Help getting inverted

[Indians271]

Hello and thanks in advance for helping me out!

One of my practice vaults can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbMucV8DFr8

I am 145 lb on a 14' 145 pole holding around 11'6"

My main problem is that I am not swinging up all the way and I was wondering if that was because of the run up and plant or because of how I'm swinging (timing or strength)

[vault3rb0y]

You have a funky 2nd to last step. Its like you slow down and drop down before you take your last 2 steps.... but anyway! Inversion...


You gotta practice this on a stiff vault. Do a pop up and let your body hang from your top hand. If you ever start pulling with EITHER hand during your inversion, you wont invert and your pole will stop moving toward vertical. The best way to learn how to invert is to first do it on rings, then high bar, then a pop up with a very low grip. You want to get your hips directly over your shoulders with your leg behind you and your drive knee driving straight up at take off. Think of this-

If you want to kick a field goal, do you lean back before you kick it? Do you bring your foot back only 1 foot, or 2-3 feet? Well, the same idea applies to the vault. If you want to create the most force with your swing, you need to line it up correctly, and you need to swing LONG and FAST without pulling your hands at all. It takes some getting used to, but thats why doing it on rings or high bar will help a lot. Practice just hanging there and try to bring your feet all the way to the high bar without swinging, keeping your legs straight. If you can do that, you have PLENTY of core strength to invert very, very easily. Then, practice swinging back and forth, and swinging fast. The key is to swing fast in the downswing (the swing before your leg passes vertical) and keep that momentum through the upswing. If you can do it on a high bar, you can do it on a pop-up.

When you try it on a pop-up, you need to remember a few things to help you:

1.) if you feel like you ALMOST make it to vertical, but you just stop, you are probably blocking your swing with your hands, meaning your hands are in front of you. Remember that you need to swing your HIPS to your HANDS, not your hands to your hips. Keep your arms long and centered over your head while you swing.

2.) As soon as your hips start getting sucked under the pole, you have no shot at a good inversion. So when you jump, make sure you are BEHIND the pole, with your hips centered behind your shoulders (or directly underneath them). You will only be in this position for a split second, but you NEED to get into it before you swing. *Hint* the better the take off, the easier it is to get into this position.

3.) When you do swing, swing long and continuously. Don't let your legs or hips stop moving until you are completely upside down and in line with the pole.

4.) Keep all your weight on your top hand when you invert, and don't push/pull/dosomethingcrazy with your bottom hand. If it does anything while you swing, move it to the side to get the pole out of the way when you swing.

Good Luck!

[vault3rb0y]

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

Just notice how he:

1.) sets himself up behind the pole

2.)From there, instead of his hips getting sucked under, he accelerates his hips with his swing

3.) Never pulls with his hands

4.) brings his hips to his hands

5.) Once inverted, actually passes vertical and stays very tight with the pole.