High Jump is an athletic discipline in which you have to jump a horizontal bar at various heights. For teenagers, it usually starts at 120cm in height and then climbs 5cm with each successful jump. For teenagers, the starting point is 150cm. Dick Fosbury invented the "Fosbury", a technique in which the athlete arches over the bar to lower their center of gravity.
Steps
Step 1. Learn the "J"
The run towards the bar is called "J" due to the shape of the trajectory of the athlete approaching the bar.
- Back off about 10 paces from the center of the bar with a "J" trajectory: the curved part should be 5 paces, and the straight 3 paces. If you are right, you will run from the left, while lefties will come from the opposite side (initially; everyone must understand their favorite mode).
- Run 5 steps in a straight line towards the bar. This will gain you speed.
- The next 3 steps will be curved to accelerate towards the bar and gain momentum (angular momentum). These steps should be cornering - if moving forward, you would find yourself running in circles. Instead, do 3 to reproduce the circular motion and accelerate towards the bar.
- The penultimate step should be another quick step towards the bar. During this step, you should continue to build momentum and you should still be standing as if you were a sprinter. Bring both hands back, locked on the elbows.
Step 2. Take off
The last step, the "definitive" one, is performed quickly as if to take a shot in basketball. Point the foot that remains on the ground towards the rear left corner of the landing area (right-handed) or the right rear corner (left-handed). This step will transform all the speed acquired during the run-up into height. Using all your strength, throw your hands forward and up, and jump as high as you can. By jumping, you will throw the knee used for the take-off as high as possible, to get even higher.
Step 3. Learn to move in the air
- Raise your guide arm as high as possible; this will take your body over the bar. Arch your arm so that it is the first part of your body to pass the bar. At the same time, you have to rotate your body to dampen the momentum; your body will turn in flight. Check this speed and momentum and use it when your body is upside down and you find yourself perpendicular to the bar.
- Once you have reached the perpendicular position, you will continue to rise until you reach the maximum height above the bar. Once you have reached this point, your body will begin to glide on the bar (the inertia will push you forward even though you have only jumped upwards).
- Raise your hips and lower your head back. Your body will now be perpendicular to the bar and arched with your hips high above your head and feet. The head will be on top of the bar and the hand will be descending towards the mattress. The hips will ideally be at the highest point of their trajectory, and the feet will hang with the knees locked and at an equal distance above the bar (the pictures will help to understand).
- Kick your feet up and over the bar. By bringing your chin towards your wrist and concentrating, you will automatically lift your feet and fly forward over the bar. Sometimes it takes practice and repetition but it is the easiest part to learn.
- Land with your upper back or shoulders on the mattress; feet will land on your head.
Advice
- Practice simulating movement over the bar. Set it quite low, jump from a standing position about an arm away from the bar, and do the Fosbury.
- Another way of jumping is called "scissoring", because the legs resemble a pair of scissors during the jump.
- Start slowly with the "J", then accelerate during the turn.
- Watch videos and photos of the High Jump before trying. In this way you will get an idea of how the "J" should be, and you will learn to imitate the movement above the bar. It is much more complicated to write than to do.
- Lifting your hips takes a lot of training, but it's the key to a good jump. The technique lowers your center of gravity so you are jumping higher than you think.
- For the "J", practice jumping so that your legs can get used to the height to jump in the final part.
- Run around the half-court circle of a basketball court or a 3-point line with your feet ON the line to feel the "slope" you need during the "j".
Warnings
- If the ground is wet, stamp your feet harder; NEVER DECELERATE as with the bar above 150cm it will be increasingly difficult to compete running slowly.
- You land on your upper back or shoulders, near your neck and spine. Pay attention to the landing. Start lower to avoid injury (girls: 105cm, boys: 135cm).
- Make sure the mat is large enough not to drop you after landing.
- Warm up well! If you don't, you can get hurt. Run 800-1600m (2-4 laps of a track) to warm up. Stretch, especially the quadriceps, calves, glutes, tendons, groin, back, hips, and ankles. You may also want to do some dynamic stretching, which is about movement.
- Use a bungee cord instead of a bar in early workouts for safety. It will allow you to train better.
