hey all u hign jumpers I need your help?

Question

so this is my first year in track and my coach said i was built like a hign jumper but that probably just means I have long legs which I do but anyway I need some tips on how to b an awesome high jumper

Answer 1

I was a high jumper and have coached a couple all-americans in the event and the best peice of advice I can give you is simply this... have patiance. It takes time to just to learn the event never mind being good at it. My personal experance has taught me the two hardest events to learn are the Pole Vault and the High Jump, because you have to train your body to do something that it naturally isn't going to want to do. In this case run up and jump over a bar backwards. Sounds easy, but trust me it can be a bit overwhelming the first couple of times.

There are some basic drills you can do that will help train your body relax and give you proper form. All my jumpers start by learning back flops. You put the bar at a lower height (3'-6" is where we start) and stand about 8" infront of it facing outward. Swinging your arms, gather and jump backwards over the bar. The trick to this drill is to learn not to look at the bar but to look straight ahead as you jump, and then throw your head backwards as you jump. Moving your head backwards is what causes your back to arch over the bar.

Another drill my jumpers do is what we call scissor kicks. You can move the bar up a little if you want. Basiclly all you do for this drill is run up to the bar and jump/step over the bar. The trick however is to do driving your knee up and over the bar in a scissor type movment (thus why it is called scissor kicks) and not to hurdle the bar. Learning to drive this knee is one of the single most important aspects of the High Jump.

Another drill we do is circles. This is where you run in circles while concintraiting on leaning into the curve. This simulates the curve of the "J" approach and helps to teach a person to stay in the curve and not lean into the bar. Leaning into the bar is one of the most common mistakes that new jumpers make.

I know that these drills may seem a bit boring and pointless but trust me they work. Once you learn how to control your body and the proper kinetics of jumping over the bar you will get to move onto more advanced techincal drills. Things such as opening up and driving your hips (very important for female jumpers), learning to collaps and fall to the mat, and proper seperation of your legs after takeoff.

I wish you the best of luck and happy jumping.

Answer 2

Your head and your eyes will dictate what your hips do. If you are looking down at your feet or your steps, you certainly won't jump up in the air. If you are looking at the bar when you jump, you will run right into it. Your gaze should shift over the course of the approach and then the jump. It should start at the near standard. When you begin the curve of the J-run, your sight line should move with your shoulders and hips toward the middle of the bar, and as you get closer to the bar and your hips and shoulders are turning more perpendicular to the bar, you should be seeing the far standard.At the point of takeoff, your gaze should be parallel to the bar, not looking at any of the high jump apparatus but at something that could be along the line of the bar about twenty feet away. After the take off you should lean your head slightly back and try to look at something on the opposite side of the pit from the middle of the bar.

In the last three steps of the high jump, your body should be leaning away from the bar. this allows you to convert vertical speed to horizontal speed with enough space to help the hips, the center of mass, fly over the top of the bar and not into the bar. practice running twelve foot diameter circles around cones.

Drills to try.
Visualization is an important element
stand with heels about eight inches from the edge of the pit. drive and block your arms while jumping off of two
feet,drop the head back to look at someone standing off of the back side of the pit, not jumping into the pit. You should never be thinking about getting into the pit. Dropping the head will lift the hips to clear the bar.

Sit on the ground with your legs straight out in front of you. Swing your arms, anyway you choose, one at a time, and try to lift your bottom off of the ground without touching the ground with your hands or bending your knees. Can't do it can you? Now, pull both arms behind your body, elbows bent at ninety degrees. Keeping them bent, swing your arms in front of your body and stop them abruptly when your triceps are parallel to the ground. now your seat is no longer on the ground is it? This simulates the double arm block at the takeoff point in the high jump. This is the one of the best and first high jump drill that you should learn and practice every day.

Answer 3

I'm guessing your no less than 5'9" or so. I'm about 5'7" and clear 5' which is pretty good for my height. Girls that are way taller get out at heights like 4'6" (bad) and such because thay don't know how to use their body to their advantage. If you work on bending your back A LOT and then flick your feet up you can clear big heights. You have to find the right speed and the right angle yourself because everybody's different, but just remember bend your back and flick up your feet. GOOD LUCK.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

practice. practice. practice. dont allow frustration to leave you without any motivation. also... do your research... dont just listen to the coaches. learn from the pros ... learn the schematics and proper technique posted on the web at various sites. do your research and practice. good luck.