Practice

[Mcsteezypv]

Just vault practice....
Holding at the top of 15' 165.
Bar is at 15.
Obviously alot needs to be done. Just want different opinions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCwIaxiOHU8

[VaultPurple]

For starters you are under by quite a bit for a 15' grip. This is a big problem but it wouldn't be quite as big of a problem if you had a little more chest drive and kept your hips back when you leave the ground. Right when you leave the ground your hips are moving forward before you start your swing so there is no pre stretch and the only way for you to invert is by bending both your knees and balling up. You want a good pre-stretch off the ground so you can swing your hips and a straight leg up and off the top of the pole.

Think about being more aggressive at the take off and really driving your chest up and forward to generate power in your vault.

Also, That is a really slow build up in your run that can be really inconsistent. The speed you reach at take off could easily be built up in probably 5 lefts if you were really sprinting. Since you are already at 9? lefts, you really do not have much more room to improve your speed besides changing your rate of acceleration which can really throw off your steps.

fyi. i am a fan of sprinting the whole run.. no elite sprinter hits full speed in 100ft, what makes a pole vaulter think they can jog and hit full speed in a lot less?

[starkey480]

vault purple, sprinting the whole time leads to pressing and no acceleration in the last 3 steps. Its way more inconsistent. Building up let's you be relaxed and have the maximum Controlled velocity into takeoff. Also sprinters don't jump off the ground when they are done racing so that is irrelevant. Hardly any PRO pole vaulters will tell you that they sprint the whole way down the runway.

[VaultPurple]

vault purple, sprinting the whole time leads to pressing and no acceleration in the last 3 steps. Its way more inconsistent. Building up let's you be relaxed and have the maximum Controlled velocity into takeoff. Also sprinters don't jump off the ground when they are done racing so that is irrelevant. Hardly any PRO pole vaulters will tell you that they sprint the whole way down the runway.

For starters, If you can not sprint 5 lefts and still be accelerating in the last 3, you are probably not in good enough shape to be pole vaulting. Pressing in most peoples mind causes your steps to get longer as you run so it keeps you from being able to have a good turn over to jump out of. But this will only happen if you are accelerating without increasing your frequency more than your stride length. This is regardless of it is controlled build up or not.

There is nothing that can cause your overall velocity from accelerating in the last three steps unless you just run out of gas or ran from so far back you have actually reached your bodies peak velocity. Well unless you just stop running.

But back to where I said you should be sprinting the whole time. This means your fastest controlled sprint you can do. You don't need to be coming out of the back like your are coming out of the blocks for the 60m dash. But you need to do it as fast as you can while still maintaining good running technique. And as you can see from Mcsteezypv's video it is pretty apparent he is intentionally starting in almost a jog.

You need to be just about full speed when you hit your mid mark (mark before the last three lefts). This way you can concentrate on increasing the frequency of your turn over so that your body gets into a better position to jump at take off. It has also been said that acceleration of the runner at take off and over the last three steps is not necessarily the ideal goal rather than the increased frequency of your steps. If the vaulter is traveling at 9.8m/s 3 lefts out and 9.8m/s at take off, but his average stride length decreases on the last 3 steps versus the first 6 lefts, then he is in a very good position to jump!

The actual physics term from acceleration as related to how your speed is accelerating has nothing to do with anything relating to the actual jump at take off. Once your last foot hits the ground it is all about the current velocity you are traveling and the force your foot is applying to the ground.

A lot of people think they need to be accelerating as much as possible at the moment of take off to jump well. However when an object (Your Body) is thrown into the air (weather it is straight up or at any angle, the only thing determining how far or high it will go is the velocity your body is traveling the instant your toe leaves the ground. And the instant your toe leaves the ground your bodies forward acceleration immanently goes to ZERO and your velocity will only decrease.

What this means is that no matter where the acceleration in your run is, it is completely irrelevant as long as you are at your maximum velocity at the moment of take off. The key to a successful take off jump is the increased frequency of your stride so that you can shorten your last steps to get your hips in a better position to jump up at take off.

So in your quote about sprinters not jumping off the ground so it is irrelevant. The irrelevance comment is not true because the point I was making with sprinters is that they are better at accelerating than anyone in the world, so if they can not reach full speed in 9 lefts accelerating like they do, then no pole vaulter can reach full speed in 9 lefts if they start off slowly and then build up speed. And if a world class sprinter could train their legs so that in the last three steps they shortened the stride length and maid their legs move even faster, then they would be one heck of a long jumper! The only reason you only try to increase the velocity of your legs and decrease the stride length in the last few steps is because this motion of running uses up a lot more energy and you would not be able to hold that level of turn over for the whole run.

[starkey480]

A lot of people think they need to be accelerating as much as possible at the moment of take off to jump well

Its not 100% about speed though. Yes speed is very important but the ability to jump off of the ground is also important. The only moment that your speed matters is at the instant at takeoff. If you are able to get to max speed at the instant of takeoff while accelerating in the last three steps and shortening, you are going to take off the ground better, Nick Hysong always stresses this. It doesn't matter how fast you are to your mid, only into takeoff.

For starters, If you can not sprint 5 lefts and still be accelerating in the last 3, you are probably not in good enough shape to be pole vaulting.

I wasn't talking about 5 lefts, I was talking about full run.

However when an object (Your Body) is thrown into the air (weather it is straight up or at any angle, the only thing determining how far or high it will go is the velocity your body is traveling the instant your toe leaves the ground.

How does vertical speed determine how high the object goes? I dont care how fast a person is, if they arnt able to jump high off the ground they are not going to be able to have a high grip and therefore not jump high.

[VaultPurple]

How does vertical speed determine how high the object goes? I dont care how fast a person is, if they arnt able to jump high off the ground they are not going to be able to have a high grip and therefore not jump high.

I meant velocity as in the velocity when leaving the ground. But the faster you are going the higher you can grip, no matter what. But the higher you can jump at the instant of take off, the higher you will be able to grip too. But pole vaulting is all about energy and you want the most energy you can get, and since energy is .5(mass*velocity^2) the speed is the most important thing. But if you jump a little higher at take off you will get a better take off angel which will make the pole move a little easier.