PoleVaultPower.com

This is my next major hurdle in my technique. Now that I've straightened my trail leg I can get to the "cover" L position over the pole, but I just can't drop my shoulders and get vertical and in-line with the pole. I know how it should feel because I can do it during one-arm swingup warmups, but I can't do it with both hands on the pole. Is there some kind of trick to it or drills I can do to get it to be automatic?

The whole vault is a hidden secret yet to be discovered

for real, i wish i knew!

Do you remember what you did different the first time you did it?

wow, i ment to put this on a different topic. ummthe first time i went upide down was freshman year first practice of outdoor, i just watched alot of vids!

The key for doing it with two hands is to get the elbow of your bottom hand inside the pole. It should do this pretty automatically with a bend but if youre doing some sort of 3 step or so swing up with two hands on the pole, if your elbow goes on the outside of the pole, when you go to swing up, the pole will get caught under your armpit and hinder your invert. It is a little akward at first to jump and get your elbow inside so dont try inverting until you're comfortable with that.

Try working on rings or a high bar first. Master made a post of what a bubka is and gave us a video. So that might be good to look up also

So should I be able to see the bar the whole time or will I lose sight of the bar and have to trust that I know where my standards are? If I lose sight what should I be seeing?

you shouldn't really be looking at the bar because this will force your legs to drop down, messing up your invert. Instead, you're supposed to keep your head in line with your torso. Something else that works is to just put a bungee a couple feet above the bar so that you'll focus on that in stead of the bar.

If you watch the ski jumpers from the olympics, the ones that go of the HUGE jump and then they do like a million flips and twists... watch their heads. They dont move. Its like looking straight forward. Watch them and watch bubka too.

A lot of kids get stuck in the L, Pike, bucket position because they are blocking thier swing with the bottom arm.

Here is the link to the post that links to the video
bubkas by Bubka
Although I can't do it, I agree completely with fx that your head/neck should stay in line with your torso (just as it would be when you are standing up looking straight ahead).
I also agree with Robert that the difficulty is often the result of a blocked lower arm.

- master