female vaulter! i can't get my hips up!

[katiesuisse]

I am 15, going to be a Junior in High School. I am 5'3, 112 lbs. I can run pretty fast. I am at the end of my 120 12, UCS. This season was crappy because I was out for two weeks with a concussion and only vaulted at three meets, including divisionals and state. Now we are starting summer vault, and I have a metatarsal stress fracture! I love vault SO much and want to succeed. I have so much opportunity, because I can vault indoor, and outdoor practice available. My legal PR is 9'6. I have been told I am on the brink of being great, if I can just get vertical and shoot up. I have had coaches around the state talk about my potential but I want to fulfill that. Any advice or tips would be extremely helpful, and PRO's and CON's to my vault would be helpful as well.
FYI-- in the videos I am running a 8 step, and I am obviously not doing the complete vault, just really trying to accomplish the full vert, and shooting up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E89bgs5Ni5E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvWP4Eb47Oc

**keep in mind i am not trying to twist and push, just trying to get vert, or position 1, and hold, than shoot.

thank you for your time!
-- Katie, Montana

[souleman]

Lot's of short run (three left stuff) stiff pole jumps. Put a cross bar up at 8'. (Hard bar not a bungee) standards all the way back. Grip at 9' 10" on about a 12 X 150 to 12 X 160 pole. Put your left foot at 33'. You get 3 lefts (the 33 foot left counts as your first left) a penultimate and a take off left. Do this till you can clear the bar 3 times. Then you can move up to the next grip and so on. This is a game that Bubba calls "face your demons". At my club it's called "Jumping the chart". The progressions are as follows.
8' 6", 10-2 Grip, 34 foot starting left
9' 0", 10-6 Grip, 35 foot starting left
9' 6", 10-10 Grip, 36 foot starting left
10' 0", 11' 1" Grip, 37 foot starting left
and so on.
The grips and start points match exactly David Johnston's numbers on the mid mark chart. Once you've gotten to that 10 foot jump, then start over with the game "beating the chart". How you do this is trying to jump the height above the grip. In other words try to make 8' 6" with a 9' 10" grip. One of my guys at club today was beating the grip by four grips. He was jumping 12' 6" with an 11' 5" grip starting at 38 feet. The only way he was doing that was by getting totally upside down and shooting off the top. In other words.....inverted! The good thing about short run stuff, especially in the summer and off season is that you can do lot's of them and work on what you need to work on, the technique. You know how to run (other than your pole carry is too low which causes you plant to be low as well). So take the time this summer to do the "no fun" stuff which is working on technical aspects of the jump. The short run stiff pole work will really pay off next year during the season. Later.....................Mike

[Thats.What.She.Said]

for starters, i would say go to a short run on a stiff pole, trust me it will make the difference. so do like a two or three step run holding at an appropriate height. it will make it so that you can do more repeats, and a stiff pole makes it so that you cant cheat other parts of the jump. trust me, this really does work, its how i improved my swing a ton. and then just work on dropping your shoulders and rolling your hips up. also if you have access to a high bar or rings, doing bubkas and swing ups help to.
also, i sorta feel like you dont need an 8 step run in general, i dont know if your full jumps are different but your last few steps dont look like you are really speeding up at all

[souleman]

One more thing Katie. You only need to post in one place. Don't worry kiddo, we'll find you and your post. Later........Mike

[katiesuisse]

Thanks for the replies. I first do a lot of short approach just doing rock-back and holding lower on the pole. I can do a nearly professional rock-back, on a stiff pole and get my hips up and shoulders back. I just have a hard time driving and swinging quickly to get my weight on the back of the pole, therefore, being able to get my hands to shins, than hands to hips. I can get my hands to my shins, than I feel as if my vault is over. that is my problem. I cannot get my hands from my shins, to my hips. If you get what I am saying. I need help with that!

[Thats.What.She.Said]

i dont know if im just reading it wrong, but are you saying that you are trying to jump faster now that you are bending the pole? because if so that could be causing a lot of your problems, because with the bent pole you need to not rush your swing, because that means that you're not setting up your takeoff. if you watch the videos, you are leading your take off with your hips, not your chest, which also makes it hard to get a good swing in, because it forces you to have to muscle up. also, sorry im just combining the pm in with this post bus im very confused because it sounded like you were contradicting yourself, because first you said that you have stress fractures that are causing to to stride out (?) and slow down, so you need 8 steps to counteract that, but if you are slowing down, then more steps means you are taking off after your fastest point in the run.

[altius]

In brief and in haste - The run up is much too long for what you are trying to achieve -should be 3 lefts or 4 at the most. In fact with a pr of 9'6 you do not need to be running more than 12 steps in your full vault. One consequence is that you do not upspring at take off -just get pulled off the ground. Look like a former gymnast with that run - need to start running like a pole vaulter -two different things entirely.

Get the take off out and jump!!! The key phrase is finish the take off - with your TO foot pointing down or back - not forward as it seems to do here.

Forget the rock back drill and do long swings to land as deep onto the pad as possible -swing around the top hand and take the left arm out of play - it is dominant at present..

However I suggest you get your foot completely healed before you go much further into your training.

[katiesuisse]

No, sorry I didn't mean to make it sound like I am just trying to speed vault. I meant to say that I most likely need an 8 step because when I am healed, it takes me 8 steps to get up to speed. I am striding out in these videos mainly because of my hurting foot. When I am totally healthy I can run an 8 step and that's how long it takes me to get to full/top speed.

-- My main problem is I can get my hands to my shins,(I get in a V position, than I feel my vault is over) so once my hands are to my shins, I feel as if I cannot get my hands to my hips, and than go up!

[tsorenson]

You are doing a lot of things right, and do indeed have potential to jump high. Very good advice has been given already...here's my version

The reason why you can't continue to invert is that the pole is recoiling strongly by the time you get your shins to your hands. Also you seem to be keeping the left arm rigid...there is a point in the vault (at the top of your swing) where you need to break the left elbow, pull the left hand in and close past the left side of your face as you extend up the pole and turn. The basic motion is easily learned by practicing swinging into inversion on a rope, and by doing rockbacks with a short section of pole or PVC pipe. The hard part is timing it up right on the pole...and the longer the run/higher the grip, the harder it is to be consistent enough with your run/takeoff to learn the timing and develop the confidence to fully invert.

The pole is bent quite a bit while your takeoff foot is still on the ground, which means that it is recoiling sooner than would be the case if you get your step on. When your step is perfectly "on", you won't feel like you are fighting against the pole when you are trying to invert, because it will still be bent, and you can take advantage of your natural swing to get inverted more quickly. Keep in mind, taking off from too far out can also make it difficult to fully invert.

The reason shorter runs are better for beginners is that it's easier to learn how to jump and extend without the support of the box...then you can move your step back gradually as long as you aren't taking off under. You say that you need 8 lefts to get up to speed, but it looks like you actually reach your maximum speed of your approach much sooner and just "coast" into the takeoff. My guess is that you could PR easily with a shorter run and smaller pole, and then move back one at a time...soon you will be jumping from 6 lefts on the same pole/grip that you are using from 8 now, and vaulting way over your grip!

Good luck, get healthy before you do any more vaulting. Gymnastics, climbing, swimming are all good off-season activities that will let you stay active while your stress fractures heal.

Tom

[dougb]

2 things

Everyone is talking about your left arm. They are correct. You are using it to try to get higher. Use your left arm to pull your head and shoulders under your hips.
Try it.

Second. This is a skill event just like gymnastics. But just like gymnastics it takes a lot of strength to get the skill. Bubkas while your foot is healing. If you can't do a straight bubka,
then tuck your right leg behind the bar and do "cheating bubkas.

doug Balcomb