Coaching 101: Warm Up & Cool Down for the Jumps by Roy Stevenson with notes by Larry Eder

Warming up and cooling down for flights
By Roy Stevenson

Because of the highly ballistic nature of jumps, they require a solid warm-up before training and competition. The warm-up prepares the jumper’s muscles by increasing their muscle contraction strength and speeding up their muscle contraction rate, providing much-needed power and speed on the runway. Warming up also helps nervous athletes stabilize their adrenaline rush before competition.

Phase one. Start your warm-up with 10-15 minutes of jogging to raise your body temperature, slow and easy.

Second stage. Immediately after a run, jumpers should perform a series of dynamic stretching exercises to reduce muscle stiffness. While they can start with static stretches, ballistic stretches through a wide range of motion work best because they are closer to the actual movements of a competitive jumper. and research shows that static stretching exercises do not mimic the movement of fast running and can actually lead to decreased leg strength.

The third stage. The jump consists of 15-20 minutes of general and jump-specific exercises. These exercises are the finishing touches to the warm-up and prepare the athlete for jump training or competition. Given the requirements for successful jumping (speed, power, agility), the exercises should include several leg speed exercises that can easily be performed with sprinters.

Common quick leg warm-ups include a series of 5-10 x 50 meter or 5-10 x 100 meter “speed step transitions” where the jumper focuses on proper running technique and staying calm while maintaining a quick leg turn. They should be done with rolling starts, where the jumper gradually increases his pace after running slowly for the first 10 meters. Each step should be slightly faster than the previous one, and the last step should be at about 95% of maximum speed. If your jumpers complain that these accelerations are tiring them out for the main workout, adjust the reps down so they have plenty of energy left for the main workout.

These exercises may also include stationary pops, where the jumper moves their leg away, emphasizing the knee lift and high body position. They can be more than 30-50 meters, but not more than this. Emphasize proper sprint mechanics, and if the jumper does not master the exercises at a fast speed, try them at a slower speed.

Once the jumpers have mastered these quick drills, you may want to consider giving them general practice drills. Here are a few examples: lateral walking or running (aka carioca), quick leg turns on the stairs, cone running for agility, short knee raises (walking or running), heel exercises, forward lunges, calf raises, plyometrics, calisthenics such as squat squats, sprints, etc.

It is not necessary to do all these exercises during every warm-up. in fact it would be impossible. So just choose a few different exercises for each warm-up to keep it varied, interesting and fun. The number of repetitions for each of these exercises will vary depending on the length and difficulty of each exercise. Generally, you should expect your jumpers to complete each exercise 5-10 times before moving on to the next.

Fourth stage. Go through special exercises

Follow these exercises with some practice runs and jumps. Start with standing long jumps and progress to short approach exercises using a 5, 7 or 9 step approach. Skipping, jumping and bounding exercises are also great for jumpers. One-legged hops also work well, but make sure you hop on both feet. Limit exercises are also great. Triple flights should d

o alternative foot restraint. After these exercises, the jumper is now ready for the main training.

Before the competition, the jumper should do a shortened version of this warm-up. Then all he needs to do is walk/run to warm up. The pre-competition warm-up must be monitored and hydrated so that it does not deplete the jumper’s high-energy phosphates ATP and PC.

Final notes on warm-up.

If the temperature is very cold, passive rewarming, where external heating agents such as hot tubs, hot water bottles, and hot showers are used, can be very effective before outdoor rewarming.

The cooldown:
Cooling down is an often overlooked part of training and is just as important as warming up. It consists of reduced heating. i.e. Easy 5-10 minute jog followed by easy, slow static stretching.