by Thomas Kurz
You can do it if you just have a little confidence.
—D. L. Feltz, Understanding Motivation
Squat jump is both an exercise for improving jumping ability and a test of it. You can see it used as a test in a contest between a dancer and a weightlifter in the video below:
Now, what instructions would you give the dancer so that she doesn’t develop the mental block that kept her from jumping at the top of her potential? I mean, how would you let her safely check whether she can jump at a given height of the platform or not, so she would not make needless attempts that only create and strengthen a fear-based block? (And in the shown setup her fear is well-justified.) If you know, please share your knowledge by commenting on this post.
If you have any questions on training you can post them at Stadion’s Sports and Training Discussion Forum.
When training parkour, this is a common challenge; natural obstacles are rarely at the right height for gradual progression, e.g. Transitioning in jumping from 5 to 6 steps up a stairway.
I have found overjumping to “land like a helicopter” on the current best height (or lower) is helpul for creating a rational confidence in the greater height prior to fully commiting. The skill is not exactly the same as what I have described, but mimicing the skill as close as possible seems the best approach when you can’t directly practice the skill.
In parkour it is beneficial to learn how to safely bail out of unsuccessful landings. I am a few years out of practice, but developing a deliberate skill and learning to rapidly choose between a good landing and a bail out landing has been helpful for avoiding poor jumping skill acquisition. I’m not certain that a dancer would want to follow the parkour style as there are other skills to develop and refine that might be more important.
Some other ideas:
– jump from a low platform to marginally reduce the height
– use a small run up and reduce the run up gradually
– have some assistance in the jump from a partner to provide additional lift
– jump beside the platform and gauge your max effort to see whether you will make it
Just a quick note: I’d like to thank you Thomas – I have appreciated your knowledge and resources greatly as I have continued to learn to apply sport science in my ventures. Kind regards, Sam.
@Sam Hight
Excellent ideas!
And I am very glad you find my works useful.
You can see an example of jumping beside the platform in the video. The Olympic Lifter does it before one of his last few attempts.
Maybe video it and show it to the pole dancer so she can see how much she clears the platform by.
Also maybe tell her to turn away from the platform when she does the test so that she doesn’t focus on a self-imposed height limit
Here is what I would do:
When she has doubts about whether she can land a given height, I’d tell her to squat in front of the platform and jump straight up–not onto the platform but just straight up–and look where her feet are at the top of her jump. If in such a vertical jump she sees that her feet are above the surface of the platform then she knows and feels she has a good chance of a clean landing on the platform at this height–even though in the proper squat jump her trajectory will be longer (because of its slant).