Head Coach and Lead Instructor at the Chula Vista High Performance Training Center/USA Track and Field;
USATF Level 3 Certified, holds Level 2 Certificates in the sprints, jumps and throws and currently serves as the Level 2 (event specific school) Jumps Lead Instructor;
former University of Oklahoma Men's and Women's Jumps and Multi's Coach; 2007 Midwest Region Men's Jumps/Combined Events Coach of the Year; All-American and All-Big Ten jumper for the University of Wisconsin (He also coaches Olympian & medalist Will Clay, 6x National Champion Amanda Smock)
There is a simple principle in the high jump - whenever the athlete starts wrong, they will ultimately finish wrong. Modern athletes struggle with maintaining posture, spatial awareness and multi-planar body control. Therefore, greater amounts of time must be given to work on approach progressions and developing multi-planar movement patterns.
Jeremy Fischer, head coach and lead instructor at the United States Olympic Training Center, outlines the importance of setting up an effective approach for the high jump. He also creates a step-by-step progression, complete with various drills and coaching cues, to help coaches teach athletes how to run smooth curves and maximize their power at takeoff.
Setting up the Approach
The high jump approach is unique to each individual athlete, with a variety of factors to consider. Coach Fisher helps to alleviate the guesswork by establishing guidelines on how to measure the approach and create a radius that will allow each athlete to run smoother and turn effectively. He breakdowns the specifics on how to determine proper start marks and jump marks.
Drills and Cues for More Effective Curve Running
Maintaining speed while keeping a proper curve radius is one of the most difficult challenges facing all high jumpers. Coach Fischer demonstrates drills and provides unique coaching cues to help athletes run the curve more effectively. This includes tips such as running flat footed on the curve, which enables the athlete to use full surface of their foot to gain better leverage and traction on the curve, and in turn, better lean.
Developing the Takeoff
Coach Fischer lays out a simple step-by-step progression for teaching the takeoff. He shows the DiPena take off drills from standing, to walking, before linking them together with the full length approach to blend all aspects of the event together.
Top of the Bar Mechanics
You will learn a drill that trains athletes how to relax while being inverted to prevent premature chin and butt drop while going over the bar.
Outside Factors
Coach Fischer covers the importance of rest recovery, nutrition and prehabilitation. The best athletes in the world tend to maintain weight and strength levels year round, not just during their competitive seasons.
Coach Fisher delivers a straightforward teaching tool for knowledge-hungry coaches who want to build more competitive high jumpers.
59 minutes. 2016.
TD-04900B: with Jeremy Fischer,
Head Coach and Lead Instructor at the Chula Vista High Performance Training Center/USA Track and Field;
USATF Level 3 Certified, holds Level 2 Certificates in the sprints, jumps and throws and currently serves as the Level 2 (event specific school) Jumps Lead Instructor;
former University of Oklahoma Men's and Women's Jumps and Multi's Coach; 2007 Midwest Region Men's Jumps/Combined Events Coach of the Year; All-American and All-Big Ten jumper for the University of Wisconsin (He also coaches Olympian & medalist Will Clay, 6x National Champion Amanda Smock)
In the long jump, speed is critical to success. Athletes that can consistently create fast approaches and minimize deceleration on the runway are often the most successful in the event.
Jeremy Fischer believes 90% of how far athletes can jump depends on pinpointing and eliminating specific flaws that happen during the approach and takeoff. He identifies ways in which deceleration can occur and lays out a step-by-step plan to help athletes establish approaches with proper mechanics maximize their potential.
Developing a consistent approach
To develop a consistent approach, Coach Fischer uses a three zone drill to teach approach rhythm and running mechanics, which lead to greater accuracy at the board. Once rhythm and mechanics have been established, he demonstrates how to create the meet length approach on the track before taking it to the runway to make adjustments and begin jumping.
Perfecting the penultimate step and takeoff
Once your athlete has established a consistent runway, the takeoff becomes the critical linking component to maintain velocity created during the run and transition the athlete into flight. In this segment, Coach Fischer uses U.S. Indoor champion, Tyron Stewart, to demonstrate proper takeoff mechanics through a step-by-step progression of activities that begins with standing and walking drills and progresses through short approach jumps.
Coach Fischer does a nice job of clearing up how far the foot should be placed in relationship to the athlete's center of mass to prevent deceleration forces while taking advantage of forward momentum. He also touches on how to prevent early and unwanted chest rotation, which leads to early leg drop, translating into less distance during the jump.
Landing Mechanics
Coach Fischer breaks down each phase of the landing through simple, low intensity drills that can be easily implemented into practice and used throughout the season.
As a bonus, Coach Fischer discusses outside factors that can affect performance and ways to help coaches holistically prepare their athletes for success.
This video is designed to help coaches of intermediate athletes develop a deeper understanding of the event and enhance their performance. However, it is also laid out in a simple, straightforward manner that will help novice athletes learn the event from the ground up, while giving new coaches the confidence to teach the event.
57 minutes. 2016.
TD-04900C: with Jeremy Fischer,
Head Coach and Lead Instructor at the Chula Vista High Performance Training Center/USA Track and Field;
USATF Level 3 Certified, holds Level 2 Certificates in the sprints, jumps and throws and currently serves as the Level 2 (event specific school) Jumps Lead Instructor;
former University of Oklahoma Men's and Women's Jumps and Multi's Coach; 2007 Midwest Region Men's Jumps/Combined Events Coach of the Year; All-American and All-Big Ten jumper for the University of Wisconsin (He also coaches Olympian & medalist Will Clay, 6x National Champion Amanda Smock)
Jeremy Fischer, head coach at the USATF High Performance Training Center, teaches you how to understand and fix common errors every coach deals with when working with triple jumpers.
With demonstrations from All-American and Olympic trials finalist Toni Smith, Coach Fischer dissects every aspect of the triple jump, including: the approach, establishing marks, acceleration, transition, maximum velocity and speed mechanics.
Coach Fischer emphasizes body awareness, body position, postural integrity, and learning how to run off of the board. Through the use of over 20 drills, Coach Fischer takes the triple jump from the approach, to the runway, to the board and then to the landing. These drills will teach the athlete to:
- Focus on reactive strength
- How to get into position to finish the jump
- Learn forward rotation
- Maintain posture
- Have a free leg
- Learn timing
Not only do you get drills, but more importantly you get the insight, knowledge and technique to better pinpoint flaws every triple jump athlete seems to struggle with.
Establish an Effective Approach
Starting consistently out of the back of your mark is one of the most overlooked parts of the triple jump. Coach Fischer breaks down the specifics for executing a more effective approach and how to establish jump marks. He explains acceleration, transition, to maximum velocity sprint mechanics and how to fix common problems in the approach phase of the triple jump.
Board to Box Drill
One of the biggest gaps limiting the triple jump athlete is an inability to push off the board. This requires proper hip displacement to achieve greater horizontal distance. This drill teaches athletes how to keep their take off leg underneath their center of mass while triple extending through the entire leg system, which promotes a more effective jump off the board.
1-2-3 Drill
This drill teaches athletes how to maintain vertical body positioning with proper thigh angles for increased vertical push against the track, which will improve horizontal speed.
Coach Fischer explains the outside factors that must be accounted for to build the compete triple jump athlete. These include rest, recovery, nutrition and pre-habilitation. Many coaches overlook these factors, which limits their jumpers' overall success.
Coach Fischer delivers one of the most comprehensive and concise teaching tools to build a more competitive triple jump athlete.
49 minutes. 2016.