PoleVaultPower.com

Yes, started doing straight-pole drills about 3 weeks ago, and last Tuesday, we started actually bending poles. I'm able to grip around 11'9 while a straight pole, which is a 6" drop from last year, but I've been rather sick (colds), and all of these practices have been in FLATS (not spikes), so that may be a big factor.

All these Jumps are on a 13' 155 from a 3-Left Approach run, gripping around 12'1 (bungee at 13'3) with the standards BURIED). Just as a reminder, I am 5'7 at 130 lbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5vl78Gb_q8

JUMP 1: Not a completely free take-off, which isn't allowing me to jump upward so much. Could have been a little earlier in the plant (top arm never got fully extended before this pole-tip hit). I'm pretty content with my bottom arm, which isn't involved too much, especially considering the low grip. My knee-drive is pretty good, but I still feel it could be driven up a bit higher/harder. Next is my crown jewel! MY SWING! I've very happy with how my swing has improved; it stays long and straight, all the way to inversion (the way it should always be). Top-end looks a little "squirrely" to me, so let me know what you feel that may be a symptom of.

JUMP 2: Plant was a bit better, but can still improve. Knee looks a little higher too. The swing was good, but I don't feel I 'came back enough' (i think i was too far away from the pole, during the extension and pull/turn phase). Despite that, I think i got off the top, better (probably my best jump of the day, if not one of the jumps after the camera stopped rolling).

JUMP 3: Definitely took off under on this jump (which naturally affected the rest of the vault). The vaults wasn't too bad afterwards, but I stalled out at the top (probably a symptom of taking off, under). But if anyone feels it was because of something different, let me know.


THINGS TO POINT OUT
-flat take-off, not jumping upward due to being under
-hips come forward a bit too much at take-off (probably from taking off under).

Overall, I'm very happy with these jumps. These were only 3 jumps, in a row that were filmed; i had been hitting it pretty consistently, all practice. I'm certainly striving for a completely free take-off, so watch out for that in future videos. When I'm no longer sick and wearing spikes (which I don't think we'll actually do from 3 lefts), things will improve even more. Feedback is welcome, thanks in advance. -6P

6P!!! You're plant is so late!!! Ahhhhh!



But no, it really is late. At least, it certainly does look that way.

That's the biggest thing for you to work on right now I'd say. How many plant drills do you do every week? I did half a mile of walking plants yesterday and 200m of running plants today. Get some video of those drills up for us to take a look at.

Nice jumping, 6P!

First off, if you're trying to get a free takeoff, then we have to SEE a free takeoff. Kind of hard to see it with that blue box in the way ... and the front bun. Ask your cameraman to get the right angle to catch the takeoff foot.

Jump 1 ... Judging by the lead knee, it's not horz before the pole starts to bend, so NOT a free takeoff. Hand positions and body angle are good. Nice stretch in the trail leg on the next frame. However, it takes you 7 frames after that to pass the chord. In the first couple of these frames, you seem to be "frozen". Maybe you think you're "completing the takeoff" by stretching more, but I don't see any further stretch. All I see is a pause in the C. That's a passive state that you need to get rid of, as all you're doing is letting your so-called "natural swing" swing you towards the pit. Instead of that, you need to ACCELERATE your downswing, to pass the chord sooner, with a faster, stronger downswing. You know that I've told you this in the past, but this is a new year ... and I must say that I think you're getting there ... but still lots of room for improvement in your downswing ... both in how quickly you START it ... and how quickly you DO it. Once you get this, you'll find that you "beat" the pole to the chord, and you'll have a much easier upswing/inversion after that.

Is it my imagination, or are you hunching your top shoulder on this jump? PRESS and SQUEEZE. Your bottom arm looks well-placed after takeoff ... collapsing correctly. You should try to drive your chest thru a bit more, tho.

Back to your plant, there's a couple frames where your bottom arm is fully stretched, as if you're reaching for the box. This is unecessary, and just puts you off balance ... and causing you to twist your torso. (You do square up OK after that, tho.) It's also a passive state that you need to get rid of. If even for a split second, you're HOLDING the pole in that position ... instead of letting it drop ... weightlessly. Instead, reach more UP with both arms, timing it so that the pole hits just as your top arm becomes fully stretched. The bottom arm need not EVER be fully stretched.

Your swing is actually quite good ... other than the downswing probs that I already mentioned. It's not fast/early enough to do a full extension tho (and I realize that this is just a very short-run drill), so you slow down into a pike ... and have quite a few frames in the "dreaded flat-back" ... 6 to be exact. You let the trail leg catch up to ... and pass ... the lead knee. No reason for that. Your lead knee should stay ahead of your trail leg ... for more time. However, I like how you don't tuck/shoot ... instead your "continuous motion" to full extension is FAIRLY smooth ... except for when you slow down into the flat-back. You should be "dropping your shoulders" (i.e. not shrugging or hunching them) throughout the upswing. I don't see that. Instead, I see you looking at the bar. If your top arm is fully stretched (and bottom arm almost fully stretched) during the upswing, you shouldn't be seeing the bar. Instead, you should be looking straight up.

Jump 2 ... more of the same, except you were under more on takeoff, causing too much of a backwards lean in your C. This gets you to the flat-back far too early ... and your hips aren't ready for it. I count 5 frames in the flat-back. Looking at your landing position, I think you need to get more depth into the pit. It's not bad ... but I'd like to see you land more in the center of the PLZ.

Jump 3 ... a little better forwards lean on takeoff, but you were still 2 frames away from a free takeoff ... judging by your lead knee and the pole bend (since I can't see your takeoff foot). That's actually quite good of you to have such a good forwards lean even tho you're under that much!

Still no chest drive. Not even a hint of one. Other than that, nice C and nice swing tho (other than issues already mentioned). You must be doing some highbar work!

Six frames in the flat-back ... and then a bad flag-out.

I'll stop here ... enough points for one vid. Most of my comments apply equally to all 3 vaults ... I just mentioned them in the vault where I thought of them ... you can do your own cross-comparison ... that would take me more time. I'm just giving you initial ... off-the-cuff ... observations. Take them for what they're worth.

Also, I wouldn't read too much into you having 6 flat-back frames in Jumps 1 and 3, and only 5 in Jump 2. It's hard to define when the flat-back starts/stops, so I'd say they're all about the same. If I counted them again I might get a slightly different number. But the main point is that 5-6 flat-back frames is too many ... something to work on. As you know, it's everything you do in your run/plant/takeoff/downswing that pre-determines how well you'll PASS THRU the flat-back position. Get it down to a single frame and you're there!

No comment on your plant/takeoff JUMP ... yet. It's probably not hard (vigorous) enough, but since I can't see your foot, I'll refrain from saying any more.

In summary, I'm quite impressed with your progress over the past year!

Kirk

hey, thanks guys. Yea, i totally agree on all of your points made. Things for me to think about and work on, in my next vaulting session. One question to Kirk, how do you suppose i go about gaining more chest-drive?? or is the lack of a chest-drive, just a symptom of taking off, under?? I'll keep the vids coming, probably every tuesday from now on. Thanks again. -6p

Morning, I am no kirk but I feel like I can poke my nose in here....

Vaulters can take off wicked under and still have a chest drive... Its a little bit more difficult but it can be done, it takes allot of integrity and strength in the chest arms circuit to do it under but... One way to train the chest drive is to hang on the high bar and hold/hang in a drive knee and trail leg position. At this point press the chest forward squeeze the shoulders blades together or roll the shoulders back, because you are hanging it is going to feel like you are popping your chest out and then collapsing back in...

Once you get this you can add a little bit of swing movement, this will help you feel where your hips are when you need to pop/drive the chest... Eventually this will translate into the vault. It is important not to swing the trail leg back to pull the hips back, and pressing your chest. If you do it correctly your low back should feel kind of fatigued when you are done... This is because you are activity holding your hip where they need to be, as well as actively controlling the chest.

You can then do this with a little swing into a drive knee swing, then kip... The key is not to break early and pivot on the shoulder... Integrity with the chest, arms and hips

Also if you have a rope to swing on, run off the ground and hold the take off position. focusing on proper position with shoulders, legs, hips... (you need a really long rope with a high ceiling to pull this off) The only problem with the rope running is that it makes life very easy to turn at the shoulders and not hit the take off square... The positive thing is that you can reproduce this position very easily over and over again, without much energy expenditure...

Hope that is helpful, cheers
bel

joebro391 wrote:hey, thanks guys. Yea, i totally agree on all of your points made. Things for me to think about and work on, in my next vaulting session. One question to Kirk, how do you suppose i go about gaining more chest-drive?? or is the lack of a chest-drive, just a symptom of taking off, under?? I'll keep the vids coming, probably every tuesday from now on. Thanks again. -6p

Where do you go to college?

6P, Bel explained it more thoroughly than I ever could.

But instead of the rope drill ... which I know you did last year ... and which has the disadvantage that Bel mentioned ... I'd do the running highbar drill ... where you jog up to the highbar, grab on ... BOTH PALMS FACING FORWARDS ... and let the chest drive THRU to the C before you cock back to your downswing.

You can do this on rings too, but it's far better if the rings have less than a foot of cable above them ... or if you tie down the rings ... in some way ... so that they don't swing from the ceiling. You want to feel the hit of the rings ... just like you feel the hit of the highbar or pole ... right aways.

Another point is to ensure that you keep your shoulders VERY flexible. This is important not only for the chest drive, but also for being able to plant "thru" the shoulder ... without having to "side" plant or "forward" plant. Do lots of "skin the cat" on rings during warmups and warmdowns to improve your shoulder flexibility. Also static stretches of the arms behind your back in every which way possible.

Try it while sitting prone on the ground ... put your palms flat on the ground, then slide them behind you as far as you can ... keeping them flat on the ground. Once they're far enough back, try to slide them together, so that your fingers touch. This should be part of your normal warmup routine. KC, have you tried this yet?

Kirk

6P: This is absolutely a side-effect of your mixed grip. I know you're aware of all the connections between the shoulders and chest in the vault, because we were talking about it the other day... I'm going to hold you to your word: at least TRY a regular grip next practice.

AND EARLIER PLANT!

Bel: thanks man, that drill for the chest-drive, are you talking about manually pressing the chest, or having a coach push on my mid-back, to help drive my chest forward?? I've seen the latter implemented by a lot of great coaches [Petrov, Licari, Butler (Launder too, i think)], and i've wanted to try it for a while and just never had anyone to press on my back. I'll ask my coach to test it out a bit, tomorrow

Kev44000: Lynchburg College, Va

Kirk: yea, my coach has had me doing skin-the-cats about 2-3 times/week, for the past few weeks or so, so expect improvement.

PP: yup, i'll have video of that, up by sunday, with a bunch of other drills

-6P

I have seen it down both ways, when I started with this drill my coach pressed my back so I was in correct position, and not trying to throw my leg back to get my hips into position. Now after a few months of this we get into position and go through the steps. Pressing the chest, relax... pressing the chest... Then adding a swing, feeling where the chest and hips need to interacted, then adding in the chest, drive knee, swing, kip...

powerplant42 wrote:This is absolutely a side-effect of your mixed grip.

PP is right ... you will NOT get the correct stretching sensation if you're using a mixed grip with this drill ... or ANY highbar drill.

Kirk

hye

stretching the steps on the run... move back two steps.. and "chop"... (look at Isi sand vault posture and steps....)

pulling with the arms...after takeoff instead of "reaching" up/elastic arms....

dj