PoleVaultPower.com

Hey.

Practice Jump
Please excuse the music.

Anything you could say to help would be great.

Age-15
Vaulting for 1 year
Height 5'11"
Weight- 140
Pole- 13'4" Really old and heavy carbon - 150 lbs

Anything...

not bad, but your bottom arm at the take-off should be straighter for longer, this will make the pole bend easier and allow you to get back and shoot more up instead of out, and get on bigger poles, and you rock back, thats good, but when you rock back, your pulling youself back to a sitting position, if you tried to get straight upside down instead of straight sideways then you would go much igher, alson with your inversion you kick out at the bar, dont do that, when you are tucked in a ball on your pole, kick up or a slight bit backwards, this will shoot you off the pole upwards instead of out , after you get into the sitting positon you push yourself away from the pole at the cross bar, dont do that either, pull up the pole with your kick up and youll get shot evern harder, but over all this isnt bad compared to what i have seen some people do, and you have a great run keep workin hard, good luck man

Well especially since its summer, its a great time to work on your approach.You pump your pole when you run wich can make the plant very inconsistant (especially when moving to longer poles) So i would suggest tons of pole runs where you focus on keeping the pole still (i know still isnt the correct word but i think you know what i mean.) Also, don't land on your feet!

I disagree with keeping your left arm straighter. That's dangerous. True bend in a pole comes from a good plant and take-off, not a stiff left arm... Anyways, you use sort of a half two-legged swing-up, half figure-4. Pick one. I definitely suggest a figure-4 swing, as most coaches know that better, and it is essential to Petrov's technical model. If you DO want to use a two-legged swing up like Galfione, drop your feet more during your swing, and keep your legs together, not separated. (I do NOT recommend this, even though it is proven to be a style that can be used by a vaulter to attain 6 meters. However, it's your choice.) If you want to use the much more common figure-4, then get more separation at take-off, with your trail leg back further and your drive knee higher. Also, you must flex your bottom arm in earlier then you did. This should occur during your swing-up.

You are starting a tuck and shoot from what i see. You pretty much pull your trail leg up, rather than swing it. That kills all your energy and ruins a chance for inversion. You want to swing that trail leg like you are a kicker on a football team. Carry that energy from the swing into your jump by keeping your hips moving upward. If you stop the energy flow at any time, you will not get inverted. Do bubkas and high bar bubkas to get the feeling of carrying your energy upward. There are videos of this in the training section, just search for them.

Other than that, you are pulling down with your bottom arm to help with your swing, but its taking away energy rather than adding. This will be a hard habit to break, but you need to keep both hands pushing upwards throughout the vault. This is one of the most widely discussed issues on this site, so doing a search for this wont hurt either. Just search "hand position during swing". But no, do not let your bottom arm hit you in the head. You need upward pressure to keep your body moving in the right angle, otherwise you sink into the vault .

I agree with the 2 posts above right above this one. I think your plant is actually decent, better than mine at least. You get your hands up on time, and you have your top arm complete extended when the pole makes contact with the back of the box.

About the bottom arm, in my opinion it's all right as well. Alan Launder (altius), the writer of Beginner to Bubka, told me that the bottom arm has to punch up for just an instant, but then the bottom arm becomes disengaged. I could be wrong, but I always understood the momentary "punch" of the bottom arm, as a means to get the hands up on time when planting. Coach Jobs (ladyvolspvcoach), another poster on here, told me all the bottom arm needs to do is to get up at the plant, and no pressure is needed for the bottom arm at all. I have the understanding that this will only work against you and slow down your swing.

However, about your swing, well you don't really have one. This is the result of trying to get your feet up in to the vertical position as fast as possible. However, as you can clearly see, tucking immediately does not help you stay close to the pole. There is a difference between your tuck, and the tuck of vaulters such as Jeff Hartwig. Hartwig completes the take off, which means his leg is first completely extended at take off. Then he swings, keeping the left leg straight untill his left leg gets close to parrallel to the ground, and then he swings.


So, the first thing I would do if I were you, is to finish your take off. This means completely extend the trail leg when you jump. Think about keeping it straight, or really kicking the run away out from under you. Once you keep your trail leg straight and complete the take off, you'll find that an immediate swing with a long left leg will ensue.


Anyway, that's what I think. However, I'm not a coach or even a really experienced vaulter, so try to find someone with more experience to confirm my post.

With all this talk of bottom arm pushing or remaining disengaged.... take it from the experts.

http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=12728


And what i have heard from my personal coach and personal experience is this- no pressure in the bottom hand will still allow equal energy transfer from take off and swing, but you will go more "in and then up" rather than keeping pressure upwards, therefore high above your head. keeping pressure will allow the pole to stay higher above your head, which in turn allows for a more direct angle toward the bar, rather than sinking and THEN going upwards.

Yes, the punch up means to plant high and early, not to push the pole with a straight bottom arm.

Thank you all for all the input.
I'll keep it in mind at practice.