How Broad Jumps Can Tell You if You’re Getting Faster

This post is going to highlight an article that gives you the tools to know your athletes are getting faster without having laser timing gates and doing away with the flawed method of hand timing. This is your low-cost, high-effectiveness solution!

Resistance training and additional physical exertion aim to elicit positive performance results. Each program should be designed to make you better. Each exercise is selected with a purpose.

The most common way that results are measured is with re-evaluations of the same metrics taken before training. The most accurate results are objective measures, which can be pricey for programs that are dealing with budgetary restrictions.

If you’re a small high school or club organization, you know what I’m talking about.

In my time as a collegiate strength and conditioning coach, I’ve dealt with those low-budget scenarios. This is a reason I’ve sought to highlight ways that other coaches in similar situations can still glean objective insights without having the means for high-tech gadgets.

This post is going to highlight an article that gives you the tools to know your athletes are getting faster without having laser timing gates and doing away with the flawed method of hand timing. This is your low-cost, high-effectiveness solution!

It should be noted that you can hand-time sprints if you want. It is done all the time. I would recommend doing multiple sprints to get an average and that the same coach times every rep. In this manner, you will get the same human error on each test so the reliability of the numbers is better than multiple coaches each time.

Correlations between horizontal jump and sprint acceleration and maximal speed performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Here are some takeaways:

“The results of this study demonstrated the sprint time of the acceleration phase is moderately and negatively correlated with standing long jump, single leg standing long jump, and horizontal drop jump distance, and largely and negatively correlated with multiple jump distance. The sprint time of the maximal speed phase is very largely and negatively correlated with standing long jump and multiple jump distance… Therefore, this review indicates the moderate to very large associations between horizontal jump and sprint acceleration and maximal speed performance, and the highest magnitude of associations between them is found in the multiple jump. Moreover, compared to the sprint acceleration performance, there are greater associations between maximal speed performance and standing long jump and multiple jump distance.”

Single Broad Jump (Horizontal Jump) has a moderate correlation to acceleration - beginning of your sprint, and it has a very large correlation to max speed - like in a 40-yard sprint.

Multiple Jumps (4 or more consecutive horizontal jumps) have a large correlation to acceleration and a very large correlation to max speed.

If you don’t have a very reliable timing system, or none other than a stopwatch, you can lay out a long measuring tape and have your athletes jump. By having them do four consecutive broad jumps (sticking the last landing, of course), you can measure progress. As their numbers go up, you can confidently assume that their sprint times are increasing. You will also be able to see whether or not they are looking faster. Not only are they getting better at short acceleration but even better at maximum speed.

Your best “bang for your buck” assessment would be a multiple jump because of the higher correlations associated with the desired result. This can be used as an easy measuring stick for a strength and conditioning coach’s plan. Additionally, single broad jumps or multiple broad jumps can be used as a physical readiness check each week. Start with a general dynamic warm up, (here’s one in place if you’re limited on space) then take some warm-up broad jumps before you start recording numbers.

So get your measuring tape ready, grab a clipboard, paper and pen, and get to testing on your next training day!

-Zack Wallace

ACES Nation Athletic Performance Specialist