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I have been injured most of this year but started vaulting again about two months ago. I decided I was going to put most of my energy into working on my take off. I have trouble leaving the ground and figured the more technically correct my take off the more likely I would be to leave the ground. I have been trying to put my feet down faster, be as tall as possible, jump up, and get my step further out.

In the last month I have taken over 300 jumps from five lefts and was able to hit a free take off about 40% of the time. Yesterday I did a meet from 8 lefts (first time since may 2010) and was surprised that with out trying to I hit a free take off on all but one of my jumps. This video has the bar at 15, 15-6, and 16ft the pole for the first four jumps is a 16 ft 180 ESSX and the last jump is a 16ft 185 Carbon pacer my grip is between 14'4 and 14'6 and the shoes are at 12 and 13 feet, standards are 95 for the first two jumps and 80 for the last four. The jump at 1:13 is the only one that is not free but I was able to narrow my grip a little on this jump making the jump feel a lot better (I would love to narrow my grip for all of the jumps I have been working on it but it causes me to run through.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWfPcwEj ... tube_gdata

sorry first to jumps are 30 to 240 so there very slow luckily the last four got switched to 30 to 120

Notes: I realize I do not have a long swing I have been swinging long in practice but by putting the extra energy in the pole I blow through to much and I can not bring myself to plant a big enough pole to make the long swing work. My grip is to wide this I think is my biggest flaw and wish I could just narrow it but I have tried for years and I figure it is better to jump with a wide grip then run through but still I am working on it, it is actually about 4 inches narrower then earlier this year. I am just super happy to be taking off the ground right now and happy with my take off in general. These are the poles I normally use from 5 lefts and am hopping when I get to my bigger poles with this take off it will result in some bigger jumps.

--Kasey

Nice jumping! You have a booming takeoff and are definitely out!!

I think the reason you are having a hard time using a narrower grip is because you carry the pole at such a low angle for much of your approach run. A narrow grip requires a smooth, controlled pole drop with no pauses (never does the pole tip cease to drop). I have been working on the free pole drop for a while, and I've found that it can be done nicely on 3-step drills, from about 45 degrees, using a heavy pole. I also use a really heavy pole from my 5-step and try to do the same pole drop. Basically, it's always the same but I just start with the pole higher the farther back I move my run. I have a number in my step count that is when I start to drop the pole. Pole runs are another great opportunity to work on this aspect.
When you do it right, you can feel the acceleration of the pole up as you take off, and it also helps you increase your cadence and jump up with good posture, because you never feel the weight of the pole. Watching your run, it seems the weight of the pole is definitely affecting your posture.

The narrower grip will probably also help your swing once you are comfortable with it, as it's hard to swing long when your bottom arm is so far in front of you.

Keep up the good work!

Tom

When I was 19 I was able to jump on the same size poles I jump on now with a relatively narrow grip (probably about foot narrower then it is now) often with a long trail leg. I was also very consistent there was never a practice in 2006 where I did not clear a 17ft cross bar or higher and if someone told me to narrow my grip or widen it I could make the adjustment with out hesitation. In 2007 I broke my wrist mountain biking but tried to jump anyway for about eight months (this made me develop a habit of running through.) Before this my automatic reaction was to take off but after I broke my wrist I still tried to take about 50 jumps a day but instead I just ran through about 45 times a day and the five times a day I took off were not pretty and it always shot a sharp pain through my wrist. After my wrist healed I was still hesitant at the plant and this caused the pole to rip out of my hand's at least five times a practice. Now whenever I jump I feel like the pole is twisting in my hands when I run down the runway as a result I hesitate and this makes the pole twist in my hands at the take off, this feeling gets worse when I carry the pole high.

My point to this is I totally agree with what you are saying but do not know how to fix it. When I do a lot of slide box I tend to take off less because I have never been able to transfer it over to the vault. What has worked the best for me so far is to try to use a small pole and put the standards back at 95 like in the video. I believe if I take thousands of jumps on a small pole taking off 90% of the time I might be able to break my brains automatic response to run through and taking off can go back to being what I do automatically with out having to force every plant. So far I have taken off about 300 time from 5 lefts about 85% of the time since June 3 I am now going to six lefts and hope I can improve that to 90% of the time and hopefully I can narrow my grip and carry the pole higher in the process.

As for the long swing I can swing long on almost every jump the problem is when I do the pole is so small I almost go off the back of the pit. I realize this is a good problem but I am still not at the mental state where I can go up to the next pole and leave the ground.

---Kasey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk5dkJS_8eU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CFfMU9sMyQ

These are not the best but they are the only videos I have from when I was 19. The fist is a 17ft bungee from 6 lefts from Oct 2005 the second is a 17'8 bungee from 7 lefts Nov 2005 you can see I made a lot of progress that month. Notice how much narrower my grip was.

Casey,
Although you have had some setbacks, you have clearly improved your takeoff since then. I'm sure the rest will come with time, as you are obviously very motivated. I agree that getting lots of reps from a short run may be a good way to rewire your brain into "takeoff mode." Just make sure you are doing lots of 8-step pole runs (no sliding box, just use a narrow grip, try to get a free pole drop, keep your posture, and jump before the tip hits the ground). That way the long run will still be dialed when the confidence comes back. I like to do my pole runs on the football field and use the yard markers to measure consistency of my step (although it's not quite the same on turf as it is on the runway; slower surface=shorter run).

Good luck, keep posting video

Tom

I jumped from 6 lefts holding 13'11 for the first jump at 15 on a 16' 180 (My current weight is 180lbs) 18.4 carbon pacer. The rest of the jumps were on a 16 ft 180 18.0 carbon ESSX (I cut 8 inches off the top so it would drop under the cross bar for when I come in at 15ft) holding 14'1 or 14'2. The last three jumps are 16 ft on the first jump I hit a 12'4 step and was not even close to clearing it. I did not feel like moving up a pole so I moved my step back and took off at 12'10 on the second 2 jumps by hitting further out I jumped about 6 inches higher but still missed due to standard placement and the pole being to small to give me enough pop to clear the backside of the bar.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqAZTIt8 ... tube_gdata