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Well, it's been a long while. As it turns out, had two fractures in my pubic bones, one if which was an avulsion (when the muscle rips a chunk of bone from the main bone) and the other one...no idea. The avulsion, they believe, was cause from my trail leg coming back so hard at take-off (which kinda makes sense cause it was around the time i tried to maintain a completely straight trail-leg during my back-swing). I only believe it because I was in a weaker state near the end of the year. Long story short, never stop lifting during the season!!! Anyway, I got a Cat-Scan it showed that I am all healed up. We rescued the damsel in distress, bob's your uncle, fanny's your aunt, here I am, ready to train again. Well, that was over a month ago. I've been doing lots of general conditioning stuff and exercises to strengthen my hip so my injury never occurs again. I started doing vault drills last week and things have been feeling good. Got to get my speed back (the little speed I had going for me), but the rest is just muscle memory (hopefully). I've been doing some general-strength workouts in the gym, alternating everyday between legs and upper-body during the week. Still can't do power-cleans and what not, but hopefully I'll be able to start next week! I'm feeling good and have been cleared to start kicking it up a few notches.

ANYWAY, I started vaulting Tuesday and was able to swing up pretty well on a straight-pole from 3 lefts. Now, for the record, in case anyone forgot, I am 5'8 130lbs and the best grip i've ever moved to vertical on a straight pole was 12'1 (about 11'11 last year) from 3 lefts, and the best I could swing up on was about 11'9 before a meet (about 11'7 in practice) And this worked well with a 14' - 14'3 grip last season. Sooo...i'm not sure what the numbers all mean anymore. Anyway, from 3 lefts last year, in practice I was able to comfortably grip 13' on a 14' 145 and cleared 13'6 on a 14' 150 with a 13'3 grip (supposedly by a foot, but i don't wanna talk since there was no footage).

Now, Alan used to say (taken from Petrov) that whatever you can move to vertical from 3 lefts on a straight pole, take your bottom hand and place it on your top, measure out your grip-width and you can grip that on a bendy pole from full run. The other one I heard was, whatever you could grip on a straight pole would be your take-off from full approach and whatever you could grip with a free take-off would be appropriate. Either way, that rule of thumb put me at around a 13'9 grip either way which I surpassed (without any type of sag in the pole) by up to 6 inches. Now, in addition, last year I did not push myself to raise my grip, which I would like to this year (but that's another thread for another day).

THE POINT:

1) What should I be aiming for from 3 lefts? (straight-pole grip, bending pole grip)
2) How do I know when I can start moving the run back?? (assume the injury is no longer a factor, cause it really isn't)
3) What do the numbers all translate to?? (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42)
4) Is there anything else I should be looking for or paying attention to?? (coach said we might start keeping mid's this year!!)

PS: We have an inter-squad meet tomorrow that i'm cleared to compete in and I'm trying to figure out what to expect. I should have video for yall tomorrow or the next day, so pay attention to the video for for that. If anyone needs a reference of my jump, check out my youtube link below; all info is within the videos). Thanks to everyone who can provide some solid, subjective ideas and theories. -6P

Glad to hear you are back in business! Injuries are an unfortunate part of vaulting (or any physical sport). Start slow and work your way back up slowly to full speed, or else you will end up injuring something else. The rebuilding phase after an injury is perhaps one of the best times to work on positive technique changes...you are as close to a "blank slate" as you will ever be.

In regard to your questions,
1) You should be aiming for a takeoff that's well "out", and the highest grip possible on your stiff pole drills from 3 lefts (5' above standing grip at least, more is better).
On a bending pole from 3 lefts, I think you should use a (relatively) soft pole and try to swing as deep as possible and hit all the positions of the vault, landing in the back of the pit, rather than trying to jump very high. You will probably be gripping higher on the bending pole than you can on the stiff pole, but make sure you don't take off under. Also be careful you don't fly off the back of the pit.

2) You should vault from 3 lefts for at least a week or two, then move back one step every week or two, as long as you feel healthy and confident. If you are trying to make technique changes, don't move back until you are consistent with the new technique, or else you will revert to your old habits. The more advanced the vaulter, the more quickly he/she can move back steps without losing ground. A challenge you might consider is to jump your "PR" from each step, going slowly and making sure your are maxing out your push-off at each step. This keeps it interesting!

3) Eh?
If you are referring to the stiff pole grip/long run grip relationship, I would say that a higher stiff pole grip= a better takeoff = a higher long run grip. I have found that the "Russian grip correlation theory" holds true most of the time. However, if you haven't vaulted from a long run in a long time, you won't necessarily be able to transfer your 3 left stiff pole grip directly to your long run grip.

4) Even if you don't use the MID mark, you can still pay close attention to the cadence/rhythm of the vaulter and can visually see (and you can hear it with your eyes closed) if someone is stretching their last steps because they were "out" at the MID. Try to focus on getting your feet down/plant up quicker at the takeoff!

Good luck, I hope my limited advice is sufficiently subjective!
Tom

Thanks Tom!! As long as my coach allows, I will hopefully max out my grip at each run and then go back a left at a time (that's how i made the transfer from 13' poles to 14'+ poles back in HS), opposed to last year where I went from 3 to 5 to 6&7 (all over the place ). I'll keep everyone updated, as I have in the past. -6P

good morning,

11'9 before a meet (about 11'7 in practice) And this worked well with a 14' - 14'3 grip last season

these numbers match well form Petrov's/Bubka's 3 l3ft stiff pole grip to the long run bending pole grip. the grip on the stiff pole, in your case 11-7/12-0 would be the takeoff point on the full run.. that takeoff is approximately a 14-4 ish grip.. based on the “Six Step "MID" Coaches Check Mark” chart.

But everything needs to be progressive.. start moderate and progress to the "best" number correlation..

dj