Video Review… Priceless
Nearly half of all cell phones now have a way to record video, giving you no excuse when you want to do a video review of yourself. Ask a friend to record you doing two jumps. Go back and look at those jumps and correct the flaws in your approach, takeoff and technique.
This will save you hours of time with a trainer who is simply trying to tell you what to do instead of letting you see for yourself. If you want to improve quickly, watch yourself jumping… you’ll be surprised how you look on film.
If you can, put your movie on a computer so you can slow it down frame by frame and see every second of your jump at a time, then search the internet for videos of great high jumpers and compare your form to theirs.
plyometrics vs. Pesos
If you’re a beginning high jumper, don’t worry so much about weights and weight lifting, work on developing quick, light elasticity in your legs through plyometrics. Plyometrics are simply exercises that do not use weights and include things like lunges, frog jumps, jumping jacks, etc. This will do two things for you. First, it will keep your legs fresh for competitions. Lifting weights all week can make your legs so tired that no matter how strong they get, they’ll never be fresh for competition.
Secondly, you will avoid the risk of injury. Lifting hard can cause strain and overwork if your body isn’t used to it.
If possible, do your plyometrics on grass to cushion your joints and muscles. This will prevent shin splints and prevent you from getting tired too quickly. Mix in some wind sprints to improve explosiveness with your plyometrics. Don’t let your coach force you to train with sprinters, either. Spring exercises are great for long jumpers, but not so great for high jumpers.