PoleVaultPower.com

Hey everyone,

Here's some video of me doing some pole runs from 6 lefts. I'm focusing on keeping both my arms moving up. I've been having a problem with dropping the left arm during the plant, resulting in a forward plant, which in turn results in my over striding my run.

http://polevaultvideos.fliggo.com/video/KW42FkOQ

I apologize for the shoddy camera work. My camera was running out of battery so I just had someone grab some quick shots.

Morning, some things look wicked solid about this, however some things are not as good.

Things I enjoy, I am only really talking about the run with the full view. When you leave the ground the pole hasn't hit the ground yet, many people practice with a pole hit then a jump. Nice solid drive knee and jump off the ground.

Things I am not a fan of, It is hard to tell because I am not getting smooth video, but it looks like when you are running you are dropping your step just a tick to far in front of you, this is no good because when you start to pull with a foot that is in front of you you are firing the hamstrings too much and one can easily blow out a hamstring with that. If you are doing them correctly B skips are ment to fix this, if you do them wrong they will hurt you (literally and figuratively).

Im not a fan of your knee drive when running, now everyone will lower the knees as take off because of biomechanics of changing movement, however your knees need to be better, again you only have a couple of steps with the last run so its hard to tell. But if you can fix your knee drive this will allow for a quicker turn over (sounds counter intuitive) and more powerful run. One quick way to do this is to make sure you are running with a tucked pelvis. Something that can easily be forgotten when carrying a pole.

Your plant is strong but just a tick too far back on your head, it looks like top arm splits your head and it is straight up and down. To get the plant to be forward I would have you fix your arm position by bring your arm forward just a tick so your bicep is about temple area, rather than ear area. Its just couple of inches difference but can fix a whole lot.

Your head at take off is down, again something that just seems to happen when doing pole runs people start to look down at take off, however lift your chin just tick and get your eyes to be on the horizon/bar (Im not talking about throwing your head back) but with lifted head this can influence torso placement and lean, I look at the box when the pole is going in, but as soon as it hits, my eyes come up with chin and torso leading to look at about my bottom hand. then when I get the bar in my field of vision, i know where it is.

Real solid but little things to fix
Hope that helps
-bel

Bel, I think you're an elite vaulter, so this is intermediate/elite advice ... not beginner advice ... since it's for vaulters with a pushoff of more than a foot.

bel142 wrote: I look at the box when the pole is going in, but as soon as it hits, my eyes come up with chin and torso leading to look at about my bottom hand. then when I get the bar in my field of vision, i know where it is.

This all sounds like sound advice, except this part ... the part that I underlined.

I don't think you need to know where the bar is until you're turning and hanging over it (bar clearance).

Prior to that, you should KNOW where it is ... just by the feel of your jump ... and the knowledge of where you set your standards.

If you know where "UP" is, then you know where the bar is. I'm serious. "UP" is straight up, directly above the pole when it's at vertical. From there, since you know where you set your standards, you know where the bar is. And the height of the bar shouldn't matter. You should try to optimize your hip height no matter what height you're attempting.

I think that any focus of the eyes on the BAR prior to the turn/fly-away is focussing on the wrong thing. You should put all your focus on flying STRAIGHT UP, and "steer" according to where you need to be to shoot straight up ... and also according to whether you HAVE TO flag out to save a bad vault.

This should all be by FEEL rather than by SIGHT. After all, if your body is fully inverted and is extending, your eyes really aren't positioned very well to watch the bar anyway.

But if you're a tuck/shooter, then this doesn't apply. They in fact MUST watch the bar, and time their extension based on where it is in relation to where the pole is (in relation to vertical). At least that's what I've observed (no personal experience).

Except for the previous paragraph, this is all from sound experience ... with a 32-34" pushoff. If your pushoff is less than this, then your mileage will vary. In fact, if your pushoff is more than this, then all the more reason why you shouldn't focus on the bar prematurely.

You need to KNOW where it will be until you're about to clear it. You definitely need to watch the bar as you clear it, to time the clearance of your arms. But it's before this point in time that I question the need to watch the bar. I think it would be distracting. Just MHO.

Kirk

I think that any focus of the eyes on the BAR prior to the turn/fly-away is focussing on the wrong thing.

This should all be by FEEL rather than by SIGHT. After all, if your body is fully inverted and is extending, your eyes really aren't positioned very well to watch the bar anyway.

You definitely need to watch the bar as you clear it, to time the clearance of your arms. But it's before this point in time that I question the need to watch the bar. I think it would be distracting. Just MHO.

I disagree. Almost all elite vaulters look at the bar early on in the the jump. As they turn up and see their feet, they see the bar behind them. This happens subconciously for some, but many elites intentionally look for their feet, and look to see the bar beyond their feet. It gives a visual que and helps to position the whole jump better. The position of their head and body make seeing the bar second nature.

There is a point betweend the turning up and clearing the bar where you lose sight of it, but because you already saw it, you know where it is and are able to sense where it is more easily.

As far as the pole run goes, it does look good! I would recommend working on getting your tip lower much earlier. Try to have the pole parellel to the ground two steps out (on the left foot) before you start your plant. It looks like you are rushing to get the pole tip low enough on the last couple steps, which will slow you down when you vault and contribute to your overstriding.

Also, definately work on the head angle. Look in the direction you want to jump. If your head is down, you will tend to drive straight ahead, load the pole instead of jumping up and swinging.

Erica, looking at your vid at the Gill factory ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-2vRBAxeds&feature=related ... I agree that you do indeed watch the bar.

You also did this during the Oly Trials, but those vids are harder to see, as they're not against a white background.

However, just because you do this doesn't mean that it's sound technique.

Otherwise, you would have to argue that your habit of spreading your feet about 18" apart during your extension is also sound technique. The legs should be kept together. I consider these just "idiosyncracies" ... or even minor "flaws".

During a giant, would you INTENTIONALLY watch your feet ... or spread your legs apart? I don't think so. It's not going to make your giant swing any better (ignoring the issue of loss of style points by not pointing your toes together). And you KNOW where your feet are by the FEEL of your giant, so why would you have to keep an eye on them?

I'm not saying that you would significantly increase your PR by fixing these 2 flaws ... I'm just saying that they're not adding any significant value to your technique ... IMHO.

In the Bubka vid that Kyle just posted, he doesn't pay any attention to the bar until he's clearing it. As I first mentioned, for tuck/shoot (or lower bars) you can and should watch the bar, but Petrovers attempting higher bars (say 5.20+) there's no need. It's better to do it by FEEL.

Even Isi on her 5.05 WR last year http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N_Jduavgpw doesn't look at the bar. With the Petrov Model, it's rather awkward to look at the bar.

Erica, I'm not at all implying that you're a tuck/shooter and that's why you do this. I actually think you're doing a fairly decent "continuous motion" Petrov-like vault. It's just not "perfect" ... yet! (and neither is Isi's).

BTW, I consider anything up here on the top end of the vault to be very, very unimportant compared to the bottom half of the vault. So I'm surprised that I'm even talking about it so much. In the grand scheme of things, all this is quite unimportant.

Kirk

In a clique but i believe true statement.... Where the eyes go, the body follows. This is why amatuer divers turn their heads, because unconciously their body follows.

Personally... i want my jump to go up in the air. While running, i want to go foward, so that's where i look. Once i leave the ground, i finish my take off (ideally) and look a foot above the bar. Hopefully i've had enough training all i have to think about is allowing my body to follow my eyes- to a point. Once i am nearly at the vertical plane, you dont want to run your body right into the bar! So your hips block your view of the bar and you look straight up as you pull. Ideally again, the body follows.

This is something that works for me. Think about it, maybe use it, maybe not. I certainly have an awareness of where i am in relation to the bar. But when i walk down the sidewalk, just because i have the awareness of walking straight and i know where i'm going doesnt mean i should close my eyes either. however your eyes should HELP you know where you are, not keep you from hitting positions. If it does, i'd say you are looking in the wrong place.

Kirk, I think you are misunderstanding what I am saying and at what point in the jump i am talking about.

First of all, I am in no way implying that my technique is the example of what should be followed. I do some things very well, other things quite poorly and over all have a lot more room for improvement. (Thank goodness, cause I still want to jump higher!)

That has nothing to do with my post about looking at the bar, so look at other elites for this example if you wish.

I have yet to find an elite vaulter who is not in a great position to see the bar as they turn up. Bubka and Isi both do it. Look at Bubka's jump between 6 and 8 seconds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FILObFtpdVU He is still swinging, and as he turns up, the bar is in veiw behind his feet. Whether it is a concious effort or subconcious at this point probably depends on the vaulter. Most vaulters sense where the bar is because they see it at this stage. Look at all elite vaulters. Of course they don't keep looking at it because they continue to swing further.

If i may use myself as an example....

http://www.treemo.com/users/jpelletier/ ... em/383176/


I truly believe this psychological aspect of vaulting plays a huge role. The first attempt i was trying to get on a new pole and focused on the box the entire jump. I barely jumped off the ground (and sprained my ankle actually!.... of course kept vaulting ) and you see the result. From this angle i hope you can see where my eyes are focused. I can tell you that my eyes stayed one step ahead of my flight in the vault- first horizontal, then once off the ground they moved upwards, once swinging they moved to the bar.... then above the bar.... then the ceiling. I look to the side for the bar and it even unconciously helps my turn.

"First of all, I am in no way implying that my technique is the example of what should be followed. I do some things very well, other things quite poorly and over all have a lot more room for improvement. (Thank goodness, cause I still want to jump higher!) "

And you have every chance of jumping 4.80+ Keep making those improvements