction of these variables needed to achieve a peak.
On the other hand, a young training immature athlete will not have the wiggle room to reduce training load in the same way and they may simply benefit before competitions from taking a day or two off.

Research exists which shows how manipulating S&C training variables can achieve a peak. Sports scientists in Sports Medicine who considered field eventers and sprint athletes noted:
“... findings indicate that to maximize the speed-strength in the short term (peaking), elite athletes should perform strength-power training twice per week. It is possible to perform a single strength-power session with the method of maximum explosive strength actions moving high-weight loads (90% 1 repetition maximum [RM]) at least 1-2 days.”
So, this conclusion is referencing speed/power athletes as indicated with a high level of specific training maturity. Why the emphasis on the “high weight loads”? Much further research indicates that lifting heavy and safely fast recruits the biggest and most powerful bundles of fast twitch fibres and the motor units which control them. The residual effect is the priming this can have on the central nervous system and what known as potentiation - another factor identified in the S&C peaking approach, of which more later.
In order to make sure that the heavy weight training is of the right intensity and volume, some trial and error will be required and the training maturity and “history” of peaking specific to the athlete must also be factored in.
If S&C is consistent over a number of years and the athlete/coach knows that certain S&C parameters are met (closeness to 1rep max and other rep max tests, distances achieved for specific plyo tests) then it will be easier to reduce S&C loads whilst keeping an eye on those peak S&C levels known to bring about peak performance.
It will also be easier to “top up” again, if as in the research quoted, specific S&C sessions are maintained throughout the season.
It’s crucial for training mature athletes and those with known peak performance producing S&C “base-line” levels that specific S&C is continued throughout the competition periods. Failure to do so, although potentially leading to an early season peak will usually result in performances dropping off in the latter part of the season when the major competitions inevitably are. So, coach and athlete need to maintain to gain and cycle their S&C accordingly (along of course with the other training variables).
TBC

It's taken a while but I finally pulled together the third issue of The Jumper. It's packed full of articles that should appeal to jumpers coaches and fans of these events alike. We've articles from top coaches such as Nick Newman, who's based in the US at USC as jumps and coach - Nick talks about his approach to jumps coaching. You can get his book from Amazon.
Then we have an article from Nelio Moura who has coached two Olympic long jump champions ... yes two. Nelio shares with us his tips on how to coach the long jump take-off. Top sprint coach Jonas Dodoo shares with us his tactics and technical tips for developing speed. Speed is something that all long jumpers and triple jumpers crave so this is a must read. Jonas's' article is part of a larger speed special, where we delve into numerous aspects of speed development, such as acceleration.
The issue includes it's usual mix and there's our social media watch, where we single out great pages and channels and podcasts for you to scroll to.
This issue was supported by Neuff - athletic equipment suppliers, so do check them out. There are some great offers from them (and other brands in the magazine). From Neuff you can get a Power Pack which includes sled, stretch bands and med balls and was part selected by your truly. It's a great combination of items that are actually really useful and applicable to sprinters and jumpers.
To get hold of the issue for FREE, all you need to do is click on the image. It will download from the web and from there - should you want - you can download it as a PDF. Links to the various media will work in both formats

I must be somehow getting better at making videos as I was asked by leading athletic equipment supplier NEUFF to produce a video on acceleration for them. In it I talk about the value of developing acceleration for all athletic events and I also take a look at some of the means used to develop it - such as hill running, harnesses and sleds.
Technique is also considered - such as body angles and heel recovery. I also consider the land, for example, which should be placed on a sled and how too great a resistance can negatively affect sprinting biomechanics.
To hopefully provide some clarity I also explain why adding a heavy weight to a sled can also act as a conditioning means for the more senior (training mature) athlete,
Let me know what you think of the video.
And if you're looking for sleds, harnesses and other items of athletic kit for all events do head over to NEUFF.
FOR ALL ATHLETIC EQUIPMENT: PLYO BOXES, MED BALLS, THROWING IMPLEMENTS, SLEDS AND STARTING BLOCKS GO TO NEUFF ATHLETIC 

What do I mean, well the lack of competitive opportunities for athletes, who have been trying to train as best as they can. This seemingly applies to athletes from all over the world at the moment and is affecting the various track & field events differently. Of course, I’m particularly concerned with the long and triple jumps being the events I coach.
 
Our UK’s English, Welsh and Scottish Champs have all been cancelled and we wait to see whether any higher-level comps (other that the British Champs scheduled for September) will actually happen. Elite athletes in the sprints jumps, hurdles and throws seem to be finding the odd comps abroad but here our lock-down restrictions have mitigated against limited scale meets being run for those of a lesser level and of course young athletes. 
 
One of the main issues to limit UK comps has been that very few tracks were open … and it’s only now in late July that they are unlocking their gates and putting into practise COVID secure environments. For many tracks the locks are still in place for field events as well … my local track, for example, will open soon but the pits won’t – yet, the alternative one I’m currently using does allow pit usage and has done for numerous weeks. There are anomalies and a major one is between sports where football can be played competitively …
 
Last night I watched a specially staged long jump meeting from Sweden featuring many of the country’s top jumpers and it was supported by the Swedish Federation. The broadcast quality was top-notch. Tobias Montler and Khaddi Sagnia both competed in Gothenberg. It seems that there will be a series of these meetings. I believe the driving force behind them is top Swedish Coach – Yannick Tregaro (who presented at the European Jumps and Sprints Symposium which was held last Dec in Karlstad, Sweden and which I attended).
 
So, it seems that I and fellow coaches will have to follow Yannick’s lead if we want to have any regular jumps comps in the UK this year, but having looked at the documentation produced to run one it’s going to take some organising and a stumbling block may well be finding a track willing to cooperate. So, watch this space for if and when we put on any jumps meets. I certainly want to make it happen.
​Click on the banner below to watch the meeting from Sweden.