PoleVaultPower.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3UAe_SVN5Q

This is Annie Burlingham jumping from 4 and 5 lefts. We are currently working on the pole drop, jumping up at take off, and staying tight to the pole on the top. I like the way she is driving her chest at take off and getting a full swing to the top. I think she needs to work on taking off from a little further out, and turning into the pole on the top.

In these videos the poles she uses are a 12 140, a 13 130, and a 13 135 holding somewhere between 10'6 and 11'3. Jumping from 4 and 5 lefts.

I am posting this here because I tend to over analyze her jump giving her to much to focus on. So wondering what you think are the main things that need to be worked on.

KC


Annie is looking good. Runup from 5 left looked strong. Plant and swing are good. The main thing to work on is getting her hips higher than her shoulders faster. In the video she gets her hips even with her shoulders then as she extends up by bringing her hips to her right hand she has to arch her back which drops her legs.

If she can swing a litlle farther in the same time frame every thing after that will be easier.

She should also be doing 9 left pole runs as described by DJ. Speed is the limiting factor when everthing else is done right.

If you are in town, drop on by the pit. I vault sunday mornings at about 10 AM. (My religion)

Doug Balcomb
PV Coach Colfax HS

Once she leaves the ground, the limiting factor that I see in her technique is that she hunches her top shoulder as she absorbs the impact of the pole hitting the box. Immediately after that, she hunches it even more ... instead of letting it stretch as long as possible ... until her legs and hips swing up. This takes considerable strength to do correctly ... and even if a young vaulter has the strength, they sometimes do this out of habit ... a bad habit picked up when they DIDN'T have the shoulder strength.

The best remedy for this is lots of highbar, rings, and rope work ... ALWAYS swinging with the top arm fully stretched. Depending on the drill and apparatus, the bottom arm will also usually be fully stretched (just not on the rope). The way I coach this is to "PRESS AND SQUEEZE". The "PRESS" is the action of pushing the top arm up as high as possible, stretching it to the extreme ... and the SQUEEZE is a reminder that you need to hang onto the pole (or highbar or rings or rope) as you're pressing it.

You can search for "press squeeze" to find other threads where I've discussed this point.

Once you get into the habit of pressing and squeezing in the gym, it'll be much easier on the pole. But don't expect instant results. The shock of the pole hitting the back of the box is enough to cause SOME hesitation and shoulder-shrugging ... no matter how strong you are. You need her to work up to this slowly ... first with the easy drills (like she was doing), then short runs, then long runs. It might take a full season to build up the strength and confidence to break this habit, but it will pay off in the long run. There's far too much leakage when you shrug your shoulders like she does.

Kirk

I never thought of it before but think I see what you saying, I think she drives her chest more on some jumps then on others and think it helps prevent what your saying and those jumps are generally the better ones. This is basically the first year she has started to do real wait training so there is definatly a strenth issue. We have been doing bubka's ancle bangers, wipers, and attempting a modified form of levers. Was wondering if you had any videos of drills spacific to building the strength that she needs to do what you are saying properly. Thanks for the advise!

dougb wrote:KC


In the video she gets her hips even with her shoulders then as she extends up by bringing her hips to her right hand she has to arch her back which drops her legs.

If she can swing a litlle farther in the same time frame every thing after that will be easier.


If you are in town, drop on by the pit. I vault sunday mornings at about 10 AM. (My religion)

Doug Balcomb
PV Coach Colfax HS

I definatly agree I have been trying to get annie to tighten her stomach and stay almost a little piked when pulling up so her feet dont drop out like that. I also think if I could get her to swing past her top hand to 1 o'clock it will help compensate for this, along with turning into the pole insted of falling away from it. We have been doing alot of bent pull swing ups trying to acheive this position but havnt quite got there yet. Glad you said she was arching her back, I always look at as you need to stay in a slight pike position but I think dont let your back arch will be easier to apply and understand.

I would love to swing by next time im up there probably some time before christmas, and possibly in spring when I come up for a meet at sac stae or davis. Nice to here from you.

---Kasey Burlingham

kcvault wrote: ... she drives her chest more on some jumps then on others and think it helps prevent what your saying and those jumps are generally the better ones. ... Was wondering if you had any videos of drills specific to building the strength that she needs to do what you are saying properly. ...

Just about every gym drill (highbar, rings, rope) will give her the strength that she needs. Ironically, some vaulters are TOO strong in the shoulders, so they hunch them to use their strength. The trick is not to get stronger ... as much as it is to USE THE PROPER MUSCLES. When you hunch your shoulders, you contract your bicep and lat muscles, and probably some other muscles too. When you hang LONG under the pole (or rope or highbar or rings) you must rely on the strength of your GRIP ... without contracting your biceps and lats. So you must improve the strength of your grip, along with increasing your CONFIDENCE that you'll be able to hang on without letting go of the pole (or rope or highbar or rings).

KC, if you want a specific drill for this, I recommend the highbar drill where you jog up to the bar ... palms facing forwards ... grab on ... drive the chest forward whilst stretching the trail leg back ... and swing ... similar to how you would (or should) do it on a pole. This action should simulate a real takeoff ... not too low and not too high. If Annie is too short, then build up the mats under the highbar so that when she takes off, she jumps about the same as on the pole. Likewise, for any tall (usually male) vaulters that might hit the mat with their trail leg as they pass under the bar, remove those mats.

The reason this is a good drill for learning how to PRESS AND SQUEEZE is that she's jogging into the bar at a slow, controlled speed, and she's distributing her body weight over BOTH arms ... so it should be twice as easy as on a pole. Once this is learned at a slow jog, you can gradually increase the number of steps, and gradually increase the tempo.

In doing this drill, you will find that Annie's tendency will be to hunch her shoulders. That's exactly what you must teach her to fight against ... by PRESSING and SQUEEZING.

The repetition of this drill will transfer quite effectively to real vaults. When going back to sand vaulting and short swing-thrus on the pole, be sure to practice the same body motion that was learned on the highbar ... PUSH and SQUEEZE (but this time just with the top hand) ... without hunching or shrugging the top shoulder. The only difference should be that now most of her body weight is on the top hand.

Kirk