dropping your shoulders...

[pvjackex]

i have trouble dropping my shoulders and getting vertical. but i cant get on the runway for awhile, and i was wondering if there are good drills i can be doing at home.

[Vaulterchick88]

i have trouble dropping my shoulders and getting vertical. but i cant get on the runway for awhile, and i was wondering if there are good drills i can be doing at home.

try some swing up drills on rings or pull-up bars

[Robert schmitt]

bubkas on high bar or rope (heck I used to do them from the rafters in the garage

[advath]

Bubka Drill
"Hold ankles at the bar. Straighten your body while driving your shoulders down and back. Finish with your shoulders under your hands. Return to starting position with ankles against the bar. Repeat this drill from the ankles against the bar position. When you get good at this drill you can feel your shoulders rockback past the vertical line of your hands."

Gymnastics Tap Drill or "Tap Slam Drill"
"Tap Slams are done on a high bar high enough to hang and swing in the pole vault take-off position without hitting the ground. Hold the bar as you would hold the pole vaulting pole. Pull up and cast out to start an easy swing. Pike in the back and arch in the front of the swing. From the down swing in the back, just after you arch, snap the trail foot down taping it the way a gymnast would do on the horizontal bar. Then, power rockback driving the hips to the bar while driving the shoulders back. If this is performed properly, the shoulders will continue to swing back in front of the high bar while the hips hit the bar finishing in the same position as the Bubka drill."

NOTE on the Gymnastics Tap Drill:
I've seen this drill done in a different way and called "Levers". The problem with this version is that the body starts in a still hanging position. Without swinging the legs, the vaulter thrusts the hips back and forth creating arching and piking. From the arch position the vaulter swings his/her body into the inverted position on the bar. THE PROBLEM is that the shoulders do NOT swing under the bar or hands. This may also lead to "rowing" the hands past the shoulders in the swing while pole vaulting. That forces the vaulter to seperate the legs when inverted, pulling the lead leg way past the shoulders toward the runway. This will keep the body from making a swift turn. This will make it more difficult to balance the body on top of the top hand and pole later in the vault.

For sequence pictures of the above drills go to http://www.advantageathletics.com/polev ... kback.html

It is the Swing that sets up all of the above.
"The  pole vault swing is a transition point between the horizontal forces generated from the run and the downward vertical forces applied to the pole generated in the rockback, pull and push. The swing (or tap) is initiated with the driving down of the trail foot to bring it in line with the knee and hips and the bringing of the left leg and hips in line with the top arm. This driving of the trail foot down can be compared to the gymnast’s tap of the feet on the horizontal bar. It lengthens the body quickly before the pole has a chance to recoil retaining its maximum kinetic energy. It makes the extended body a long lever. That will keep the top of the pole down longer while inverting...again retaining the poles maximum kinetic energy. It ends when the trail foot is in line with the hips, shoulders, and top hand."
To see more about the Swing with sequence photos go to http://www.advantageathletics.com/polev ... pslam.html