What it does
It is where you lower your center of mass to set up an upward takeoff. The penultimate step is slightly longer and lower than the others, letting you sink so the last step can rise. Without it, you jump flat.
The penultimate step is the second-to-last step of your approach in the long jump, high jump, and triple jump, the one right before your takeoff foot plants. It is the most important and least understood step in jumping. Here is what it does and why coaches obsess over it.
It is where you lower your center of mass to set up an upward takeoff. The penultimate step is slightly longer and lower than the others, letting you sink so the last step can rise. Without it, you jump flat.
The pattern is penultimate long and low, last step short and quick. You sink on the penultimate, then snap off the final step into the jump. Reaching or chopping either one kills the jump.
Get the penultimate right and the takeoff almost takes care of itself. Get it wrong and no amount of effort at takeoff fixes a flat, braking plant. It is the setup that makes height and distance possible.
The penultimate step is too fast to feel but clear on tape. Film a jump from the side, the AI measures your last two steps and shows whether you are sinking and rising correctly or planting flat.
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The penultimate step is longer and lower so you drop your center of mass; the final step is shorter and quicker so you rise into the jump.
Common questions athletes and coaches ask about this topic.
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