Land first, then jump

Jump training teaches your body to hit the ground and leave it again, quickly and safely. It makes athletes faster and springier. It only works if the landing is learned first.

Land before you launch

Every jump ends in a landing. If the landing is loud and stiff, the joints are taking what the muscles should. So landings get taught first.

A tendon is a rubber band

When your foot hits the ground, the tendon stretches and snaps back. Leave quickly and you get that energy back for free. Sit on the ground too long and it's gone.

Four kinds of jump

They differ mostly in one thing: how long the foot stays down. All four are shown in the same slow motion.

Ian's foot is on the ground

The ladder

You earn each rung with quiet landings on the one before. Nobody starts at the top.

How much

Less than you think. This is skill work, not conditioning.

FreshAt the start of the session, after the warm-up. Tired jumping is just practising bad landings.

FewShort sets, a handful of jumps each. For a beginner, well under a hundred landings in a session.

Full restWalk back, breathe, go again when you feel springy. A day or two between hard jump days.

The stop sign is your ears. When the landings get loud, the set is over.

For parents: growth spurts

When a kid grows fast, the bones get ahead of the muscles for a while and coordination dips. That's normal, and it's when landings matter most.

What to watch forKnees or ankles diving inward on landing. Stiff, straight-legged landings. A kid who was smooth last season and is suddenly clumsy.

What we do about itGo back down the ladder, not up. More landing practice, lower boxes, fewer jumps, and more strength for the hips, hamstrings and core.

Four ways to get it wrong

All common. All fixable.

Adding height before you can landA higher box is not progress if the landing sounds like a dropped toolbox.
Ian: "The box doesn't care how you get down. Your knees do."

Jumping tiredTwenty sloppy jumps at the end of practice teach twenty sloppy landings.
Ian: "First thing. Not last thing."

Too manyMore is not better here. Quality drops, and the tendons take the bill.
Ian: "Stop while they still look good."

Skipping the boring rungsLanding and pogo hops look too easy to bother with. They're the foundation.
Ian: "Everybody wants the depth jump. Nobody wants the pogo."