In high jump, your centre of mass goes under the bar 

Watching videos like this has made me a better high jumper in high school. We never had a coach to teach high jump so I've been watch videos like this since I was a freshman. I'm a senior now and my junior year I became a state qualifier. I placed 11th in the state which is pretty amazing I think. It all thanks to videos like this.

I used to do the high jump in high school. And my god was it fun, such a rush. When all eyes are on you and you have to perform without any previous training it feels like your heart is gonna explode, and that extremely fast heartbeat fills you up with way more energy then you could probably imagine.

he cleared at least 2m on the day, and possibly 2.05m

R.I.P. Dick Fosbury. Just amazing that one kid in Oregon discovered this while all the world's top high jumpers and coaches thought that you had to propel almost your whole body over the bar at the same time.

music in this vid was thanks to Appchat - often I just spend a lot of time listening to tracks before I pick something. The beard is here to stay!

Awesome video. Fosbury completely revolutionized the sport

ok, so maybe I shouldn't have called it "physics of high jump" *changes title* but there were things in here that I learned about different techniques for example, that I haven't seen done elsewhere - or shown well in slow motion. And I do think the idea that your centre of mass passes under the bar is a cool so I wanted to show that.

3:51 where the epicness starts.

Excellent - his jumps are so graceful in slow motion. Thanks!

anyone else heard '2 minutes 22'? xD

Learned high jump in school :)

Good stuff. In 1975, 39 years ago in my 8th grade track meet I cleared the bar at 5 feet, five and one quarter inches (~1.66m), beating the standing school record by one quarter of an inch. I approached from the right and used a classic western-roll. Cheers, Mark PS: I still have the blue ribbon.

Great video! Usually, this is treated from the (correct) point of view of partial conversion of kinetic energy into potential energy; the paradoxical path of the centre of mass is often ignored. Can't wait for a new video about pole vaulting! Thanks!

I love high jump, it's one of my favourites, I'm 13 years old and I can jump 1.50 I wish I was taller than what I am.

The straddle or western roll... actually had jumpers go 7-7...I believe a Russian guy. We were still using that techinque in high school in 1970 after Fosbury because many schools only had a pit with a foot high pile of wet sawdust to land on.

This makes me miss high jump so badly. I did little athletics as a kid/teen for years. Out of all the events this is 100% the most satisfying. There's barely any satisfaction in throwing something a bit further than last time, or even jumping further in long jump. There's something really special about jumping that little bit higher in hight jump though, and soaring a little bit longer.

This is really cool; I loved the history part, and how the techniques allowed for higher jumps, and the explanation that in the modern technique your centre of gravity can be actually below the line of bar all the time. Then it's a matter of mastering the the arc of the body the right way, at the right time, to pass the bar. Of course, jumping high might also be important.

I think that it would also interact with the skydiver theory because If you try to land on your feet you will fall faster but land on your back you will fall slower

I like watching tutorials because my school doesn’t have a coach, so I was all self taught until this video showed up.

The story of the Fosbury flop is fascinating. Apparently the guy who it's named after was a high jumper who consulted a physicist about how he could improve his high jumping technique. The physicist realised how you could jump higher if your centre of gravity was kept lower during the jump and the jumper destroyed everyone at the olympics to win gold. By the next olympics, almost all high jumpers had copied the technique. I think that's roughly how the story goes.

Love this video and this channel... Makes high jump such a beautiful sport to watch in a diff perspective :)

Loving these videos, Derek! Thanks to your vid about sailing, I'm teaching my perschool kids a bit about Hunter as part of our Olympics theme, what with him being a local and all (I teach in Downtown Vancouver).

I remember when Dick Fosbury was jumping at meets leading up to the olympics. People thought his technique was so odd. Lots of people laughed at him. It is a classic example of "thinking outside the box." Looks like he had the last laugh!

More physics needed. I was surprised that he didn't know what you mentioned about the technique. I remember watching a video about the guy who first tried it. They thought he was nuts but when they saw his success, everyone started using it!

The video is cool - great visuals & nice pace - but not very informative... Apart from the fact the Fosbury allows the jumper to clear a bar without having to raise the center of mass as much as other techniques, we don't really get into the physics of high jump ; and even that is only a partial explanation: the roll jump also lowers the center of mass, it's just harder to jump as high like that. I know these videos take time to make, I just hope you can get more science into the next ones. :)

I really loved this video! one of your best! it wasn't as much physics as your other videos but i loved it!

Beautiful. Thank you 🌷

Straddle and western roll were two separate techniques. The western roll involved bringing the trail leg up beside the lead leg and clearing the bar on the jumpers side, inefficient but safe for landing in sand or saw dust. A master straddle jumper like Brumel kept his centre of gravity below the bar. the real advantage of the flop or Brill bend is that the jumper can approach at a higher rate of speed.

Well I think the video was awesome regardless of the fact that there isn't much physics involved in it. Nice job, Derek, and thank you for introducing us to all those fascinating people. :)

I have high jump TOMMOROW so I'm watching

I love these videos so much!

In grade 8 we had a multi-school track meet and I saw all three different techniques. At the professional level very few methods are competitive (that goes for any highly competitive thing that isn't a creative discipline, and even those narrow at the highest levels), but at slightly less competitive levels there's a lot of fun to be had trying out different ways

I really hope you can do something as in depth as this on the Hammer throw. That event looks insane!

Hi derek! Could you make more videos explaining physics in other track and field events? I think this one was nice and, being a jumper (triple jump), would like to see more!!!!!!

I really enjoyed your use of high-speed footage.

Derek's or someone's voice or laughter cracks me up at 1:40 xD

"You can fly?!" "No. Jump good!"

i had a high jump theme in PE and on my first try i hit the bar and i feel on it with by backbone

I am just starting the high jump and it is so incredibly fun!

I love the intro w/ all that jumper

I love this Chanel !

Man that background music never gets old...

Watching the high jump in slow motion makes it look so fun!!!

your videos are informative as always

A few things that were totally misrepresented here.... 1. the flop is about somersaulting. It is actually a forward and side flip. 2. The straddle is actually still valid because of the strong arm and leg actions. 3. The center of mass is very close to the bar, but the straddle has a higher COM takeoff position. The flop allows you to run faster and is maybe more forgiving on the knees.

i knew i couldnt sleep for some reason i geuss i was waiting for this

The straddle is not a bad technique allowing 2m35 in 1978. I understood that it is more difficult to learn than the Fosbury flop. The other advantage of the Fosbury flop is the high approach speed allowed. Good straddlers actually have a lower parabola to jump, I guess because your back is essentialy straight on the Fosbury flop

With an expert jumper as this one, the movement is so musical and so harmonious between different parts of the body, so gentle and to achieve that motion and trajectory the human mind must be as alert and as sharp and as strong as any muscle in the body. The timing must be perfect. To me a good high jumper seems to need the same conditions as a power engineer who goes to achieve only one harmonic from an electric generator and that is all the energy must be restricted to the fundamental waveform and not the harmonics. In fact when athletes and dancers, including ballet dancers perform their bit, one can immediately see if the performer is wasting energy in adding unnecessary motions. Even in horse racing, one can detect a good racing horse through noting that the horse's movement does not contain any unnecessary " harmonic" except the very fundamental motion, as energy will be wasted. There are many clumsy people who produce unnecessary motions in their manner of walking and running, and the graceful movements seems to win all the time. There seems to be an economy of energy in grace and elegance.

that was so awesome i can hardly believe how cool that was, if i could subscribe 1000 times then i would

Do one on pole vaulting!!! :D

Hopefully this will help me for my track meet coming up! Wish me luck!

I remember when my high school physics professor first showed us how this worked. It kind of blew my mind.

Very helpfull!! Thanks

Good effort on those jumps fella. :)

thank you! now those techniques are clear to me :')

I like informative videos but I thought it was awesome!. made me wanna try, it looks so fun in slow-mo.

Nice Movies! Thanks a lot.

that looks so cool!

Ooooh, I didn't know about the old techniques! That's so interesting! I actually learned to do the flop back in school... couldn't jump all that high but I was proud to know how to do it right at least. Most of the time I just chickened at the last moment, though. x) It's so completely against your instincts to jump backwards and head first no matter how well you know there's a soft landing.

What was that song at the end?! It was amazing!

I was literally mesmerized by the slow motion jumps.

I thought your left knee was going to break at 4:09. haha I'm a physical educator, big fan of biomechanics and how physics in general can be used to improve human movement increasing it's performance and safety. Great video. Thank you.

My school has MS olympic day today i'm doing high-jump and 100m sprint so this really helps me thank you ka

Very nice teaching my brother amazing

Very useful for my school sports day coming up >.

This is just beautiful .

i started doing highjump about 3 years ago, i was about 12 or 11 at the time. When i ran up to the bar i just naturally did the Fosbury flop, like it was in my instincts. That day i got a old record of 1.45 metres, last year was my highest jump with a height of about 1.60-1.65 metres at the age of 14. When i was 12 i was about 5'7", last year i was 6ft and couldn't dunk, now i'm 15, 6'1 and can dunk, hopefully my record gets higher next year.

The Fosbury Flop is such an ungainly maneuver, useful for jumping only when there's plenty of padding for the fall. I much more enjoyed the old scissors kick which resembles more a non-track event jump, how humans actually could clear an obstacle "out there" rather than in the coddled environment of a track and field meet.

I was just about to post the same questions about both the last two songs. I wish we knew!

Pole vault would be awesome! One misconception I come across often (as a physics teacher) is that people believe the springyness of the pole adds energy to the pole vaulter.

So when doing the high jump in school I guess you want to try whatever you can to start off with as high center of mass as possible and end with as low center of mass as possible to maximise efficiency.

awesome vid, looks like you have a lot of fun too

Beautiful

I’m 6’4, 14 years old and throw javelin but at my meet today they needed another high jumper, I volunteered and obviously did horrible since I have never done it but it was such a rush, hoping to keep doing it.

When I saw your RU-vid name I thought of Verita Serum from Harry Potter

This is at my local track OMG

Ack! Got there ahead of me! Well done. StarFox Forever!

what's the music at 0:09 ?? Thanks

Very cool, and now I learned there are 3 technics!

Thanks a lot. This really helped me with my homework :D

amazing video! thnks

this was awesome!

The world record in the straddle jump is only 10cm lower than the all time world record of 2.45m.

i just saw the center of mass video on Khan academy a couple minutes ago, and it mentioned the center of mass going under the bar too

looks so fun

I'm 5'0", 11 years old, and my record is 4"1'. I just started high jump and really want to improve, so this is really appreciated

How beautiful all the colors of this video

Dick Fosbury devised his Flop technique while he was in high school, in Medford, Oregon, about a mile from my house. His coach, Bill Bowerman later teamed up with a guy named Phil Knight and they co-founded a shoe company called Nike.

I think you did a fine Job Derek. I now understand better how they jump so high... Most of their body isn't that high at the same time.

We did this in gym for a track and field unit. I'm 5' 7" and my top height cleared was 5' 1". So for someone who had never done this before, a half foot under my height isn't that bad.

My track coach showed this video at our practice the other day.

I did high jump at primary school. I was freakishly tall for my age, but had poor technique. On those magical moments where I managed to flukishly get the technique right I could get WAY higher than the rest of the time. Can't even remember what my personal best was now. I also had this weird thing where I was jumping from the wrong side based on my handedness - I'm right handed but it felt more natural jumping from the left-handed position.

awesome video derek!

This is a great video. What is the music at 0:09 and then again at 3:51? It's really great!

beautiful

no i made the high jump team this year and at the tryouts i thought i would do terrible but its actually easier than it looks and really fun

Well I'm not an athlete in any way, but as far as i know, you start swinging your arms and one leg upwards while still on the ground. then when you are in the air you will stop the upwards motion of your arms and leg, to use the kinetic energy from the upwards motion to propel your entire body upwards --> jumping higher :)

because if you take off on the left leg on that side your right leg will be the one that will ultimately go over the bar first. it makes it harder if you take off with the right leg

I though you could choose which leg you took off from

I've got a question. How about a technique, where one approaches the bar from front - not by running - but by using floor gymnastic flips to obtain moro energy to his/her body, and just before the bar jumps forcefully, thus having both vertical velocity and rotating velocity. Hereby, when crossing the bar, ones center of gravity may be as low as possible AND theres great amount of energy.