One of the major things I’ve noticed in my time as a strength and conditioning coach is that young athletes (and many people for that matter) don’t know how to properly absorb force. Specifically, when performing jumping exercises like box jumps, broad jumps, etc., I see a great deal of poor landing mechanics that need fixing. The landing (deceleration) phase of jumping is highly demanding on the body. When an athlete lands from a jump, there are enormous ground reaction forces transmitted from the ground to the athlete. If an athlete doesn’t land optimally, they are putting undue stress on certain joints and heightening their risk of injury.

Here is an incorrect landing strategy that I see very often:

Many times, this will be accompanied with a loud “thud” when the athlete’s feet strike the ground. Here, I land with straight legs and fail to evenly distribute the ground reaction forces throughout my body. Note that I’m relying on passive structures (bone, cartilage) for shock absorption, rather than active structures (muscles). Not good.

Here’s another incorrect pattern that I see often, as well:

I like to refer to this type of landing as a “knee strategy,” a phrase I stole from Dr. Chris Powers of USC. Notice how I land with my quads and use my knees. My torso is upright, I don’t have much hip flexion, and my weight is on the balls of my feet. Again, not good.

So, what are the components of a good landing? Here are a few things to look (and listen) for:

• Torso angle – In a proper landing, the torso should be forward, at roughly a 45 degree angle, which leads to more…
• Hip Flexion – The hips should be back and sufficiently flexed to take the stress off the knees.
• Knee Flexion – There should be a slight degree of knee flexion, however, most of the flexion should take place at the hips. Watch out for knee valgus (more on this later).
• Weight Centered – The weight should be centered on the foot when landing, not on the balls of the feet or the heel. Having the weight centered creates a much more athletic position.
• Soft Feet – I like to tell our athletes that I shouldn’t hear their feet when they hit the ground. A cue that they really enjoy is “land like a ninja.”

As coaches, I feel that landing mechanics and deceleration/eccentric strength is something that we may gloss over. We spend so much time teaching athletes how to create force that we forget about the importance of absorbing force, too. Recently, I’ve taken a step back in my programming for young athletes to make sure they learn how to absorb force before getting into things like box jumps, etc. They need to prove to me that they can land properly and “qualify” for further jump training.

A great place to start with kids is, for lack of a better phrase, “Skeff” Drops. I got this exercise from Dynamic coach Matt Skeffington.

Have the athlete begin on his toes and then, using an auditory cue (a simple “Go” or clap will suffice), immediately drop into their landing position.

After the athlete has mastered this, they’re ready for Depth Drops. Begin with a 12” box, and as they get more proficient, increase the height to 18” and beyond. I like to stick with no more than 5 reps per set.

In the video below, I demonstrate a “hip strategy” (another phrase I stole from Dr. Powers) when landing. By landing in this way, I’m utilizing eccentric contractions of glute max and hamstrings to absorb the ground reaction forces.

Females typically need a bit more work with landing mechanics. They tend to be more “ligament dominant” (thanks to Matt for teaching me this phrase), relying on passive structures to buffer their landings. For that reason, it’s paramount that they strengthen glute max and learn to use it when decelerating in the landing phase (note that the primary mechanism for ACL injury is knee hyperextension, hip adduction, and hip internal rotation; glute max extends, abducts, and externally rotates the hip, so strengthening and using this muscle will help prevent knee valgus and ACL injury).

A quick and dirty way to force females to fire their glutes during “Skeff” Drops, Depth Drops, and even Box Jumps, is to have them place a mini-band around their knees.

I hope this post has reminded you of the importance of absorbing force and that you will think about implementing some of these exercises with your athletes to keep them healthy and performing at a high level!