Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #59: Gill1918 Presents Olympian Jamie Nieto “Hot Tips for HJ” Powered by Coach O

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#59: Gill1918 Presents Olympian Jamie Nieto “Hot Tips for HJ” Powered by Coach O · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
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  coaches for coaches, powered by Gill Athletics.
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  Think of it as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
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  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
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  you grow as a coach. This episode is part of the
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  Youth and Beginner Series, brought to you by Coach O.
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  In this series, we focus on topics relating to coaching
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  youth athletes, coaching beginner athletes of any age,
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  and supporting brand new coaches as they find their way.
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  With that in mind, let's grow. What's up everybody, It's your
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  boy, two time Olympic high jumper, actor, writer and
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  producer Jamie Nieto. Now today I'm going to be
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  talking to you about what it takes to be an amazing high
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  jumper. All right, So for me, the first
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  thing that I always teach kids and younger athletes or anybody
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  who I start working with is Sprint mechanics.
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  If you think about it, Sprint mechanics is really the key or
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  one of the keys to becoming a great high jumper.
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  Why? Well, think about it, 90% of
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  what you're doing when you high jump is running.
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  So why not be as efficient as as possible on the runway?
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  So that's something to think about because only 10% is
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  probably actually the jump, right?
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  We have 10 steps or 8 steps or 12 steps or however many steps
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  you take and however many steps you take that is still going to
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  be a run now. So, so that's the first thing I
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  like to talk about is, you know, learning Sprint mechanics.
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  I think, you know, if you work with your Sprint coaches or, or
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  whoever, you know that that can definitely help you out a lot.
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  The, the next thing I like to talk about is consistency.
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  This is always key. Consistency is key.
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  Consistency of the way you're thinking, consistency in what
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  you're doing when you're doing your high jumping and your
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  approach. So for me, I, I like to look at
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  it like this with, with the high jump, there are three different
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  phases. Now you might not hear this from
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  a lot of coaches or a lot of athletes there and, and a lot of
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  them might do it and don't even realize that they're doing it.
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  But when you know that you have 3 phases and you go to execute
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  those 3 phases, guess what? You become more consistent.
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  If you don't know that you have those 3 phases, then your
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  consistency can be all over the place.
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  You're you're worrying about rhythm and you're worrying about
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  tempo and you're worrying about all these other things.
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  But if you can get your phases right, then that can help with
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  all that other stuff with rhythm and tempo, because those things
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  are important as well. But I think if you get the
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  phases connected together right, then you will be able to
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  consistently jump higher. So what are the phases?
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  Well, when you've learned, when you're learning Sprint
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  mechanics, you learn that, OK, what makes something or someone
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  really fast? Well, what makes a person fast
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  is speed and frequency. So, right, So if you don't know,
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  speed is how much ground you're, you're covering, right?
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  That's how much ground you're covering.
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  Frequency is how quickly your feet are hitting the ground.
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  So the reason why Usain Bolt is so fast is because he's 6 foot
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  5. He's covering a lot of ground
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  with those long legs. But not only that, his legs are
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  hitting the ground, His feet are hitting the ground just as fast
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  as the little guys or the shorter guys, let me not call
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  them little, but the shorter guys.
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  So his feet are hitting the ground at a rapid frequency as
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  well as covering more ground than everybody else.
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  That's one of the reasons why he's a world record holder,
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  right? So if you know that, OK, we know
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  that in the beginning of your approach, you want to push out
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  and you want to build speed, right?
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  So that's the first phase speed. But there's always got to be a
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  transition. So if you're driving in a car
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  mostly don't really have stick shifts anymore, but if you
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  really pay attention to what your automatic car is doing,
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  it'll drive, it'll rent the, the, the motor will Rev and then
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  it'll take a pause and, and then, and then hit that next
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  gear. So it's the same thing.
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  So you always got to have that pause, right?
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  So when you drive out, that middle phase is almost that
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  pause. And I'm not telling you you need
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  to stop, obviously, and I'm not telling you you need to slow
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  down. You, you got to keep the speed
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  that you just built from the first phase.
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  So the first phase, if we're doing 10, a 10 step approach is
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  drive 123. That's pushing out driving,
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  building that speed, right? You're covering ground and then
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  45645 and 6 is going to be that middle phase, which is your
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  second phase, which is more of a maintenance phase.
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  And I like to call it a maintenance phase.
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  But what it is, is it's maintaining that that, that
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  speed that you just built. Now that gives us a moment to be
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  able to get in great position. So now we can stand up really
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  tall because we want to be as tall as we can, right?
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  Because the higher your center of gravity is, the the better it
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  is. When you take off, you don't
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  want to have a low center of gravity.
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  Now you're coming out of a hole. You want to get the optimum
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  position at takeoff, which is usually about 1/4 squat.
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  So now you get up tall and you're, you're straight up and
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  down in the curve. So you're 456 now 6 is the
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  beginning to your next phase. So your last four steps, like I
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  said, it's a 10 step approach. Once you hit 6, now you go 78910
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  and that's 78910 is guess what frequency.
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  So you're, you're, you're not gaining any speed anymore.
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  Even though when you look at people's approach, sometimes you
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  think, oh, it's just a constant build up every, most people do
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  it. Most people have three phases
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  where they realize it or not. And they're they're all settled
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  in some of their in the ways they do it.
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  Mine I felt like was very defined when I had jumped.
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  I drove out 123-456-7910. That was my rhythm.
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  That was the frequency at the end that 7910, the drive out 123
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  is the is the drive the building of the speed 456.
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  I'm breathing, I'm relaxing in the sense I'm but I'm not
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  slowing down. I'm maintaining speed.
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  I'm making, I'm getting my posture and I'm getting tall.
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  I'm getting in the right position.
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  So now when I get into that curve for 7910, it's almost like
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  I'm running downhill, right? My feet are hitting the ground
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  that quick, right? So that's, that's the main thing
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  when it comes to speed and frequency that really helps with
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  the, the phases of your approach.
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  Now, some people, like I said, they, they do it and it's, it's
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  different. Some people might go
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  12345678910, you know, some, some might go 12345678910.
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  You know, there's so many different ways that you can do
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  it and you got to find a way that really works and that's
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  best for you. Consistency is key.
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  So when you do that, you can't keep changing.
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  A lot of times, you know, especially high school athletes
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  still, you know, have their approach here, there, over
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  there. They might use their friends
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  approach one day. They just pick up a spot.
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  I've seen it all. You got to be consistent.
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  The other thing that helps you to be consistent, right, is
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  measuring out your approach, right?
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  So you say, well, I do measure out my approach every time.
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  Well, then I would ask you, well, where do you put the the
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  measuring tape? And you might say well in front
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  of the standard or behind the standard or on the side of the
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  standard. What you got to realize is every
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  standard, almost almost every standard is different.
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  Let me not talking absolutes, but almost every standard is
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  different. So you got to realize that,
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  okay, the bar never changes and where the where the bar is sits,
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  the little peg that it sits on never changes.
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  So if you know that that never changes, no matter what kind of
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  standard you have, that's the best place to start your
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  measuring from. Because some standards are wide,
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  some standards are small, some standards are skinny, some more
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  tall, some. So you have all these different
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  standards. Now that's going to make you
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  inconsistent If you're measuring in a spot that's always
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  different, but the bar and the peg isn't always different.
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  That's always the same. That's the most consistent.
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  So that's what I would look at. That's what I would look for
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  when when measuring. So you'd measure out from the
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  standard. My, my width was about 12 feet
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  and then I measure back from 12 feet all the way back to about
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  74 feet. And I would usually have a min
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  mark, which is usually around half of 74.
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  So whatever that was, sometimes it'd be a little bit off
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  depending on how hard I pushed out of the back or whatever.
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  So it wouldn't be exactly half, but usually it's around, you
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  know, half, half of whatever that long number is.
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  So the thing you got to think about is trying to keep things
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  as consistent as possible. The more inconsistent you are,
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  the more inconsistent you're going to be when you jump.
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  Now, I say that also in the sense of, hey, when I get up on
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  my mark, they've called my name and it's time for me to jump.
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  Now what do I do? Well, I have a routine that I do
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  and my routine is within a few seconds before I actually start
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  to run. So when I go over there on my
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  mark, I put my foot down. I look, visualize myself in the
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  approach, see myself jumping in the bar, drop back to my back
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  foot, push out and go. It's the same every time.
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  You can tie me. I'm sure I'll be within seconds
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  of of the same time every time you tie me on every approach
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  because I'm consistently thinking the same thing.
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  I'm consistently trying to always do the same thing that is
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  going to lead to consistent high jumping and to consistently
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  jumping higher. Those are things you got to
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  think about. So that's just a little brief,
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  just a little brief tip there for you.
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  You know, when you're thinking about coaching and and getting
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  ready to to start this new season off.
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  Hopefully that helps. I have a bunch more drills and
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  tips and you know, things that you can do as you're preparing
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  for this season and my new virtual camp coming up.
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  It's coming up on September 21st, 2025.
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  It's a virtual camp. Like I said, it's on zoom.
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  So make sure you guys register today.
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  If you if you're excited about it and you want to jump higher
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  and you want to get more consistent, this is the place
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  you need to be. All right, go to my website WW
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  dot Jamie dot com. That's J AM i.e.
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  NI eto.com, jamienieto.com. Make sure you go there Sign up
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  today. I'd love to see you there at
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  let's jump high. Let's get this season started
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  off right. Just want to give a big thanks
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  to Kocho and this opportunity. Please find me on social media
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  at Jamie Nieto on Instagram and X and Facebook and and if you're
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  interested in movies and stuff as well, I'm I'm also shooting a
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  short film right now and I'm raising money for that.
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  It's called recall and you can see see that on my on my
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  Instagram as well. So please continue to follow me.
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  Keep me in your prayers. Good luck.
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  God bless and jump high. Thank you very much.
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  And once again, don't forget to holler at your boy.
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  Hi Jamie nieto.com Peace. Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here.
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  Thanks for joining us for this episode in the Youth and
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  beginner series Powered by Coach O Powered by Coach O is more
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  than a platform. It's a movement to benefit track
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  and field by supporting coaches, athletes, parents, officials and
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  event directors and countless ways.
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  Find out more and get yourself plugged in to the Powered by
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