Video Help!

[Biased Carp]

here are links to a meet with videos of every jump i came in at 11' and ended at 12' 6" any little help would be great.

i know i need to work on keeping my plant strong and also getting upside down so anything that may help me with that would be perfect.

Im a high school senior iv been jumping since freshman year.
Pole for 11' is 13' 6" - 175
pole for 11' 6" - 12'6" is 14' 170
pole for 13' is 14' 175

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 9nkowa0GBH
thanks
Trent

[Skyfly]

Your take off appears to be under which is going to effect your swing. Once you do leave the ground, keep your takeoff leg long through the bottom of the swing to generate more power. These things will greatly help you at the top of the vault.

[Biased Carp]

thank you! is there anything i can be thinking about or doing to make sure I'm keeping my leg fully extended through my swing. the swing is really something i struggle with but i just don't know how to fix it.

Thanks

[willrieffer]

You have what I call swing progression which is that early on your body is forward of the ideal swing angle in time. It robs you of energy early and makes you see saw on the pole at the invert dropping your hips right about the time you're trying to get them over the pole. Much of the vault is about management of rotational energy, its initiation and timing in length control. I tell my kids this. Think about a figure skater doing a spin. When their arms and legs are outstretched they spin slow. In the vault this is what you want in the take off, early swing, and compression phase as a long slow swing "rolls" the pole toward the pit. Then a figure skater will shorten their rotational axis by pulling in their arms and legs and spin faster. This is what you need in transition to get your hips forward and above the pole. There is a balance between maximizing the early slow swing and then adjusting your swing speed mid vault so that you are not getting too far behind where your hips get caught behind the pole. Timing is essential. Then you extend to finish.

At take off you want to be as long/tall as possible. Press the pole up and leap and drive into the take off. Kick the take off leg down. This is imperative as it imparts rotational momentum that can be added to the swing. Press along the left arm and take off foot axis to maximize your length as you kick the take off foot down. At knee extension begin working the hip of the take off leg. Swing! You have to somewhat anticipate the pole recoil and at this point shorten your rotational length, that is bring the take off leg in as you keep pulling the drive leg knee back to the shoulder. Work with the arms to close the angle between the pole and torso, but it should be much much easier if you manage your rotational length properly.

With almost all beginning vaulters, every instinct is against what a good vault needs. They want to be closer to the box and pit, i.e. under. They want to pull with the arms and pull the legs up at or after plant when they need to extend and make themselves as long as possible. Many that can get a good plant and some swing want to pull late stopping the invert rotation.

You do many things well, and yet exhibit some degree of problems in almost every area. It's tough. So close and yet so far away! Let go a bit, blow "up" into the pole, reach down and kick into a big swing. When that happens a lot of your invert problems will disappear and you'll climb through poles.

Good Luck

[Biased Carp]

Alright iv been working on a lot this season and mother nature isn't exactly being friendly to us here in Wisconsin. We might get one vault practice a week and have had 3 outdoor meets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-i1K2D4-y8

any help again would be great thanks!

[Biased Carp]

alright iv searched tons on web sites and iv looked all over this site and i can not seem to find an answer for my problem. I'm starting to think ill never find one.. heres the situation. during rock backs i can swing all the way up and get vertical i can can get my shoulders dropped fully and even extend to past vertical, as soon as i take a full vault i get stuck. i can row to my feet and then i just sit there i have tried so many different cues and the results have been less than pleasing. please help I'm sitting over 13' 6" and i know that if i can drop and invert just the slightest bit i shouldn't have a problem making a huge pr and getting to state!!

rock back


full vault

[Skyfly]

To me it looks like you're just kind of throwing your head back and "hoping for the best". It's not enough to just get to the pole. You must get to the pole and continue to roll the pelvis up then drive the hips upward using the hips to push the legs.

That's a really simple explanation of something that is much more difficult, but it's at least something worth thinking about.

[KirkB]

is there anything i can be thinking about or doing to make sure I'm keeping my leg fully extended through my swing. the swing is really something i struggle with but i just don't know how to fix it.

On your last 13-6 attempt, the reason you're getting to that dreaded V (hips down but legs up - like in your last pic) is because of your swing - or lack of swing. I also suspect that you lack the gut strength to swing properly.

Have you been working out on highbar, rings, and/or rope? Are you able to swing your trail leg long under the bar (or rings) and rotate the hips up above your torso? If you can't do that properly in the gym, it should not be surprising that you can't do it on the pole.

Also, once you develop the gut strength and technique to do a proper swing on the highbar, you then need to focus on swinging FASTER. You can learn that on the highbar by stretching into an exagerated "C" and then whipping your trail leg down and forwards like you're kicking a soccer ball.

I know you were originally looking for a quick fix to PR at state, but it may be too late for that now, so now you're focussing on what you can do to improve your PR for summer meets and next year's season. Is that the case? Please realize that you can't improve your gut strength and swing technique overnight. It takes months and months of constant practice! Now is the time to begin working hard towards next season!

Good luck!

Kirk

[Biased Carp]

KirkB

thanks for the reply. however, I do not feel my "gut" strength (i assume you are referring to my abdominal strength) is the issue. i can do bubkas and i can hang from a bar and swing my hips up. as you can see in my rock backs i have no problem getting into the vertical position. also on a rope i can run, jump, and swing up and get into vertical. this problem only occurs in a full approach vault with the bend. i can straight pole over 10' but as soon as i get that bend everything seems to go away. so i didn't know if maybe i was doing something else in my take off phase that was stopping me.

ik skyfly said it i throw my head back and hope for the best and i can't disagree with that. he's 100% spot on. iv been working on keeping my head relaxed but not throwing it back. do you guys recommend a focal point i should look at? is e throwing my head back stoping my swing that much? i want to over come this.

[KirkB]

... I do not feel my "gut" strength (i assume you are referring to my abdominal strength) is the issue. i can do bubkas and i can hang from a bar and swing my hips up. as you can see in my rock backs i have no problem getting into the vertical position. also on a rope i can run, jump, and swing up and get into vertical. this problem only occurs in a full approach vault with the bend. i can straight pole over 10' but as soon as i get that bend everything seems to go away. ...

I can only tell you what I see in your vid. I stand by my advice. Take it or leave it. Yes, there's lots of improvements that you can make in your run, plant, takeoff, and stretch to the C leading up to your swing, but I'm only commenting on your swing for now. I'll let someone else advise you re all the prereqs.

Your so-called rockbacks aren't really rockbacks, so I don't know why you're calling them that. You are simply swing to an invert. Actually, that's much closer to what you should be doing on a bending pole and a long run.

To repeat, you need to learn how to swing your hips up WITH your trail leg. There should be no way that you're doing all the drills correctly (your swing drill looks correct - it's just that it's not a rockback) on rope, highbar and short run, but can't apply it to your long run.

Show us a vid of your Bubka's on the highbar, and I may be able to tell you where you're going astray. I'm quite certain that if you practiced your swing on the highbar, your abs will get stronger, and you'll be following a better path with your trail leg and hips. It's actually quite simple: If you've been practising on the highbar to swing to a V instead of an inverted I, then that's what you'll do on the pole.

Another way to think about this is to swing the same way on your long run as on your swing drill. You need to FEEL that same swing! Lower your grip (and don't worry about bending the pole as much) until you FEEL your hips swinging up with your legs.

Kirk

[jam354]

This isn't exactly a technical fix, but I noticed that when you swing, your shoulders go back to a certain point and then actually come back towards the bar. There is a difference between going upside down 7 ft(your rock back drill) off the ground and 13 ft off the ground that has nothing to do with technique. Everyone has the instinct to not do something that could hurt them. It looks like you swing to a point and then literally stop yourself. I'm sure you are not doing this consciously. Assuming you have the strength and technique to swing properly, the way to overcome this is to tell your brain that its not dangerous to go upside down holding that grip. The way you do that is to lower your grip to a point where you do go upside down and slowly move up. If Bubka jumped on a 20 ft pole in his prime, he would have stopped his swing and would have nothing to do with his technique.

[KirkB]

... Assuming you have the strength and technique to swing properly, the way to overcome this is to tell your brain that its not dangerous to go upside down holding that grip. The way you do that is to lower your grip to a point where you do go upside down and slowly move up. ...

Good point! I would add to that that you should ALWAYS have your standards (or bungee) all the way back, and not move your grip up until you're comfortable getting upside down without any fear at all that you might stall out and miss the coach's box.

This is the type of confidence that you need to instil in your brain (through force of habit - aka muscle memory), so that it doesn't panic when you're inverted (and can't see much). You need to FEEL where you are in the air and on the pole, in relation to where the box is and where the bar is.

Hint: The box is just below the pole when it's vertical, and the coach's box is a couple feet in from that! When your standards are at 80, you have plenty of room to manoeuvre so that you won't hit the bar on the way up. If they're less than 80, then there will be hesitation - hesitation that you can't afford when you're getting inverted on the pole.

Kirk