Before I start vaulting again...

[sivaulter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T8emoszn6w
Stats:
Height: 5' 5''
Weight: 125 lbs
pole: 12'6 140'' ??
Bungee: 13'6
3 lefts

I'm going to start vaulting again, and I wondered what I should start to work on. I've uploaded some video from last season. The vault I'm referring to starts at about 53 s (all the jumps before have a camera bad angle and I was really under on that day). I notice that I am a little under and also don't keep a straight trail leg after takeoff. Any other advice would be really appreciated.

[powerplant42]

Late plant, head was down, under at take-off, flimsy trail-leg, maybe some left arm blocking, and then a tuck and shoot to finish. A lot to work on.

But more helpful for you would be to go and vault THEN get the video up of you LATELY. What your problems are NOW is much more relevant then what they were THEN.

[sivaulter]

Hey thanks for the reply.
Ok, I agree that my trail leg is flimsy and I'm under, necessitating a "tuck and shoot." I am working on that. However, you said two more things: that I was blocking and I kept my head down.
First of all, how could you tell if I was blocking? From what I saw and felt, my left arm was pretty relaxed.
Secondly, I've heard keeping the chin/head down is a good thing from people like Jan Johnson. What would be the advantages of a raised head and why? Thirdly, my description was a little misleading . I still vault now and then, I just don't vault seriously, on a daily to weekly basis, and this vault is pretty indicative of my current form. Any more analysis guys?

[powerplant42]

Here's a quote from Bubka at a round table discussion with the IAAF:

Q. Where is your point of focus?
A. To the front, many jumpers look at the box, the box doesn't move, it is always there. I think it has to do with mental pressure or being scared.

If you keep your head down, you will tend to have a flatter take-off.

It just looked like there was a little bit of blocking on a few of your jumps. I might be wrong.

[Andy_C]

Keeping your head up will also help put your shoulders and chest into good position for pushing through the pole. Pushing your chest through will do two things:
1) Help you maintain your inertia for better penetration. Your chest should be pointing through the bend.
2) It will stretch the muscles down the entire front side of your body. This will give you a stronger rubber-band-like force when you initiate the swing.

You need to watch out when you push your chest through though. If you are taking off under, it may worsen your position by making your top arm fall further behind. If this happens your arm will act as a shock absorber of sort and will absorb the force you should be delivering to the pole.

I think the very first thing you (as well as everybody else who has this problem) should fix is taking off under. There are tons of drills and ways you can fix this but the 'key' can be different for everybody. What I find works for me the most is stiff-pole vaulting. It will FORCE you to take off properly. Take off under with a flexible pole and you can still get through. Take off under with a stiff pole and you're not going to have a good time. But then again that's me, you may have another drill/thing that will yield better results for you.

Also, how old are you? If you're 18+ you could probably build some more upper body strength. It should help you fix that top hand into a good position. It should also help with the tuck and shoot problem. A lot of people tuck and shoot if they don't have the core or upper body strength (or gymnastic ability) to get themselves into the inversion. As a result, they will have to tuck in order to minimize their radius so they can move their body up faster. This is usually a problem with taller vaulters and I don't think this is really what's behind your problem but it's just food for thought.

My advice:
Priority - fix your take off. Taking off under will cause a huge array of problems and should be taken care of first. You can also fix the head/chest thing along with your take off. If you fix it, you will immediately feel that you are carrying more speed through your jump.