High Jump On-line Calculator

A big thank you to Ken Stone of MastersTrack.com for pointing this out to me.  I love it when Science & Technology meets Track & Field.

The High Jump Resource Center belongs to Todd Acheson, a two-time NCAA DIV II All-American in the High Jump.

I discussed Baseball’s circular path when rounding the bases, so this web site caught my attention.

From his web site, he makes a few assumptions:

• As a high jumper, it is assumed you will be using the flop method of jumping.
• The curve portion of the approach that the jumper runs is CIRCULAR.
• The high jump standards are fixed points of reference. Once measurements are obtained, these two objects should never be moved during the course of competition or during practice.
• The concepts presented here can be considered a common sense approach to high jumping. Like most challenges in sports, you may not be able to teach your body to do what your mind wants it to do, overnight. Practice is the only way to develop these principals. It may take months or years for an athlete to really feel comfortable with their approach.  In order for you to see success with this program, you must practice with determination and diligence.

There are 4 basic components of the approach:

1. Take-off point
2. Take-off angle
3. Number of Steps on the Curve
4. Stride Length

With these 4 variables defined, you can use some applied math to find a very good approximation of the intercept point where an athlete should be starting their approach curve.

In a game of inches or centimeters, being consistent on the mark is the key in any jumping event.  When I was a Long and Triple jumper,

If you are a high jumper, please visit this page for a detailed look and the on-line calculator.  The article is now hosted on SpeedEndurance, thanks to Todd Acheson.