First meet! please critique, thanks!

[sooch90]

Hey guys, I just had my first meet yesterday. I spiral fractured my ankle back in December so I only ran from 5 lefts, but I feel like I'm coming back pretty strong.

Practice jumps:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 5615763925
-First jump is on a 13' 7" 150lb UCS, second is on a 14' 150lb UCS, gripping around 12' 8"ish
-slow motion when I hit the midmark (the cone)

Meet jumps:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 0518213109
-I used a 14' 150lb UCS for all jumps gripping around 12' 9"ish
-Height progression: 12', 12'6", attempts at 13'
-slow motion after I hit the midmark (the cone)

My thoughts (if you're interested):
-My last 3 lefts are really improving now that I'm using the midmark. I think on some jumps I was under because my last 3 lefts still need some work and I could shorten then some more.
-My plant is also much better from before, but my bottom arm might still be a little late coming up

Questions:
-My bottom arm still puts very little pressure, and I'm not sure if this is what it's suppose to do. By putting little pressure, I'm getting more of a free take-off. However, I see a lot of vaulters put a little more upward pressure?
-My hips get sucked under right away on a bunch of jumps. Is this because I am under? Or maybe because I'm not putting enough pressure with the bottom arm at the plant?


Anyway, all observations, comments, advice, tips whatever are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[powerplant42]

You are SO FAR UNDER. Wow. But don't block with your bottom arm, if you don't know not to do that already. Firm upward pressure with the elbow flexed outward will do fine.

As for the rest of your jump, the biggest thing I noticed was the bend in your trail leg. Keep it long!!!

[vault3rb0y]

He's right, you are under. I think you know it too... this is why:

Its hard to tell with the slo mo, but i get the feeling you are "reaching" with each step to make it to the box. That tells me you aren't comfortable with running from your current step, probably because you moved your step back to NOT be under. Thats not the way to fix it. You cannot fix a step that is under until you build a comfortable-ness with taking off from the right place. That only happens with practice after practice after mental review... You reach for your step to be where you have practiced it to be, making you slower and slamming you at the box. Your only choice is to ball up on your swing to invert, which you still manage to do.... a testament to your core strength already....

The solution is not going to two meets a week. Thats not enough time to practice the things you need to practice. Start with a pop up and literally hold 1' lower than usual. Jump up and force yourself to hit your take off position BEFORE the pole tip hits the back. That means keeping your hands high over your head despite your tendency to "feel" the box. Once you do that about a thousand times, get that mentality in your head. You WANT to leave the ground just before the pole tip hits the back. Try it holding low on a soft short run pole. warm up and GET COMFORTABLE and warm before you try to move your take off step back, thats crucial. Then focus on speeding up your cadence all the way until your take off step. Have someone catch your mid AND take off step. If you do this right, your mid should stay about the same but your take off step should move back around 3" at a time. You shouldnt be moving your step back as much, rather shortening your cadence into the box. Dont reach for it, jump up into the vault. Get more and more comfortable with each transition, until you are leaving the ground around 10'6 (assuming you are holding at 12'9). It might take more than one practice, but you will get on much bigger sticks and vault much higher when you get it.

[sooch90]

yeah, I'm using the short run drills and pole runs to shorten up my last 3 lefts, but I feel like my midmark is too close. I'll keep working on shortening my stride, but I think if I hold up a handgrip at 12' 10", according to DJ's midmark chart, my midmark would be 43 ft. instead of 42 ft at 12' 7"

[vault3rb0y]

Your mid doesnt need to be exact, in fact it isnt going to be. I know kids with a 32' 6 stride mid but hit an 11' take off. Dont try to adjust your run to your mid. Figure out what run makes you take off correctly and figure out what your mid is.

[sooch90]

but aren't you suppose to adjust your run to dj's midmark chart? He calculated the effective stride length, takeoff, etc for each grip. So when I grip at 12' 7", my midmark should be about 42ft + 6inches (because my takeoff should be at around 10' 6" instead of 10' which is on dj's chart). I think the problem is though, I can grip higher, and I usually do. So my stride length and everything isn't the same as someone who's max grip is 12' 7". Ah, I'm not completely sure how all of it was calculated, but I'm going by what I've been told.

[CApv2007]

No Jason's right, the midmard Chart gives you a genuine idea of where your mark of take of is but numbers aren't always right, you also have to calculate how fast you are going. You look slow in the video and holding up is good but what you need is you need to work on your swing you aren't completely inverted and your looking at the bar. work on the swing and pull and it really doesn't matter if your holding at 12 feet.

[sooch90]

yeah, I need to work on not looking at the bar and swinging all the way through

But I wasn't saying that the midmark chart tells you where your takeoff is, it's suppose to tell you where you midmark is according to the maximum grip you are capable of holding. So in a sense, grip does matter, because your maximum capable grip will tell you which midmark you should be using, which will then give you an idea of how short your last 6 strides are suppose to be.

[BritDawg]

Your mid doesnt need to be exact, in fact it isnt going to be. I know kids with a 32' 6 stride mid but hit an 11' take off. Dont try to adjust your run to your mid. Figure out what run makes you take off correctly and figure out what your mid is.

yeah, the list is a great starting place and for some people it is correct, but not everyone has the same stride length, speed, etc. Like he said, don't try to adjust your run to the list if it doesn't feel natural. Get a run that is comfortable and consistant and were you can speed up and shorten your last 6 steps, and adjust your mid according to that. A mid is strickly for consistency.

[CApv2007]

Exactly, I have a pole vaulter right now who is a sophmore who has the runway speed of a 100 meter dash runner and has hit 15' holding at 12'9 where you are holding on the exact same pole a 14' 150. he is at a 6 step but doesn't worry so much if his mark is on or off but makes sure that his run is consistant everytime and swings all the way through. with where he holds he doesn't have much time to worry about all the small things. What we work on at practice is take off from a pop up and put the bungee at 12' and work on a small pole for form that's the only way you will jump where you want to jump.

[sooch90]

Right, I agree that it's necessary to be consistent, but I believe I've been told that the midmarks on D.J.'s chart should pretty much be the goal of your last 3 strides. If you're hitting the midmark that's on the chart with a specific grip and you have an outside takeoff, then your last 3 lefts are pretty solid. It inidicates you are correctly accelerating and shortening up your last 3 lefts right?

[CApv2007]

Good that you know that. Ya you should try to be exact to that, your last three strides should be your most explosive strides, the way you jump over your hand grip is by having a fast and adequate run because that will determine the amount of energy you put into the vault. try working on pole run cause your hands look fine where they are on the pole, and do a lot of practice fro ma short run with a lower bungee to get inverted and not look at the bungee. I teach my kids to look at their hands. The vaulter I talked about had problems with that and couldn't get over 13'9 until he fixed that and he is now very consistant. And don't think so much about your step, it's ok to be in, I know it's ideal to be out but it won't kill you if your in a little, what will kill you is if you don't have power in your plant and swing, think about your left trail leg and think of it as a whip behind you, and you want to whip that puppy as if you were trying to kick someone in the face, I tell that to my vaulters and that seems to be the best analogy or them . you have great potential and don't think that how high you hold determines how high you vault. My sophmore hasn't held any higher than 13'3 in his life and hesistates to hold any higher. It's a mental thing with him but he works on his technique all the time and that's why he vaults so efficent.