Training Principles for Jumpers

CoachR.org is a website I have often turned to for resources in track and field. Although many of the articles are technically oriented towards various track and field events, one article in particular stands out as one that can help any aspiring athlete or coach. This article is “Training Principles for Jumpers”: Implications for Special Strength Development. It is written by top South American coaches, Nelio Moura and Tania Fernandes de Paula Moura. Nelio Moura has a GOOD coaching resume and has coached multiple olympians including world champion long jumper, Irving Saladino. If you haven’t watched Irving jump, check him out, this guy has some serious bounce. Anyways, this article by Moura changed a lot of the ways I think about coaching jumpers, and bring up a lot of good points. Here is the link to the article, I would strongly recommend reading it.

http://www.coachr.org/tpjrs.htm

Here are the top three take home points of this particular article.

Short training cycles are better than long ones. The authors typical cycle is 2 weeks on and 1 week of a reduced load for recovery. This is now the main type of training cycle I use, and it is incredible. This is also important to know as performing training such as maximal strength training for more than 8 weeks will cause negative effects regarding elasticity and fast-twitch response in athletes.
Special strength and power need to be present for the majority of the training year. Since power is your main goal in training the jumps, you should never neglect it for too long.
Quality plyometric training is a cornerstone of track and field jumpers (it is important for basketball/volleyball/team sport jumpers too!) and high quality power work is the cornerstone of any jumps training program.

If you are interested in the long term development of your vertical leap, check this article out! You will be glad you did.

Joel

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