Learning to Land after a Big Jump
Most of us take it for granted. If we know how to jump, we know how to land. The horrible truth is, most of us don't know how to land properly after a jump. The big culprit, tip-toe landing after a big jump.
Note firstly that I'm using the term 'big jump.' If you are hopping around or skipping, you land tip-toe to utilize the stretch-reflex to bounce up and down continuously. But if you are jumping off a high platform, across a ditch or you are doing an Olympic-style lift, the only way to land is flat-footed.
Most people land on the ball of their feet under the misconception that doing so will soften their landing, allowing them to use their ankle to dampen the shock of landing. But the ankle is not a very good suspension.
Travel of the ankle
Using a cycling term, the travel of the ankle is tiny when compared to the travel of the hip and knee joints. The ankle is like the excuse of a suspension you find on your mother's bicycle, the one she goes to the market with, while the hip and knee is that crazy suspension you see on a downhill mountain bike, no comparison.
Travel of the hip and knee
But wouldn't you flex your hip and knee during tip-toe landing as well? You even demonstrated it in the video at the start!
And that is true. But flat full landing allows you to use your whole feet as a landing zone, providing you with greater stability due to the increased surface area of your landing zone. Reducing the chances of you slipping, falling and injuring yourself. Stability is keeping your center of gravity within the base of contact with the ground, and landing flat-footed gives you the maximum base of contact to keep yourself stable.
Next, try a simple exercise. Jump and land flat-footed, and then do so on the balls of your foot. You will notice a reduction of pain when you land flat-footed. It's just physics. The increased surface area of a flat-foot landing reduces the pressure on the landing zone. The force remains the same during the landing, a flat-foot landing provides more then 3 times the surface area and thus the pressure from landing is reduced greatly.
The next time you jump off a cliff, just remember these rules
1. Land flat-footed, this increases the stability of your landing and reduces pain and injury.
2. Use your hip and knee to soften the landing, they are a much better suspension then your ankle.
Flat-foot landing takes some practice and training to get them right. Take attention the next time you jump and land, make conscious effort to correct your landing pattern and record them into your muscle memory.
Lin Yimian, CSCS, SGX
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