Three, Four, and Five Stride Approach Drills for the High Jump

The legendary British High Jump Coach, Alex ‘Fuzz’ Caan explains his approach to coaching the 3,4, and 5 stride approach drills. This video covers the scissors in the first half, and the Fosbury Flop in the second half.

As an important disclaimer, it’s important to remember that Alex Caan is a High Performance coach and is therefore usually talking from the perspective of coaching senior athletes rather than juniors (i.e. under 14 years of age).

Contrary to what Alex says in this video, Australian Jumps coach Gary Bourne spoke in favour of performing the scissors from a straight-line approach for junior athletes. The straight approach is an effective drill to develop the athletes’ vertical take-off, foot plant at take-off, and rhythmic accelerating approach.

The reason Gary advocates a straight approach for junior athletes is because a curved approach generates very high rotational forces on the support leg knee when the swinging leg is in a long, extended position. Without the required strength, the Scissors technique from a curved approach can lead to serious knee injuries.