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The Bungee sits at 15 3. I was hurt last year and wasn't able to vault. Yesterday was my first time jumping over a bungee in over a year. Looks like i'm having trouble dropping my shoulders and getting inverted, but just looking for advice in general! Thanks!

DETAILS-
8 lefts
Holding around 14 2 on 14 6 (180)- I weigh 170
Standards pushed all the way back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i27aCXD4J_4

Looks to me that you are taking off a tick under. after you takeoff, to me it seems you hit your split, but as your proceed to invert then you bucket. By bucketing i mean your hips below your shoulders which isn't favorable. you want a constant motion vault meaning at no point is your back ever flat or your hips bucketing. Luckily for you, your athletic enough to muscle through it and pull through. otherwise, i feel the most detrimental part to improving the top of your vault is that you need to lay back on the pole before you pull. your shoulders are rigid and that prevents you from fully getting inline with the pole before you pull through. although, i feel that if youare able to remove the bucket from your vault, you will be able to get better in line with the pole and lose the rigidness in your shoulders as the constant motion should give you more time on the top of you vault instead of losing time when your body is not in motion.

Anyway,
Thats just what i see. I am not a professional, just my opinion.

Let me know if it helps
Nick

something that will help with having a nice out takeoff is think about leaning forward into takeoff. By this i mean get your top hand up and in front of your shoulder to plant. This is because you cant get a nice elastic stretch in the top arm unless your plant is in front of you and you are leading chest first. Its exactly what i am working on right now too.

Firstly, thanks for the advice/response!

What do you mean by ridged? I defiantly agree with you when you say I i'm muscling up before inversion. I think the way to fix that is collapsing my left arm more (Which is due to just to not being confident yet). Have you ever heard of platform vaulting. If so, do you think that will help me collapse my arm and help me get more inline with the pole? Maybe, dropping my head back into a more natural position would help?
Do you think I should drive my chest forward more?


Thanks again,
-Taylor

if you do what i told you to do it will help collapse the bottom arm and drive with the chest they go hand in hand and in order to do it right, the plant must first be out in front of you before it can come back

Starkey,

So the top hand should be more in front of my shoulder, instead of directly above my head?
I'm sure moving my run back 3 inches would help too.
Thats great to know they go hand in hand, I didn't know that.

yes,
I agree with starkey, he proves a good point i overlooked. If you are able to efficiently convert your Kinetic energy to potential energy in the pole, you will in turn, have more kenetic energy response at the top of your vault with less energy loss! KE(initial) + PE = KE(final) + Energy loss

But! in addition. by saying rigid, i mean your shoulders are tense and more or less described as hunched or curled in your vault. an ideal position for your shoulders to be in is in the same position as if you were laying flat on the floor.

IF! and WHEN! you are able to improve your takeoff and the combination with laying back in your vault(shoulders less rigid) you will vault much better. As of myself i am alsio working on laying back in my vault as i have the same problem of staying to rigid in my shoulders.

Hope this helps
Nick

GReat! Thanks for all the advice! I will put into action as soon as I can get out of this ice covered dorm!

Taylor

Taylor,

Take a look at the timing of your drop... looks like your drop is early and you spend a fair portion of your run" holding up" the pole. This can reduce your approach speed an force you into an unfavorable position leading into your takeoff. The pole is a giant lever which can be used to accelerate into the box if the timing of the drop is right.

You look to be leaning back at takeoff, which may be a direct result of trying to counterbalance the pole on approach. Better drop mechanics will help with this problem.

If the vault is a continuous chain... look to fix the early stages first.

"Think about leaning forward into takeoff.??????????? By this i mean get your top hand up and in front of your shoulder to plant ??????????. This is because you cant get a nice elastic stretch in the top arm unless your plant is in front of you ?????????? and you are leading chest first. Its exactly what i am working on right now too." I sincerely hope not! You need to rethink all of this old son!

Taylor,

Looks like you are doing some things really well off the ground. You're pole drop, or lack of, is what's causing you to lose your hips at take-off. Work on starting the run with your pole tip high (75-80 degrees or so) and allow a continuous drop from the back of the runway. I have my kids work on this from all runs 3 lefts or more. This allows for a balanced take-off and will let you leave the ground without getting sucked under the pole.

As for the top hand out in front and leaning forward at the plant, PLEASE do not try this! That makes absolutely no sense and can only set you back with your progression! I like your bottom arm at your take-off. You need to be a little more elastic in the shoulders as the force loads up in your top hand and feel your weight supported in that top hand as you're swinging your hips to meet that hand. When practiced from a short run on a pole you feel very confident on, your bottom arm will look much less pronounced. You'll also be able to connect on top and time up with the pole. That's what it's all about isn't it? Good luck!

AVC Coach wrote:Taylor,

Looks like you are doing some things really well off the ground. You're pole drop, or lack of, is what's causing you to lose your hips at take-off. Work on starting the run with your pole tip high (75-80 degrees or so) and allow a continuous drop from the back of the runway. I have my kids work on this from all runs 3 lefts or more. This allows for a balanced take-off and will let you leave the ground without getting sucked under the pole.

As for the top hand out in front and leaning forward at the plant, PLEASE do not try this! That makes absolutely no sense and can only set you back with your progression! I like your bottom arm at your take-off. You need to be a little more elastic in the shoulders as the force loads up in your top hand and feel your weight supported in that top hand as you're swinging your hips to meet that hand. When practiced from a short run on a pole you feel very confident on, your bottom arm will look much less pronounced. You'll also be able to connect on top and time up with the pole. That's what it's all about isn't it? Good luck!

Exactly... and better stated than what I said above.

I would add that a six left approach is the minimum to work the drop as it usually starts at about five lefts from take-off... the pole should pass through eye level at the "two" when you initiate the plant. You can work the drop off the runway using a slide box or a towel to plant into.