Hop, step and jump your way to triple jump success!
If you have ambitions to be the best triple jumper that you can possibly be, then you should see the tips and advice provided by the great Jonathan Edwards. Below are a few useful videos.
Would you like to read more about Jonathan Edwards triple jump career, progress, training and development? Check out the book ‘A time to jump’ on Amazon.
If you have a triple jump competition coming up at your high school, you have the chance to dominate and win the event if you implement the right training drills in preparation for the competition. Whether you are in your early or late teens, you can improve your triple jump technique and your body’s conditioning so that you can win the competition convincingly.
Here are some drills that you should practice.
This is the most important aspect of the triple jump. The perfect runup will allow you to maximise the amount of speed off the board and it will allow you to naturally transition into the triple jump.
Single leg bounds will allow you to improve your power and hold your step phase for longer. Practice at least 3 x 10 repetitions twice a week.
Single leg hops will allow you to improve your power and hold your hop phase for longer. Practice at least 3 x 10 repetitions twice a week.
Hop hop steps allow you to integrate the transition of each of the phases. Do at least 2 sets of 4 repetitions twice a week.
Doing skipping will help you improve your reaction time off the ground, which is important when doing the triple jump. Practice single, double and even triple under skips so that your legs execute more jumping power.
You can do 4 sets of 4 repetitions with the aim of improving your reaction time off the ground.
You can see an example of this exercise below.
Let us know how you went in your competition by posting your distance and place in the comments below.
Something that triple jumpers suffer from when they start jumping greater distances is bruising on the bottom of their feet. It’s unpleasant for the athlete’s performance and aesthetically. The trouble with the bruising is that it is internal and can take a while for the body to repair. When the athlete is competing throughout the season, it’s almost impossible to get rid of the bruising and it creates alot of discomfort for the athlete.
It’s essential that the athlete focuses on executing the technique of the triple jump flawlessly. The athlete tends to slap their foot on the ground instead of timing their landing in each phase to react quickly off the ground. The athlete will usually try to get more distance by aiming to accelerate off the ground. This needs to be done correctly otherwise the athlete can easily bruise their heel.
Executing the triple jump form flawlessly comes down to practice. However, you need to practice the triple jump technique at speed. You can perform hop hop step drills with a 5-7 stride runup and aim to maintain the speed and acceleration throughout each phase.
Do the same practice with bounding. This will allow the athlete to improve their timing off the ground.
You want to minimise the chances of bruising. So practice on grass until you are in the final phases of the lead up to a competition.
You will be doing several bounding movements, which means you need footwear that will protect your heels while you are perfecting your triple jump technique.
There is a myth in the athletics world that you need to be tall with long legs in order to be a triple jumper. This isn’t necessarily true. Although there are several triple jumpers that are over 6 feet in height, there are a few notable triple jumpers that have reached the elite level and whose height is lower than 1.83m.
He is the world record holder and his height is 1.82m. His weight at the time was 71kg. His official personal best is 18.29m.
He is 1.78m tall. His personal best is 18.09m. He was also 75kg at the time.
You can use the following table to get an idea about heights and weights for some of history’s best triple jumpers.
| Triple Jumper | Distance | Height | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Edwards | 18.29m | 1.82m | 71kg |
| Viktor Saneyev | 17.44m | 1.88m | 78kg |
| Christian Taylor | 18.21m | 1.88m | 79kg |
| Willie Banks | 17.97m | 1.90m | 77kg |
| Teddy Tamgo | 18.04m | 1.87m | 82kg |
| Kenny Harrison | 18.09m | 1.78m | 75kg |
| Mike Conley | 17.75m | 1.85m | 77kg |
Athletes need to have a tremendous amount of speed by the time they reach the take-off point and they must be able to maintain that velocity through the three phases of the triple jump.
Athletes must condition their bodies to maximise their acceleration, explosiveness and biomechanic rhythm so they will be able to achieve the greatest distance when doing the triple jump.
How would you like to add more distance to your triple jump distance? One of the things that most people do is they don’t hold their step phase for very long. One of the common things is that people aim to skip in their step phase, instead of holding the form for as long as possible so that they can maximise their horizontal distance.
The other thing is that their body isn’t conditioned to holding the step phase for long. So there are a few things that you need to do in order to 1) condition your body to improve the step phase and 2) hold the phase for longer.
You can improve the strength that will allow you to hold your knee drive for longer by doing leg extension exercises at the gym. This will allow you to hold your knee drive for longer.
The second thing that you need to build is the strength so that your body will absorb and rebound from the shock of force in each phase. This will require you to do squat and plyometric exercises.
Where your quadriceps can extend and hold a maximum weight for only a few repetitions.
Where you do the maximum amount of repetitions with a maximum weight.
Because the triple jump will consist of up to 21 uses of your hip flexors and quadriceps, it is important to improve the strength-endurance (stamina) for your triple jump so that your body doesn’t fatigue by the time you reach the triple jump take-off board or even part of the way through your jumps.
It’s incredibly important to maximise the strength and the stamina in your hip flexors, since they are part of the key to your triple jumping success. Fortunately, there are simple ways to improve the strength of your hip flexors for the triple jump.
Lie down on the floor and raise your legs straight until it gets to 90 degrees.
Hang onto a horizontal bar and raise your legs until it reaches 90 degrees. Ensure that you incorporate your abdominals and your hip flexors. Don’t swing your body when doing the movement.
Hang from a horizontal bar and raise your knees until it reaches 90 degrees.
Aim of repetitions of 30 with each exercise.
It’s important to develop your core strength so that you will maximise your step phase and also prevent your back muscles from being incorporated in the movement. Doing pilates exercises can improve your core strength. Additionally, conducting core strength exercises such as squats and deadlifts will further develop your core strength.
You will need to practice triple jump drills regularly so that your body becomes stronger and allows you to hold the form of the step phase for longer.
You will need to do the following drills.
Do bounding drills where you aim for the maximum horizontal distance. Use a measuring tape and cones so you can keep a benchmark of your progress. It’s important that you maximise your distance whilst keeping your form. Don’t let your form break down when doing the drill.
Aim to do 4 repetitions in concurrent sets. Emphasise extending your step phase. I have shared a video below.
The runup is the most important part of your triple jump approach. By the time you hit the board, your body must have accelerated to a point where you can control the velocity through each phase of the triple jump. There are a few things that you must achieve in order for this to happen.
You cannot waste your acceleration efforts by stuttering towards the board. You must ensure that you hit the take-off board at full speed with your body in the ideal take-off position.
Therefore, you need to measure your runup so that you know exactly how many steps it will take for you to reach the take-off point.
You can use the information from this post about the triple jump runup.
You must be at a point where you are accelerating at the board so you can maintain the velocity throughout the jump. Typically, jumpers will need to use a shorter approach to build and control their acceleration. As the athlete improves their ability to control the velocity throughout the jump and their maximum point of acceleration, they can improve their runup.
The first few steps of your triple jump are the most crucial. You want to make sure that they are powerful and maximise the initial acceleration prior to the point where your body will get into the take-off position. There are a couple of ways to do this.
This is where you make the first three steps the most powerful from a stationary position. This will allow you to keep your runup consistent, whilst allowing you to get to your maximum acceleration quicker.
This is where you use your body’s momentum through by adding a few extra steps to increase your acceleration quicker. The issue with this approach is that it can cause you to be inconsistent with your runup. It is usually a more advanced runup technique that triple jumpers can use. If you choose to use this technique, make sure that you always hit your mark and practice your runup so you hit the board every time.
Your body should be in the sprinting position where you are tall and your leg speed rotation is at its maximum. This should allow you to take-off and go into the phases of the triple jump naturally.
Give this a try and let us know how your performance is after implementing these tips.
Improving my hop was probably the best thing that improved my triple jumping distance when I was in my teens. In the beginning, the local coaches taught us that we had to “hop, skip and jump”. Hopping usually meant doing a hop with a straight leg. The thought of having your leg continue in a natural motion for your body’s mechanics doesn’t usually cross anybody’s mind. But if you look at the top triple jumpers, you will see that they all incorporate the hitch kick into their triple jump technique.
To give you an idea, here is what I was able to accomplish as a youth.
14 years old – 12.65m – No rotating hop.
15 years old – 13.65m – Rotating hop.
16 years old – 14.07m – Rotating hop.
There are a few other factors to consider, such as muscle development and speed. However, I can honestly say that the incorporation of the rotating hop allowed me to extend the distance of my hop and also carry through the velocity through to the next phase of the triple jump.
It is very difficult to accelerate through the phases of the triple jump if you are jumping with a stiff leg. It is similar to running a race with straight legs vs leg movements in a circular motion.
This is important. In triple jump, you need to jump horizontally to maximise your distance. By jumping with a straight leg, you have to jump up to make sure that your foot doesn’t scrape the ground.
It does require practice. There are a few fundamental things that you should aim to achieve when doing a rotating hop.
Remember, the hop is the most important phase of the triple jump.
If you want to maximise your distance in the triple jump, you must be able to execute a flawless hop so that you can transition to the other phases of the triple jump. The rotating hop will allow you to do this.
Below is a video that you can use to practice the rotating hop to improve your triple jump distance.
You can also check out this post which has triple jump hopping drills that you can practice.
The world record for the men’s triple jump is 18.29m
This record was set by Jonathan Edwards in Goteberg in 1995.
You can see the video of his world record below.
He has also jumped 18.43m, however the wind assistance was too high (2.4m). So this is an unofficial world record.
You can see the video footage from Lille Below.
The women’s triple jump world record was set by Inessa Kravets from the Ukraine.
She jumped 15.50m at the World Championships in 1995.
Below is video footage of her world record.
If you want to maximise the distance that you jump in the triple jump, you must first learn how to project your velocity through the jump. The only way you can accomplish this is by running through the board and maintaining the velocity/speed throughout each phase of the triple jump.
There are a few things that you need to get right in order to set yourself up to run through the board successfully.
This is different to the long-jump take-off. You will find that your body’s take-off position will need to be positioned above the board, unlike the long jump take-off position where the body will be on more of an angle.
The placement of your take-off is crucial for the triple jump phase. So practice your runup so that you hit the board consistently and ensure that your velocity is taking you past the board.
You will need to work out what distance will maximise your acceleration at the point of take-off. There are a few aspects to consider.
You will need to work out what stride length is ideal. For new triple jumpers, the shorter the stride length, the better. This will allow the athlete to control the velocity/speed through the triple jump phases and it will also ensure that they are at a point where they are still accelerating through the triple jump take-off point.
One of the biggest mistakes new triple jumpers make is that they jump upwards instead of horizontally. When this happens, it forces the athlete to decelerate in the next phases of the jump. This makes the athlete lose several centimetres in distance. So always ensure that you are jumping outwards and not upwards.
When you hit the board and project yourself horizontally, your legs will naturally engage in the hitch kick movement. This will allow you to have a more fluid movement when engaging in the different triple jump phases.
Try these tips when during your next triple jump training and let us know how you go.
