Height Required for Jumps
I came across an old(er) article that I wanted to share with everyone. This article talks about the minimum height required for jump height. As I was doing some research on minimum air times for jumps, I found this article.
Calculating air time can be difficult without buying a slow-motion video app. I use a free one but it’s only good for approximations. Air time can also be a challenging concept for skaters to grasp. Height, however, is a relatively easy concept to understand.
Here’s how the two ideas intersect. From the minimum air time article, we see that the minimum air time required for an axel is approximately 0.30 seconds. Based on the minimum height article, we see that it requires about 4.3 inches in height for a successful jump.
Most of my jumps range from 0.33 (for my single axel, or 1A) to about 0.37 for my double salchow (2S). If you look at the charts that I combined below, it shows that for a single axel, double salchow and double toe loop, one must jump at least 4.3 inches in height. The double loop requires almost a full inch more in height – at 5.4 inches.
|
Jump Element |
Flight Time Required (in seconds) |
Height in Inches |
|
1A |
0.30 |
4.3 |
|
2S |
0.30 |
4.3 |
|
2T |
0.30 |
4.3 |
|
2Lo |
0.33 |
5.4 |
If you have a skater who is struggling with one of these jumps, perhaps framing it into jump height will be more helpful (and visual) for them to be able to grasp.
I find this information fascinating and hope that it’s helpful for someone else.
This is interesting and also puzzling, because average jump height for adults is so much higher than what’s required! (from google: “The average vertical jump for men falls between 16 to 20 inches while it is around 12 to 16 inches for women. A good vertical jump is one that’s over 2 feet for males and over 20 inches for females.”)
I guess this just shows how important technique is and making sure you can rotate quickly. And maybe confidence so that you’re approaching a reasonable proportion of your maximum jump height and not jumping too cautiously!
Author
That is insane! I can’t imagine jumping 12-16 inches! I’m scared of jumping 3 inches. 🙂
Fascinating, Eva. I wonder if coaches these days do a lot of jump training off ice. I saw a young woman today doing double axels on the floor and she got amazing height, even on the floor. I didn’t stick around to see her do them on the ice, but I bet they were impressive there too.
Author
I’m fairly certain the elite skaters all work on their elements off ice. It’s amazing what they can do on land!