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Having Trouble Dropping shoulders

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:37 am
by Kolber
I am having trouble and finishing the vault too soon and I am not droping my soulders as I invert and turn, any little trick or tip anybody can tell me, heres a vid from last year, but i am faster now and bending the pole a lot better

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3z611nbtzQk[/url]

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 5:36 pm
by VTechVaulter
Okay... here is a progression you should consider

1. learn to get fully inverted by swinging the left leg hard on a 2-3 left straight pole pop up. Do this about 1000 times correctly, swinging the left leg back to your hands and drop your shoulders keeping your body in line with the pole. Dont let yourself arch or fall off the pole

2. Find a pole that will just barely flex and do the same thing, landing on your back in the pit still. Progress your way to slightly bigger bends (dont ever need to bend much past 30-40 degrees in this drill, slight bend). The pole should be rolling over quickly and forcing you to move fast up the pole, landing nice and deep into the pit. Make sure as your swing your leg through the chord of the pole, you begin to roll your hips up.

Its a good idea to keep your step slightly outside to emphasize a free take off. when you can do this, back your run up a bit and do the same drill holding a bit higher, on a slightly bigger pole, still with not much bend.

begin to up grip (as long as you are safely landing in the pit), and then begin to turn. some people like to land on their stomachs, i however think that this can be a bit dangerous for your back if done wrong. so at this point id say turn and land on your back. just like a vault.

the key is progressing it. it becomes very difficult to learn proper technique on a long run with a big bend. take the time to work the steps, and youll jump higher in the long run!

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 7:08 pm
by sooch90
VTechVaulter wrote:Okay... here is a progression you should consider

1. learn to get fully inverted by swinging the left leg hard on a 2-3 left straight pole pop up. Do this about 1000 times correctly, swinging the left leg back to your hands and drop your shoulders keeping your body in line with the pole. Dont let yourself arch or fall off the pole

2. Find a pole that will just barely flex and do the same thing, landing on your back in the pit still. Progress your way to slightly bigger bends (dont ever need to bend much past 30-40 degrees in this drill, slight bend). The pole should be rolling over quickly and forcing you to move fast up the pole, landing nice and deep into the pit. Make sure as your swing your leg through the chord of the pole, you begin to roll your hips up.

Its a good idea to keep your step slightly outside to emphasize a free take off. when you can do this, back your run up a bit and do the same drill holding a bit higher, on a slightly bigger pole, still with not much bend.

begin to up grip (as long as you are safely landing in the pit), and then begin to turn. some people like to land on their stomachs, i however think that this can be a bit dangerous for your back if done wrong. so at this point id say turn and land on your back. just like a vault.

the key is progressing it. it becomes very difficult to learn proper technique on a long run with a big bend. take the time to work the steps, and youll jump higher in the long run!


In my opinion, this is really good advice. Not that my opinion means much, but I think more posts should be about HOW to go better, meaning drills, work out routines, etc, and less on WHAT needs to get better, meaning "you're blocking out", or "don't curl up so fast". Well, I guess posts about what needs to get better are necessary, but I wish people would post more stuff about HOW to get better.

Does that make sense to anyone?

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 7:13 pm
by TheDeanMachine
sooch, i totally agree with you 100%. the main reason i joined this board was to learn HOW to get better. i see tons of posts asking WHAT needs to get better, but now HOW. great perspective.

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 9:32 pm
by Siros
That's great advice that mostly everyone can follow.

Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 11:08 pm
by jtrouty3
don't look at the bar on the way up!

Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 9:24 am
by Kolber
Yeh that post help a lot thanks, I just have to improve my jump as much as I can within the next 2 weeks beacause I am a senior and the section meet is comming up :\ , but in that video i was on a 14 ft 150lb pacerfx(holding at about 12'9), i wiegh about 145, and 3 days ago i decided to jump on a 13 ft. 175lb UCS, i got into the pit great but the snap up was greater of course, is it better to work on inversions on a stiffer pole? i am also going to try at the 3 lefts as you said with a slight bend

Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 7:45 pm
by AVC Coach
You're rowing your hands out in front as you swing and it's impossible to get your hips above your head when you do that. Swing your hips to your hands, not your hands to your hips and it will clear up a few of your problems on top.