Part X · Running drills
Pogo Hops Two-Leg
Hop on the spot on the balls of both feet, knees nearly straight, a few centimetres off the ground, touching down as briefly as you can. Your calves and Achilles tendons do the bouncing, like a spring, not your knees.
The one cue
Low, quick, off the ankles
The lesson
- 01
Stand tall, feet under you
Feet about hip-width apart on grass or a flat path, weight on the balls of the feet. Knees soft but nearly straight, chest up, arms relaxed at your sides.
- 02
Bounce from the ankles
Hop straight up and down using only your ankles. The knees barely bend. Land on the balls of your feet and go straight into the next hop, heels hovering just off the ground.
- 03
Low and fast
A few centimetres high is plenty. Think of skipping rope without the rope: a quick, even tap-tap-tap with the shortest ground contact you can manage. Height is not the goal; a fast bounce is.
- 04
Quiet landings
Each landing should be light and quiet, hips, knees and ankles in line. A loud slap or the heels thudding down means the ankles have gone soft: go lower and slower until the landings are quiet again.
- 05
The test
You feel it in your calves and the back of the ankle, not the front of your thighs. If your thighs are working, your knees are bending and you are absorbing instead of bouncing.
Watch for
- Bending the knees on each landing. The thighs take the load and the bounce turns into a squat.
- Landing on the heels. The calves and Achilles stop acting as a spring and every landing jars.
- Hopping too high. Each contact gets longer and slower, the opposite of a quick bounce.
- Keeping going once the rhythm falls apart. Tired, sloppy hops train the wrong landing; stop and walk.
Are pogo hops the same as pogo jumps? Yes. Pogo hops, pogo jumps and pogos are names for the same quick, stiff-ankle bounce on both feet.
Are pogo hops plyometric? Yes, a gentle one. Plyometric means a jump where the muscle and tendon stretch on landing and spring straight back, and pogos are one of the lowest jumps of that kind.
Are pogo hops good for runners? Your calves and Achilles tendons store energy as you land and give it back as you push off, and pogos wake that spring up before you run. On their own, jump programmes show little or no clear effect on running efficiency, so treat them as preparation, not a shortcut.
How many, and when? 2 × 20 seconds on the spot, with 25 seconds of walking between, on grass or a flat path. They come fourth in the drills at the start of a run, after marching, ankling and A-skips, so the drills themselves are your warm-up. If jumping is new to you, or you are coming back from a calf or Achilles injury, keep the hops very low for the first few weeks, and leave them out on a day a calf or Achilles is sore.
Next drill
Single-Leg Pogo Hops→The same bounce with all your weight on one spring, and the hip has to stay level too.
From the book
14Strong feet. Strong everything.→