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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfMk_KWX ... uVVz3RuhY=

I understand I am doing many things well, but I also understand that I need improvement on many aspects of my jump. For example, I know that my hips get sucked under the pole and I never really drop my shoulders and utilize the full recoil of the pole. I'm not sure what else is wrong or how to fix those things. That's why I'm here.

Please help.

The bottom half of your jump looks pretty good. However its the very top of your jumps where you are losing height. when you begin pulling with the top arm and rotating as you prepare to go over the bar you are not keeping the momentum directed upwards for as long as you should. It is hard to explain but watch your top arm in the video as you begin to turn. You stop moving your body upwards as soon as you begin to rotate. The easiest way to say it is that you do not row downwards enough at the top of your jump. Onto how to improve it... I would practice from a shorter approach on a stiff pole so you are not preoccupied with worrying about the recoil. I would put a bungee about 2-2.5 feet above your handgrip. This should force you to actively keep your body moving upwards at the top of the jump.

Thank you for the reply.

I see what you're saying and it makes sense. Once I start jumping again next week I'm going to jump from a short run and I will try that. I just have one more question: I think the reason why I may not be finishing the top end is because I don't fully drop my shoulders and commit to the jump, is that correct?

Hi there,

Just a couple of things.

First off, you're under when you take off and you lean back when coming into the take off. This will automatically put your hips out of position even before you leave the ground. In the grand scheme of things this also means that your swing will be slower and almost invariably start later.


The result of this will be that you cannot cover the pole in time and subsequently your position at the top end will not be ideal. You can't cover the pole and extend fast enough (because the swing is slow and late - because you're under). Also because of the slowed movement from the swing you get "stuck" under the pole rather than being able to cover it better.


And you extend out (flat over the bar) rather than up (into ideal trajectory and pike position) due to two reasons:

First because the pole is working faster than you because of the stuff mentioned above. Your swing, cover and extension happens later and slower than it should. The pole is already at the end of it's uncoiling when you begin to extend. You have to remember that the pole is changing angles as it is straightening. You need to take into account that in the later stages of the pole's uncoiling, your trajectory will be flattened especially if you are not in good position. This is why you need to work back to the pole rather than aiming just over the bar.
Secondly, you're still looking at the bar (I suspect). This means that your shoulders cannot go down. Keep in mind that the shoulders are the critical point at this point, where they are placed and what they are doing determines the placement of your hips and how you extend. At this part everybody usually talks about what the hips should do, but in fact the hips have a very easy job - just extend, there's not much to it. The hips will always do this job no matter what because it is a natural movement. In what direction they extend to is determined by the shoulders since the shoulders are the link between the body angle and the pole.


The thing I like to tell vaulters is that when you see your feet cover the pole, your shoulders need to go down. If you're extending or begin to extend and you can still see the bar then that's a big no-no.

So in conclusion:
Work on taking off a bit further out - this will fix A LOT of things but this takes a lot of work during the off season, plenty of comments on how to do it around in the forums
Work to cover the pole faster and to a greater degree - without cutting the take off short to try and swing earlier, this will be easier with a fixed take off
Work on getting the shoulders down once you cover the pole - it will change the trajectory of your top end drastically. This is probably the biggest "short term" gain you can get while it's still competition season so it's probably what I would focus on the most right now. That said, the earlier and more consistently you can get onto taking off further out the better your results will be.

Hope that helps!
-Andrew

Thank you for your response!

I see what you're saying in terms of how I am taking off under, but do you really think that it will take the offseason to fix? I mean I'm not a coach and I probably think I know a lot more than I actually do, but it seems like that would be the quick fix part. I don't believe that I normally take off as under as I did in this jump, but maybe I just don't realize it. So despite my rambling, I will focus on that. Thank you.

My swing is something that I have constantly been working on for about 2 years now. I do understand that I need to drop my shoulders and lose sight of the crossbar, but as you can see, I'm having trouble doing that. Hopefully taking off in the right place makes this easier.

Again, thanks for your long response. It means a lot to me when people explain things rather than assuming that I know what they're thinking.

Hi again,

If taking off under is not a normal circumstance for you then that's fine. However I would have to see more videos/jumps to know what your habit is. Just letting you know though from experience and from working with coaches that have been doing this for a long time, taking off under is one of the hardest habits to break in pole vault. It is as much of a psychological hurdle as it is a physical challenge. Maybe you could be the one-in-a-thousand that can change their habits quickly. But chances are you're going to be like everybody else. Try and fix it - you'll probably resort to pulling back your run up a little bit. The first thing that will probably happen is that part of your run (most likely the end) will get heavier and deeper as you try and stretch out to take off from that "comfortable" spot. That's not a comment based on you, that's just the common reaction you get in that scenario. What you do could be very different from that. Suffice to say, people who have a habit of taking off under have it deeply ingrained in their mind to want to take off from a certain position. It becomes a very strong habit and like all habits it needs to be worked at for a while to fix. To fix this habit you have to re-adjust what "comfortable" is. If you think it's a simple adjustment of the run you could be in for a shock because your subconscious will override whatever it needs to in order to feel comfortable. Now, if this is not your normal habit then don't worry about it. Maybe you were just having a bad day/bad jump. But if it is a habit it should be fixed because the longer you go on doing it the more difficult it becomes to rectify.

So the challenge for you will be to fix your takeoff (under and leaning back) without introducing more problems. There are world elites who still work on not taking off under but cannot break the habit, just goes to show you how hard it is.

-Andrew

Hello,

I'm not sure if taking off under is a bad habit of mine, but I know letting my hips sink under is a huge problem. I have been working on this in practice the past week. I have a meet next Tuesday and I will try to get a video of that just in case that jump was not normal. Thanks again for your advice.