Best technique

[Atticus]

We have all raved about athletes who do their event perfectly, so here's a thread to display their efforts. Just came across this Tentoglou (Greek LJ) video and love it.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1273600393176629249

[lonewolf]

Smoooooothe.. wonder what he could do without the hitches..

[Wiederganger]

Give me the hang technique any day. While his technique is no doubt very good, I was always more impressed by the spectacle of someone seemingly hanging in mid air, more so than someone running through the air...

[lonewolf]

Give me the hang technique any day. While his technique is no doubt very good, I was always more impressed by the spectacle of someone seemingly hanging in mid air, more so than someone running through the air...

Yep, that was my point. These guys are jumping a meter farther than I ever did but seventy years ago I experimented with hang and hitch (I suppose because it looked cool) and never got the hang of hitch. There ain't no traction once you leave the ground.

[Trickstat]

From memory, it is quite rare for a European to use the hitchkick.

[Elly Travers]

We have all raved about athletes who do their event perfectly, so here's a thread to display their efforts. Just came across this Tentoglou (Greek LJ) video and love it.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1273600393176629249

we all know how difficult it is for athletes especially before the competition, I wish all the athletes good luck

[scorpionking]

Give me the hang technique any day. While his technique is no doubt very good, I was always more impressed by the spectacle of someone seemingly hanging in mid air, more so than someone running through the air...

I am just the opposite. Perhaps in part because the hang came so much easier to me than hitch. Also I thought hitch was just plain cool.

[user4]

6 or one half dozen, not a dimes worth of difference between the two once the tape comes out.

[Atticus]

Biomechanics will tell you that the hitch-kick puts you in a better position to maximize your landing, but I really haven't seen much difference.
My best HKer admitted he did it to look good. Never had a female who liked it. You need to be in the air quite a ways to get through all the motions correctly.

[lonewolf]

Biomechanics will tell you that the hitch-kick puts you in a better position to maximize your landing, but I really haven't seen much difference.
My best HKer admitted he did it to look good. Never had a female who liked it. You need to be in the air quite a ways to get through all the motions correctly.

Hmmmm??? I dont no nuttin bout mechanics, bio or otherwise, but I would have assumed the opposite. In the hang, when/after you achieve maximum height, you can concentrate on extension for landing and bringing arms and torso forward to avoid fall back. True, ya gotta get up there and stay awhile to get in all that kicking. In fact, I think you have to be a better basic jumper to even attempt the hitch but I still don't see how all that clawing at the air can add distance once you leave the ground... but it does look cool... I tried both styles in my youth with equal results but settled on hang as a Master.

[Conor Dary]

We had a thread or 2 on this before. Tom Ecker wrote in his Basic Track & Field Biomechanics.

One of the two ways that rotation in the air, which begins on the ground, is initiated is through horizontal eccentric thrust. When any object is traveling forward and one end of it is stopped, the opposite end continues forward at an accelerated rate, and rotation is begun. If the object leaves the ground during that time, the rotary momentum that has been acquired continues until the object returns to the ground. The foot of the conventional long jumper is stopped at the board for about a tenth of a second, while his upper body moves forward 3.5 to 4 ft. Once the jumper is in the air, undesirable forward rotation around the transverse (side to side) axis is inevitable because of this horizontal eccentric thrust at the board. To ensure an economical landing position later in the jump, the jumper must introduce a corresponding compensating backward rotation before his foot leaves the board. Unfortunately, any attempt at adding backward rotation at takeoff, deliberate or not, reduces forward velocity appreciably.

In the Air

Once the long jumper is free in the air, the primary concern must be to assume an effective position for landing in the pit. If the takeoff has been efficient, then, natural forward rotation from the board continues throughout the jump, making it difficult to get the legs in front of the body’s center of mass at landing. Thus, the jumper must attempt to retard or reverse the body’s forward rotation while in the air. Over the years, through trial and error, long jumpers have developed different ways of slowing or temporarily reversing the undesirable forward rotation that is inevitable following a good takeoff. Assuming a hang position, for example, slows forward rotation, since rotary velocity is decreased as rotary inertia around the transverse axis is increased. The hitch-kick style reverses the forward rotation because of the movements of the legs and arms around two secondary axes—one through the shoulders and one through the hips. The running action of the legs and the windmilling of the arms combine to slow or even reverse the body’s forward rotation (see Figure 19-2). But the forward rotation at takeoff can only be retarded temporarily. It returns as soon as the hitch-kicking stops, and the jumper prepares to land in the pit. It is important to realize that the more efficient the technique of slowing or reversing forward rotation in the air, the faster the takeoff (and the longer the jump) may be. The sail technique requires such a slowdown at takeoff, for example, that a great deal of distance is automatically lost. As such, the hang technique (which usually contains some of the hitch-kick elements) is much more efficient than the sail. The most efficient of the conventional long-jump techniques, by far, is the hitch-kick, which reverses forward rotation the most, making it possible for the jumper to slow down very little at takeoff. However, hitch-kicking is one of the most difficult techniques to master because of the time required in the air to complete each hitch. The beginning long jumper must be able to jump reasonable well, using some other technique, before he can even try to learn an efficient hitch-kick style.

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Track-F...2766177&sr=8-2

[Atticus]

The most efficient of the conventional long-jump techniques, by far, is the hitch-kick, which reverses forward rotation the most, making it possible for the jumper to slow down very little at takeoff.

That's what I remember from my week-long USATF Level 2 Coaching course at Geo Tech. I've had few HS jumpers master it (sticking to the hang), but one that did, broke the school record by a lot.

[gh]

my revered HS coach always insisted there was no point in trying to learn a hitchkick until you became a 23-footer (7m). Otherwise not enough time to get into the right position for landing.

[gm]

my revered HS coach always insisted there was no point in trying to learn a hitchkick until you became a 23-footer (7m). Otherwise not enough time to get into the right position for landing.

I would agree with that.

[lonewolf]

my revered HS coach always insisted there was no point in trying to learn a hitchkick until you became a 23-footer (7m). Otherwise not enough time to get into the right position for landing.

I also agree. In fact, I think I pretty much said what Conor and gh posted... more concisely but less elegantly.