[header] How to win long jump [title] Practice your approach with approach drills. [step] Your approach (your sprint down the runway) will make a big difference in how far you end up jumping. You want to get up to speed in your first few sprints and then maintain your speed until you jump. 
Practice this by doing approach runs on a track. Don't actually go through with the jump, just focus on getting up to speed and maintaining your velocity.