# Has anyone tried this high jump technique?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [December 17, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673 "2009-12-17T21:48:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/1 "2009-12-17T21:48:32Z")
Apply angular momentum to gain elevation, by doing handsprings during the approach to the high jump. Basically taking advantage
There have been videos of soccers players doing a handspring on a in-bounds play and they can throw the ball much further than a conventional throw.
Gymnasts in the floor exercise get what appears to be incredible elevation dismounting after a tumbling routine.
When I was a kid, I was fascinated by spinning objects like tops. I would try to spin other things as well. sometimes the spinning object would be a little lobsided and start to fall over. When toppled over and hit an edge, the object would bounce.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/2 "2009-12-17T21:51:23Z")
High jump rules require taking off from one foot.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/3 "2009-12-17T22:55:21Z")
30 years ago people tried doing a 360 flip during the long jump but it did not help get longer jumps.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/4 "2009-12-18T02:00:17Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> High jump rules require taking off from one foot.
I don’t see how the proposed technique would violate that.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/5 "2009-12-18T02:41:27Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#):
>
> Apply angular momentum to gain elevation…
How does angular momentum improve elevation?
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### Author:  [@dudemanjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dudemanjack)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/6 "2009-12-18T02:51:02Z")
Isn’t the mat that gymnasts do floor exercise on somewhat springy? They seem to bounce off it on a lot of the landings.
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### Author:  [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/7 "2009-12-18T04:48:58Z")
> [@Xema](#):
>
> How does angular momentum improve elevation?
My theory is that a spinning object that topples over will bounce off the surface. And gymnasts apparently get a lot of elevation at the end of tumbling run of handsprings and cartwheels.
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### Author:  [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/8 "2009-12-18T04:58:12Z")
Somebody needs to bone up on their Newtonian Physics.
No, it would not help. Period. When a jumper tries to get over a bar the goal is to raise his center of gravity over the height of the bar. When you flip your center of gravity does not change, your extremities simply rotate about it. Angular momentum is only really relevant with respect to the center of gravity, not to the ground. Any angular momentum gained from flipping is offset completely by the opposite momentum occurring on the other side of the center of gravity. In other words, flipping might speed up the rate at which your head rises but it equally increases the speed at which your feet fall, for a net effect of zero.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Klutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Klutz)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/9 "2009-12-18T11:03:19Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> High jump rules require taking off from one foot.
What’s the purpose of this rule? I would have thought that the object is simply to jump as high as possible. Why have such a restriction?
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/10 "2009-12-18T11:24:41Z")
> [@Omniscient](#):
>
> When a jumper tries to get over a bar the goal is to raise his center of gravity over the height of the bar.
Wrong. The Fosbury Flop doesn’t do this - the CofG is kept below the bar at all times when it is well executed.
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/11 "2009-12-18T11:28:32Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> Wrong. The Fosbury Flop doesn’t do this - the CofG is kept below the bar at all times when it is well executed.
The trick, of course, being to have the CG **outside** the body at the exactly appropriate moment. 😛
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/12 "2009-12-18T13:18:05Z")
> [@Xema](#):
>
> How does angular momentum improve elevation?
Maybe if they did it on a treadmill.
Yeah, I went there.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-tried-this-high-jump-technique/521673/13 "2009-12-18T13:21:14Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#):
>
> And gymnasts apparently get a lot of elevation at the end of tumbling run of handsprings and cartwheels.
Floor exercises surfaces are springy, not something you’d find in a high jump approach.