Prep Like a Pro: The Broad Jump
August 15, 2018
At his Plex facility in Houston, Danny Arnold has trained numerous NFL All-Pros, Hall of Famers, and First-Round Draft Picks, including Charles Woodson, Julius Peppers, Casey Hampton, Wes Welker, and Jadeveon Clowney. Widely recognized as the world's leading expert in NFL Combine preparation, Danny has generously agreed to share his training tips for The D10's Combine-style events with our community.
Come see the room where it happens. Plex hosts a D5 Houston August 25th. Sign up here.
Come see the room where it happens. Plex hosts a D5 Houston August 25th. Sign up here.
A lot of times, people think the Broad Jump is all about strength and power, and they train for it like a one-rep maximum event.
Even though it's only one rep, it's an explosive, fast movement.
What you want to do in your training is learn to get out of your stance as fast as possible.
Even though it's only one rep, it's an explosive, fast movement.
What you want to do in your training is learn to get out of your stance as fast as possible.
Power
The jump is a very similar movement to heavy squats, but we don't train for it at Plex with super-heavy lifting.
Technique
It's impossible to teach it correctly in something written, but there's obviously a lot of technique involved in the Broad Jump.
You have to get that technique down. What the technique boils down to is: how to use momentum.
You can look at photos of guys in the air, and their arms are exerting force backwards and contradicting their momentum.
Find drills that focus on getting all your momentum going in the same direction, at the same time.
You don't want the body to work against itself.
Flexibility
A big key to the Broad Jump is to start incorporating a lot of ankle flexibility drills.
When you shift your body weight forward and backward to create that initial momentum, almost like a rocking chair, you want to have as much range as possible.
If your ankles are stiff, you can only rock back and forth a little bit.
You really want to be able to swing off your pivot.
Even at the moment the body is about to fall forward, the feet are still pushing hard on the ground, so when you explode, you create maximum forward movement.
The jump is a very similar movement to heavy squats, but we don't train for it at Plex with super-heavy lifting.
All we're doing is putting 135 on the bar, and then squat.
The Broad Jump relies more on fast-twitch muscle fibers than some people believe.
Technique
It's impossible to teach it correctly in something written, but there's obviously a lot of technique involved in the Broad Jump.
You have to get that technique down. What the technique boils down to is: how to use momentum.
You can look at photos of guys in the air, and their arms are exerting force backwards and contradicting their momentum.
Find drills that focus on getting all your momentum going in the same direction, at the same time.
You don't want the body to work against itself.
Flexibility
A big key to the Broad Jump is to start incorporating a lot of ankle flexibility drills.
When you shift your body weight forward and backward to create that initial momentum, almost like a rocking chair, you want to have as much range as possible.
If your ankles are stiff, you can only rock back and forth a little bit.
You really want to be able to swing off your pivot.
Even at the moment the body is about to fall forward, the feet are still pushing hard on the ground, so when you explode, you create maximum forward movement.
The August 25th D5 takes place at Plex from 12 noon to 2pm. The order of events will be Pull-Ups, Broad Jump, Vertical Jump, 20 Yard Shuttle, and Bench Press. Benchmark your training progress and come check out your November competition.
Previous entries by Danny Arnold
Prep Like a Pro: 20 Yard Shuttle
Prep Like a Pro: Vertical Jump
Prep Like a Pro: 40 Yard Dash