Sprinting for Long & Triple Jump

Many sprinters can't jump (long and triple jump that is) but all horizontal  jumpers need to sprint. Pure speed merchants often have difficulty converting their speed through the take-off into the jump. All this talk of Usain Bolt breaking the world LJ record if he dd the event is based on the premise that he could convert his great speed to distance. It's not easy!

Approaching the board faster than any recent elite long jumper (11.5m/s a second) and having milliseconds to impart enough force through the take-off to get distance and height would undoubtedly prove a challenge for the GOAT! And he'd have to avoid injury. Long and triple jumpers have more resilience than sprinters - just as rugby players get 'used' to taking the hits, so too must horizontal jumpers in terms of impacts during the event and in training. 

We use sprint drills to work on the posture and reactivity needed to hit the board and more importantly transition optimally across it. I've numerous ones that I use in 'units' across the training year to bring about maximum rounded transference. More on this in future posts.

This short video looks at some of them and then briefly looks at the role of incline sprints.
​I'm currently writing a couple of articles for Athletics Weekly on the role of drills and also plyometrics so do look out for them!