PoleVaultPower.com

Uploaded a quick video from my short vault session yesterday... info:

Samuel- Ht: 5'10" Wt: 148lbs
Pole- 13'6" 155lb, gripping at 12'3"
3 lefts from 38'6", Bungee at 13'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Wvy8gQbtw

Some things i notice...
Overstriding the last step, wasn't really under though.
Inversion sucks... I notice that as i'm really trying to get upside down, my head/shoulders actually drop down
in relationship to the ground as i'm trying to get my hips up. There's almost a pause in my momentum as i do it.
And i'm sure this is all due to some part of my run/plant/takeoff.

I hate my jumps...
Rip it apart anyways though.

Despite the early ground phase errors, your take-off is actually pretty great!

The running mechanics could use some work... You are running underneath of yourself, probably because of a "competition mentality". Here's what I mean by that: "I need to run flat-out to maximize the speed I can generate during this run for my take-off." VS. "I need to run correctly in order to practice what I will be doing in a full vault, even if that means I won't be going as fast as I could be going."

The pole should be lowered more slowly too so that you can be in better balance during your run and have a better plant.

Can't comment much on the air-phase, the angle is a little weird. What you said about it seems pretty right though. Although I can say that you could keep coming back more on the pole, you've got the time (or it looks like you do at least).

I think that is a pretty nice jump. If you could get your hips to the pole a fraction of a second sooner (before the pole finishes unbending) you will get more lift. That will provide more of an opportunity for you to work on pole release and beyond.

Well thanks, both of you... PP42, that low pole carry has been with me since i was born i think. I like to be good and sure i hit the box, so my last two-three strides i have it pretty durn low. Its something i'm constantly working on but never really get to a free pole drop.

I'll take that all in... see what happens next session...

Also been talking to bubba, he thinks that i'm trying to get my hips up almost too early... that i'm not getting the full swing in before i start to roll them up... And when i try to get them up early like that it lets hand pressure off the pole and allows it to release a little early. Makes sense to me.

(unrelated... Master, how's Oregon at this time of year? I want to go out there SO badly... )

BadMotherVaulter wrote:(unrelated... Master, how's Oregon at this time of year? I want to go out there SO badly... )

It has been pretty miserable weather this HS vaulting season. We usually have our share of rain, but this year was really bad. I've lived here in the Willamette Valley for the last 34 years and am used to rain. But it even got to me this year. That being said, when the sun shines through (any day now), it is a beautiful place. If you like doing things out of doors, it can be fantastic.

I hear about the significant rain...

I've never been to Oregon, and it's on my bucket list i guess... One thing I want to accomplish before i'm in the ground is to vault at Hayward field, and run some of the trails around there... Visit Pre's rock...

totally random, sorry for the distraction, back to vaulting!

BadMotherVaulter wrote: ... One thing I want to accomplish before i'm in the ground is to vault at Hayward field ...

Been there, done that!

BadMotherVaulter wrote: ... Visit Pre's rock...

Been there, done that!

My bucket list isn't complete until I meet Baggett and Launder ... and get personal autographs on their books!

Badmother, I'll get to your vid ... as promised. Go PHX!

Kirk

KirkB wrote:

BadMotherVaulter wrote: ... One thing I want to accomplish before i'm in the ground is to vault at Hayward field ...

Been there, done that!

BadMotherVaulter wrote: ... Visit Pre's rock...

Been there, done that!
Kirk

Just rub it in, whydontcha?

man, to tell you the truth, your jumping dammm good.

You do a few things good, and a few things bad.
First of all, you got a great out step, you keep that left leg nice and long behind you, you relax the lead knee good after initial take-off (you dont over drive that knee past 90 which cause a yank at the hip to swing up early), and you get in a good position at the top.
Now, the cons of your jump.... First, the approach. You run a little too tense from the start, but pole runs can fix that. Stay relaxed. You also need to think of jumping up off the ground more. This will also help quickining up your last two strides..this part is something just to keep in the back of you head. Your swing is a little weak and this is causing you to have no "Pop" at the top what so ever. This shoudln't be a cause from the take-off because your take-off is very nice and your probably on the right pole. So you have to think...what else? well, maybe you need to work on core strenghth. If you feel your core is good then you have to think of other drills to incorperate into your vault. Swing-up or Bubkas can help with a strong swing. Even getting access to a high bar at a local school or gym - practice free hipe, kipps, and giants... you'll learn how to get that "whip" feeling after that initial take-off...this will help you learn to commit on the swing in the vault. Second, your holding the pole to long at the top... once you turn up the pole, you need to push off the pole...if you take a good look on your vid, you can see that you holding the pole all the way until your half-way landing on the pit, then you let go very late....again, this comes from developing more strenghth from rope climbs, pull ups, high bar drills and bubkas....

Keep Charging and good luck - Billy P.

BadMother, my first reaction is that your last step is WAY too long! Maybe you need to chop your last step a bit.

However, you do get a fairly good takeoff and C out of it. You body posture (angle) in your C is actually very, very good!

You then lose it again in your downswing. You've read my posts, so you know what I think about the importance of the downswing.

I'm thinking that you're not jumping off the ground hard enough. If you were high-jumping, how HIGH do you think this jump would get you? If you were long-jumping, how FAR do you think this jump would get you? Whatever your answers, add 1 foot to your HJ number, and 3 feet to your LJ number (nominal numbers, just to give you a rough idea). Now train like you need to jump a foot higher and 3 feet further. Do all the drills you need to do to get this right. Then get back on the runway, and jump again (I assume this will take the better part of a year!). THAT'S how you need to jump on takeoff!

Now your downswing. You KNOW what I'm going to say. You need to WHIP your trail leg DOWN and FORWARDS! After having such a great takeoff and C, why let that all go to waste? DO SOMETHING WITH THAT DAMN TRAIL LEG! WHIP IT! And don't wait for the trail leg to reach the chord and THEN whip it. WHIP it IMMEDATELY when you hit the C! No pause!

Like Billy said, develop your core strength on rings, highbar, and rope so that you have the muscle-power to whip that trail leg!

Got it?

Kirk

Billy, Thankya. I've been working on a lot of things and some of it's paying off.... It just seems i'm not putting it all together yet...

Kirk, you're 100% right on that last step being way too darn long. Last spring I had all but taken that overstride out of my approach and was hitting free takeoffs like it was my job. BUT... I'm rusty as hell due to all these injuries. I broke my right foot in January, finally recovered from that only to discover i needed one more knee surgery (on my takeoff leg, at that ) which i had done on May 5th, so i'm pretty fresh off of that ordeal.

But now I'm all fixed i know my fitness level is not where it should be. As for jumping off the ground more, I can do that WAY better but i need to build my jump leg back up. Also, Kirk... I took a look at my swing in a frame by frame and was cringing... SO slow. I'd almost call it lazy. I know it threw the rest of my vault off because it was so durn slow. My legs never got far enough back to properly invert because of it.

Just seems like my entire vault would benefit right now by me getting my core fitness up. On the bright side, I've got a good day off today to go get a good workout in. I believe i'll warm up and all, get a ridiculous amount of pole runs in (i'll work on my last stride and jump/takeoff.) I don't have rings, just a high-bar so i'll do a ridiculous amount of bubka's working on my downswing. I also like this drill i found on stabhochsprung.com where you set low hurdles up about 10ft away from each other and use a small cutoff section of poles to do a good takeoff jump over the hurdles, and jump them one after another. Then i'll probably hit some stair laps or something. Whatever comes to me I guess, haha.

Kirk, question... It seems like if i'm thinking of taking off the ground HARDER, it's going to cause me to overstride even more to get my foot under me to power off the ground... Your thoughts?

And billy, as far as holding on to the pole too long, I don't normally... I'm kind of used to jumping on longer poles where I have more time to push off. That's probably all that was. I have other videos from this session where I get off the top better, this is just a fluke i guess. Thing is, i'm never going to have a good top end if i can't fix these bottom-end issues first.

Thank you guys very much for taking the time to review this though. This forum and some email exchanges are really all the coaching I get, so this is VERY much appreciated.

BadMotherVaulter wrote: ... i'll do a ridiculous amount of bubka's working on my downswing.

Hold on! The Bubka drill does NOT help your downswing. The Bubka drill is for the upswing/inverstion/extension parts of the vault.

You should be doing the Stretch Whip Highbar Drill! (Search for the Stretch Whip Drills thread.)

BadMotherVaulter wrote: Kirk ... It seems like if i'm thinking of taking off the ground HARDER, it's going to cause me to overstride even more to get my foot under me to power off the ground... Your thoughts?

HARDER does not mean OVERSTRIDE. Maybe that's YOUR logic, but you need to fix that logic. HARDER means a more powerful UP IMPULSE. Now where in the definition of an up impulse does it say that you need to overstride in order to make it more powerful?

On the contrary, I would think that you can get a more powerful up impulse if you shorten your last stride ... in a gathering motion ... so as to prepare for it. Overstriding is almost guaranteeing yourself that you're going to hit your takeoff foot heel-first, whereas the proper technique is to strike the ball of your foot (the solid part, right near your toes) FIRST. As you strike down, there may be some incidental contact of your heel on the ground, but that should NOT be your intent, nor should you be letting your heel touch down very solidly on the ground ... if at all. I tried not to let my heel touch ... I wanted to sorta BOUNCE off of the ball of my foot ... but your mileage may vary, depending on the strength of your calves and ankles.

Remember that ... like a sprinter ... your takeoff foot should not be on the ground for very long ... the shorter time the better. It's not like HJ ... more like LJ. So don't plant your foot. Maybe you're thinking that you need to plant your foot to get that powerful up impulse? Ya gotta change that way of thinking.

Remember that you want to jump FORWARDS 3 feet for every foot that you jump UPWARDS. So you'll need some forward lean on takeoff to accomplish this. If you plant that foot, you'll be leaning too far BACKWARDS. BTW, the 3:1 ratio is just a rough guide. It doesn't even work out to the optimal 18-19 degree takeoff angle - it's higher. But if you shoot for that, you'll probably jump in the 15-25 degree range (these are all very rough numbers), which is just about right.

Kirk