This week's practice

[g00eY]

My last thread didn't get much interest, but let's try again. I only have 4 different jumps this time. I'm still jumping on a smaller pole (13' 140) and running a shorter run (4 lefts from 52') because of my hamstring. My main focus for this practice, was again, my trail leg. Obviously my trail leg disappeared as soon as we put the bungie up...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COB-ZhnWMX0

First jump: I'm a little under. The blue line is 9', and my step should be at 10'. My trail leg looks a lot better than it did even from last week, I think. One thing I noticed is that my head is looking slightly downwards at takeoff. I'm not sure where I should be looking at takeoff.

Second jump: Even more under this time. I'm gonna be honest and say that this looks pretty much the same as the last jump to me.

Third jump: Bungie at 14'. This looks pretty bad. My step is almost a foot under and my trail leg disappeared. Lame.

Fourth jump: Bungie at 14' again. There are a lot of people in the way.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[powerplant42]

Keep up the pre-jump drill... Lots of sand, lots of grass, lots of stiff poling, just like we talk about.

Give it a little more time.

[g00eY]

Will do, PP.

Any other suggestions?

[KirkB]

Your trail leg is bent way too much. It needs to be much straighter. Check out my comments to Tyler Porter here http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=17327 about this same issue.

You shouldn't try to move your head in any unnatural way. It should just follow your body, as you move thru the various vault parts. i.e. Don't force your head to do anything special at all.

Kirk

[altius]

"Don't force your head to do anything special at all." Except look where you are going! Forward and up!

[g00eY]

So combining what KB and altius have said, my head shouldn't do anything unnatural, but it should follow the direction of my motion. I think that makes a lot of sense, and I would think that forward and up is the "natural" position for my head. I think getting my head forward and up is something I can work whilst doing running plants and other drills. I dunno, just thinking out loud right now.

Kirk, when you say I'm bending my trail leg too much, which jumps are you talking about? In the first two jumps (where I'm not going over anything) I see that my trail leg is bending a little bit, but not too much. In the last two jumps there isn't really a trail leg worth mentioning . I don't have that huge cock in the trail leg that TylerPorter11 has, but in my C position there's a little bending too.

I typically spend most of my "weight room" time working on the high bar doing the whip/hinge drills.

[KirkB]

I think getting my head forward and up is something I can work whilst doing running plants and other drills. ...

I seem to remember you doing a run/plant drill between 2 cones and although you didn't jump off the ground (by intent, as it wasn't what you were drilling on), you did a bit of a "fake" chest drive and threw your head UP. It was one of your vids from awhile ago ... not recently. That's the wrong behavior. That's an UNNATURAL head motion. Really, I would not do ANYTHING, since the more you focus on what your head is doing, the more you're going to feel compelled to do SOMETHING. Just relax!

Kirk, when you say I'm bending my trail leg too much, which jumps are you talking about? ... I don't have that huge cock in the trail leg that TylerPorter11 has, but in my C position there's a little bending too.

I saw it in your last jump, and I double-checked, and it looks like it's there. In the frame just before you go behind the guy in the orange T, your entire body is contrasted against the white wall. It's quite blurry, but it sure looks like your trail leg knee is at 90 degrees. That's at the Whip point ... the end of your downswing (roughly).

To improve the quality of your vids, you might want to bring the camera in a little closer ... and get all your fans to stand on the other side of the runway!

I typically spend most of my "weight room" time working on the high bar doing the whip/hinge drills.

Make sure your trail leg is straight until you pass thru the Whip point (directly under the bar). And make sure you start it out being straight ... or at least FAIRLY straight (like Amy is OK for this drill ... but maybe not quite as much bend as her). If you haven't seen Amy's rings drill, search for "Amy rings".

Kirk

[g00eY]

Alright, I won't do anything with my head if you say so .

Ah, I see it now. I really didn't notice that before. I'll make sure to focus more on the down swing part of the drills this week. I've seen the Amy vids before, but I suppose it's time to look at them again. Hopefully I'll get some actual high bar/ring time this week. I can't exactly do the drill like Amy does on a squat rack .