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I've noticed in a lot of peoples profile pics, they have a picture of their plant, and I haven't noticed very many that have good bottom arms . I'm not trying to say mine is good, but everyone shows them off like it is the best part of their vault. In practice I have a really good bottom arm, but in meets it just collapses on me . Oh well, what are you goin' to do.

I wouldnt worry about your bottom arm too much. Just try to line your plant up correctly and lead your chest through the entire jump. If you put a stiff bottom arm in there, you will add alot of time to your jump and it will be tough to get your swing in sync with the pole. If you watch alot of elite vaulters, you will notice very few of them have straight bottom arms. It is almost always bent, with the elbow pointing off to the side. Number one reason, is that they have lined their plant up really well, and it enables them to get in this position. Also, it allows your chest to lead which puts more weight on your top hand (where you want it.) The more of your mass your can center between your hands, the better. It will enable you to raise your grip, move up poles, and catch alot more of the poles energy. One more thing on the bottom arm. Having a big huge bottom arm puts the stress in the wrong part of the pole. When you load a pole up incorrectly there is always a sacrifice. You wont get rotation over the bar, cant get verticle, yada yada yada. Just my three cents. Hope it helps

Cornelius wrote:I've noticed in a lot of peoples profile pics, they have a picture of their plant, and I haven't noticed very many that have good bottom arms . I'm not trying to say mine is good, but everyone shows them off like it is the best part of their vault. In practice I have a really good bottom arm, but in meets it just collapses on me . Oh well, what are you goin' to do.

The key is not to have a straight bottom, but to resist with the bottom arm. I tell my kids to not push the bottom arm out, but instead to resist the pole and not let tht bottom arm collapse.

I also put this in the High School section.

One of the biggest problems in pole vaulting is over-emphasizing the bottom arm or even worse...locking it out. First reaching out with your bottom arm too much going into the plant can cause your step to be under. Your feet go to under your hands. If your hands go out front, your feet will do the same. If you reach out to put your plant up, you need to get your body back under your hands before you hit your plant.

The other biggest problem with locking out or pressing too much with your bottom arm is it stops your shoulders from moving forward. That causes your hips to get out in front of you too soon. This also causes your lower back to absorb all the force of the plant. This causes lower back pain and injury.

Another problem of pressing too hard with the bottom arm is it causes an uneven bend in the pole. Look at your pole when this happens. If there is more bend near your top hand, you're pressing too hard. On the other hand...I've seen vaulters hold on or hang by their bottom arm. This keeps the top of the pole from bending. You can see the pole bend low in this case with the top of the pole staying straight.

Vitally Petrov said that his research and experience showed that trying to the top of the pole to horizontal too quickly causes the vaulter to stall out over the bar.

There is one way to check to see if a vaulter is pressing too much or not pressing enough with the bottom arm. The vaulter should come to full extension of the body with the trail foot pointed (or tapping) the box. The body should be at a 45-degree angle to the runway at this point. This is the transition between driving forward and trying to get inverted or rising.

See "How to Get Past Vertical" http://www.advantageathletics.com/polevault/molnar.html
The vault on that page is 14' 10".
Look at Kira Costa's new Indoor Girl's High School Record http://www.advantageathletics.com/polevault/costa.html
How much does she press out with her bottom arm?
Look at Shayla Ballentine's High School outdoor record http://www.advantageathletics.com/polev ... ntine.html
Look at beginner pole vaulter Albert Abbene's bottom arm http://www.advantageathletics.com/polevault/abbene.html
He's a 10th grader vaulting on a 14' pole 30 lbs over his weight.

Still not convinced see http://members.aol.com/actstunt/bubka.html

Bottom line...Stop focusing on your bottom arm.

PS "alot" is spelled "a lot".