Building Explosive Power for Jumps In Irish Dancing

Let's talk about jumps.

You want height. You want that light, powerful, effortless-looking lift where you seem to hang in the air for a second longer than everyone else.

Instead? Your jumps feel flat. Heavy. Like you're wading through treacle. And you've probably decided the answer is to just…try harder 😅

Right. I'm going to save you a lot of wasted effort here, because I need to tell you something that changed how I think about power completely.

You are almost certainly strong enough already.

Your body is just refusing to give you that power. On purpose. Let me explain, because once this clicks, everything changes.

Your body is locking your power away 🔒

Here's the thing, your body's number one job isn't to make you a brilliant dancer. It's to keep you in one piece.

So before it hands over everything you've got, it runs a very quick, very quiet safety check: if I fire full power into this jump… can we land it?

If the answer is anything other than a confident yes, it holds some back. Not to be annoying. To protect you. Because a big powerful take-off you can't land safely is exactly how dancers get hurt.

So all that strength you've been building? It's there. It's just locked away behind a door marked "prove you can land it first."

Which means the fastest way to a bigger jump usually isn't more power work at all. It's giving your body the three things it needs to trust you 💚

1. Alignment: a body that's out of line won't let you load 

What it looks like: your jumps feel flat and heavy. Your weight sits more in one foot than the other. Your hips aren't quite tucked under.

Why it's happening: when the body's out of line, it doesn't fully trust itself to jump or land. So it quietly holds your power back to keep you safe. You're not being lazy. You're being protected.

What helps: opening up the hips, which are almost always the tightest area for dancers. Get things back into line and your body starts to let you load and lift properly.

Try this one: the Kneeling Hip Flexor Reach-Over Stretch, 8 each side. It gets right into the bit that's quietly stopping your hips from tucking under.

2. Ankles: no trust in the landing, no push-off 

What it looks like: you just can't get off the floor the way you want, and your landings feel jarring and clunky.

Why it's happening: this one is SO common, and it's my favourite bit to explain. A tight ankle can't absorb a powerful landing, and your body knows that. So if it can't land it, it simply won't let you push off with everything you've got. All that muscle power stays locked away purely to protect you from injury.

Read that again, because it's the whole thing in a nutshell: the ankle isn't limiting your landing, it's limiting your take-off.

What helps: mobilising the ankle so it's actually got the range to take the landing. Once your body trusts that, it releases the push-off. Nothing else needed.

Try this one: Ankle Eversion, 8 each side. Small, unglamorous, and quietly one of the most useful things you'll do all week.

3. Balance: power needs a base it can control 

What it looks like: you wobble on the landing, and one side is noticeably worse than the other (there's always a worse side 😂).

Why it's happening: your body will not fire power into a base it can't control. Simple as that. If the landing leg feels unreliable, the power gets dialled down before you've even left the floor.

What helps: building proper single-leg balance so your body learns it can trust that base. And here's a brilliant clue for you: the wobblier side is usually pointing straight at why your jumps aren't where you want them.

Try this one: Single-Leg Stand with your eyes closed, 8 counts, 3 reps each side. Closing your eyes takes away the visual crutch and makes your body do the actual work. Fair warning, it's humbling the first time 🫠

Your little starter routine

So there you go. Three moves, one from each area:

• Kneeling Hip Flexor Reach-Over Stretch, 8 each side
• Ankle Eversion, 8 each side
• Single-Leg Stand (eyes closed), 8 counts x 3 reps each side

Morning and evening. That's it. It'll take you a few minutes.

And I know, I know. It doesn't FEEL like power training, does it? There's no jumping in it. But that's exactly the point. You're not building new power here. You're unlocking the power you already have 🔑

Want the full thing? It's waiting for you in the Gold Club 💚

Here's the lovely news. Everything I've just talked you through is part of our Power and Jump Height Challenge, which is live in the Gold Club right now.

It walks you through the whole process properly, day by day, in the right order. Alignment first, then the ankles, then the balance, with the moves building up as you go so nothing gets dropped. You get the what, the why AND the how for every single step, so you actually understand what your body's doing rather than just following along blindly.

And the best bit? You can start it at ANY time 🙌

No waiting for a launch date. Whenever you're ready, it's sitting there waiting for you, and there's a whole community of dancers in there doing it alongside you and cheering you on.

👉 Jump into the Power and Jump Height Challenge here. 

If your jumps feel flat, you probably don't need to push harder. You need to give your body a reason to trust you 💚