← Blog

How long should a long jump run-up be?

Long enough to reach the speed the athlete can still take off from, and not one stride longer.

Somebody asks how many steps their long jumper should take, and the answer is usually a number with no reasoning attached to it. The number is not really the point. The approach should be as long as the athlete can use and not one stride longer, and that is something you can find out in a session rather than argue about.

What the approach is for

It exists to deliver the athlete to the board with the most speed they can still take off from. Both halves of that matter. More speed is worth more distance, and speed the athlete cannot convert arrives as a problem instead: a heavy last step, a takeoff that goes forwards rather than up, or a foul because they were moving too fast to place the foot.

So the right length is personal, and it moves as the athlete gets fitter and faster. A beginner who accelerates for three seconds and then hangs on does not need eighteen strides. They need to arrive at the board still gaining speed slightly, under control, with the last two steps intact.

Rough starting points

• A first-year jumper usually starts somewhere around 10 to 12 strides.
• A trained high school jumper is often in the 14 to 18 range.
• Senior and elite jumpers run 18 to 22, because they can still hold speed that far into a run.
• Changing the count by one switches the foot the athlete starts on, so pick a number and keep it.

Those are starting points and nothing more. What settles it is the last three strides, not the total.

Measuring it backwards

The standard method is to run the approach away from the pit. The athlete stands at the board, faces down the runway, and sprints away with the same effort and rhythm they would use coming in, while somebody marks where the foot lands on the right stride. Do it three times and take the average, because one run tells you very little. Measure that distance back from the board with a tape and write it down in metres and in the athlete's own foot lengths, so it can be rebuilt at a track where nobody brought a tape.

Then run it forwards and check. A run-up that measures correctly backwards but lands the athlete a foot behind the board coming in is completely normal on the first attempt. Move the start mark. Do not change the stride.

The signs it is the wrong length

Too long shows up at the end of the run. The athlete decelerates over the last few strides, the steps get short and busy, the takeoff flattens, and the fouls become erratic rather than consistent. Too short is quieter: the jump looks controlled, the athlete is still accelerating at the board, and the distance is simply less than their speed should have bought.

Both of those feel acceptable to the athlete, which is why the answer comes from measuring rather than asking.

What the app can check

The Film Room's long jump setting reports the takeoff angle against the 18 to 22 degree band, hip rise as a share of body height, and trunk and arm position through the approach. It cannot measure your run-up. No stride count, no distance from the board, nothing that knows where your start mark is.

What it can do is answer the question that decides the length. Film three jumps off the current approach, add two strides, film three more from the same camera position, and compare. If the takeoff angle flattens and the hip rise drops, the extra speed is not being converted and the run was already long enough. If both hold up, the athlete has room for the extra distance.

Measure the approach the same way every session and write down the conditions with it. A run-up set into a headwind in March is not the same run-up in still air in May, and the athlete finds that out at the board.

Related

Try it: Long jump takeoff analysis from a phone video