A Critical High Jumping Mistake 75% of Jumpers Make - Part II
Hey Jumpers,
What I am going to talk about is your rotation over the bar. The
reason everyone seems to worry so much about "kicking their legs",
"clipping the bar with their heels", or "sitting on the bar" stems
from the exact same mistake: not rotating enough over the bar.
The high jump flip over the bar is not caused by the same motions
allow someone to do a back flip. In a back flip, at takeoff you
throw your arms up and backwards, drop your head back as you arch
your spine, and quickly bring your knees to your chest.
In a high jump, the moment you takeoff from the ground your body
should be in almost a vertical line, straight up.
Here's the key...
A split second before, when your takeoff foot just hits the ground
on your last step, your body should be leaning away from the bar at
a pretty good angle. Why? Because you just ran a curve. The curve
forces your body to lean and you should hold that lean all the way
until your takeoff foot hits the ground on your last step.
In that split second that your foot is on the ground during your
final, takeoff step, you are going to go from a lean away from the
bar as I mentioned, to straight up. That change in angle will make
your body flip over the bar as you leave the ground.
This allows you to jump straight up at takeoff to get the maximum
height possible from your jump, but also flip over the bar so you
can take advantage of the flop technique.
With the right amount of rotation, right as your center of gravity
(roughly your belly button) passes over the bar, your shoulders
and knees should be roughly even with each other. Most jumpers
will find that their knees are at least 4-6" (if not more) below
their shoulders at this point.
Well of course you'd have to kick your legs like crazy if they are
hanging that far down! And of course your heels are going to clip
the bar, and of course you are going to want to start your kicking
motion as early as possible (sitting on the bar) to have enough time
to get your legs out of the way. Watch this YouTube video for an
example of good (near perfect actually) rotation:
The solution to all those problems? Correct rotation, and that
comes from going from a lean, to straight up at takeoff. So, if you
need MORE rotation, tighten your curve or keep your curve the same
and take more speed into it. Or, a quick fix, focus on dropping
your inside shoulder a bit during your curve to pull more of your
body away from the bar.
Got it? Rotation is the key to successful jumping. Best of luck,
Gregg
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