• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.277-283
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• 2017

In this study, we investigated how a jumping strategy changes with an increase in the vertical jump height for a resultant ground reaction force (GRF) vector. We expected that the resultant force vector between two sequential motion phases (i.e., countermovement and push-off) of the countermovement jump would significantly change with the vertical jump height to take advantage of the resulting supportive force (i.e., an initial push-off force larger than the body weight) through the countermovement phase. Nine healthy young subjects were instructed to jump straight up to five different height levels ranging from 191 cm to 221 cm, and the kinematic and kinetic data were obtained in regular trials. The results showed that a lower center of mass position and larger resultant force vector were clearly observed in a higher jump, implying that the countermovement strategy changed with the vertical jump height to prepare for sufficient joint deviation and obtain a force advantage for larger push-off work.