A common misconception

[master]

Sometimes words get in the way of communication. I was recently shown this exercise by vaultwest. I believe it closely represents what your body needs to do during the swing. I realize that in the vault, by the time you have swung to this position, you will have bent at the waist, but the arm muscles involved will be engaged as happens with this drill.

Take a look at the third exercise down on this page, called a front lever. Maybe people can comment on how they see this using muscles in similar ways (or not) to the swing to inversion in the vault. For instance, I could imagine someone describing your arm activity in this exercise as "pushing down on the pole."

By the way, in my opinion a vaulter should not pull with their right arm (bend at the elbow by using the biceps) until they are fully inverted and the pole is close to being straight.

- master

[fx]

basically thats how I see it.

[EIUvltr]

I believe there should be a downward pressure using the left arm almost right from takeoff to shorten axis of rotation which will speed up your swing, which helps with penetration, and makes the top end a hundred times easier and more powerful

[flyingowl]

This may be a little long, but it is full of good information from David Butler at Rice University...

TWO “STYLESâ€Â

[Tim McMichael]

The pull is a difficult action to describe because it is almost impossible to describe the “feelâ€Â

[Tim McMichael]

I agree with flyingowl in one major essential. There must absolutely be a push upward with the hands at the takeoff. A pull that hugs the pole close to the body and short-arms the plant is a vault killing move. The pull I have described must flow off of a plant that begins fully stretched upwards. The two moves are not, however, mutually exclusive. It is simply very difficult to combine the idea of a fast strong pull immediately after an active stretching the arms upwards. It takes split second timing that takes time and effort to conceptualize and develop.

I emphasize the tall, long armed plant with beginners and even intermediate vaulters long before I even mention a pulling action. You can complete a full jump off of a correct plant alone. A correct takeoff sets up forces that move efficiently and naturally through the vault. If the vaulter will not get in her own way and go with the flow off of a powerful and tall plant, a good jump will result. The pull must help this natural flow along and speed it up. It does not create anything that a good plant did not already get started.