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Here are all of my competition jumps from our first meet of the season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d9b54xl ... e=youtu.be
I was on a 6 step for the entire competiton
Stats for each jump: Pole, Grip, Step, Standards
Heights are shown on video
Stats for vaults 1-8:
1-8) 13'8" cutoff 15' 155, cap, 73'3",80
9,10) 15'155, 14', 73'9", 65
11)Same, but standards @ 60

Right now, I'm working on keeping my leg straight and rocking all the back. I also think I need to row back into the pole a little bit off of the takeoff when I initiate my swing (which needs to start sooner). The last few steps of my runway can get choppy, because I take long strides out of the back on some vaults. It seems like my body distorts more than it should in the last couple steps of the runway, as well as my top arm coming too far behind my body. Last, but not least, when I am in the position to "pull" to get height off the pole, I shoot out, don't have my top hand directly between my legs as though I'm hanging solely from it, and have a rigid flyaway as opposed to being smooth and flowing. Any thoughts? I appreciate any feedback.

Your swing breaks because you are pulling with the bottom arm, and you are flagging out because the pole rotation stops. So you won't improve your swing simply by trying to keep your leg straight. Instead, improve your pole carry and plant motion. In your last two steps, your pole tip drops well below eye level, and your plant motion swings around behind you instead of moving in a straight line. You're also under.

So here are some tips:
1. Use David Johnson's mid mark chart.
2. Keep your left wrist cocked up with the elbow underneath, and keep the pole tip up longer, so that your pole tip doesn't fall below eye level.
3. Practice "up pressure" post takeoff. Press up towards vertical to keep more space between you and the pole.

CoachEric wrote:Your swing breaks because you are pulling with the bottom arm, and you are flagging out because the pole rotation stops. So you won't improve your swing simply by trying to keep your leg straight. Instead, improve your pole carry and plant motion. In your last two steps, your pole tip drops well below eye level, and your plant motion swings around behind you instead of moving in a straight line. You're also under.

So here are some tips:
1. Use David Johnson's mid mark chart.
2. Keep your left wrist cocked up with the elbow underneath, and keep the pole tip up longer, so that your pole tip doesn't fall below eye level.
3. Practice "up pressure" post takeoff. Press up towards vertical to keep more space between you and the pole.

Coach Eric's recommendations are solid and top notch; especially #3. In Bubka's own words, Grow through the Pole.. at take off: I am paraphrasing, but I feel pretty certain that is what was said in this respect to the plant and takeoff.

I would specify that this is "Post Takeoff"...

There are some additional items that I would like to add input on and will do so shortly; all of which are following this phase of the vault and relate to your stated goals thoughts and objectives. In the meantime have a read of my recent posts in video review: my comments will be guiding you towards this outcome.
V

I seem to struggle a lot with my last several steps of my runway. In the past I've been known to struggle with vaulter's block and from the video I'm sure both of you can see why. During the carry my bottom arm is almost below my waist at some points! I somehow get my plant up higher than most would think, but as you both saw in the video, it's not very smooth and I lose a lot of speed. I seem to be under on a lot of my jumps, and the more video of myself I get to watch, the more I learn. Before I watched these vaults, I honestly thought I was getting my bottom arm mildly out in front of me. I DID see some things i liked (I dropped my shoulders back more than I have in the past, and although it was late, I feel as though I am hitting a good takeoff, although I feel like there's more power to be harnessed). Shin splints prevented me from doing as many runways as I would have liked before the first semester ended, but I think I have been doing some positive things with my runway. Next, breaking the bottom arm. Up until I got to college, I had no idea that you WEREN'T supposed to pull with your bottom arm. Still breaking bad habits, but that, in conjunction with an almost non existent swing among many other things, causes the pole movement to be sporadic, and stop entirely too early. PR's are always nice, but thank you guys for giving me some input! I'm excited to watch my vault change even more as it already has this year, and look forward to updating the height in my personal info!

I haven't commented much on this forum lately, but here goes a long-winded response:

I agree with previous comments that your plant needs a lot of work. It is the reason that you are often under. You need to keep your hands high and the pole centered so that you can control the pole drop without slowing down/striding under. I have some suggestions for drills that will help you fix it:

If you have shin splints, you should be doing about 30-50 walking plants every day , while focusing on keeping your bottom hand about 8 inches directly in front of your sternum (with your elbow cocked under the pole), and your top hand in line with your hip. Also focus on dorsiflexion of your feet while rolling onto the balls of your feet with each step...this will help strengthen your shins while helping you learn to run properly (and faster). Make sure that your hands are moving smoothly ahead of your feet, so that your top hand flips the pole just before the 3rd to last footstrike, the pole rises above your head just before the penultimate footstrike, and the plant is fully extended BEFORE your takeoff foot strikes the ground. The bottom hand should never drop from its position in front of your sternum. If you don't drop it, it will have only one place to go during the plant: straight up, and fast!
Also lots of 1/2 speed pole runs with the same points of emphasis, and an added element: don't let the tip of the pole hit the ground until you have left the ground. This will get you used to the feeling of taking off without pole support from the box. Hopefully these drills will get you a lot of benefit without beating up your shins. Remember that runway time often only reinforces bad habits! I always tell my vaulters to take advantage of an injury to do lots of quality drills and strengthen their fundamentals on the pole carry/drop/plant.

I disagree about your bottom arm; it actually looks pretty good, except during the plant motion. Pulling with the bottom arm is ok once you finish the takeoff by driving up and through the pole, as suggested previously. You may have some luck focusing on driving your chest to the back of the pit through the takeoff, which can help get the bottom hand up over your head while keeping the hips back momentarily. A good drill is to take a few steps and jump up to catch a highbar, trying to keep your chest forward and hips back. The key is the chest/knee drive and arms UP, not OUT. You can add the swing once you learn to keep the hips back.

Your swing needs a lot more work. Try learning how to punt a football with your left leg. You wouldn't want to kick the ball with a bent knee, would you? You would snap the knee joint straight at precisely the moment that it impacts the ball (this represents the chord of the pole).
You can get a much better swing by gluing your right foot to your butt at the takeoff, and then kicking your left leg straight through the chord of the pole while engaging your shoulder/core muscles and keeping your right knee fully flexed to the top of the swing. This will allow you to connect your leg swing to your torso, rolling your hips up higher and faster. You will notice that you get to the top of the pole WAY faster using this type of swing, keeping pressure on the pole, and you have the added benefit of being able to explosively extend your flexed right leg at the top of the swing, which helps you to get in line with the pole and spiral around it.
Watch this video of Bjorn Otto booming over 19' 1.25": his plant has a lot of the same issues that yours does, but his aggressive take-off, knee drive, and straight leg swing gets him to the top of the pole insanely fast so that he can catch the ride: http://youtu.be/1iUkXSE73W0
(note to naysayers: I am not suggesting that Otto has the perfect vault, but he is a great example of the element of technique I am talking about)

Good luck, keep up the good work!

Tom

I see what you are talking about Tom! I wish I had some video of my vaults during our practice this last Saturday, they were by far my best ever. I moved back to a 7 step, on a 15' 145 holding 13'8" and (according to my coach) getting hip height at 16'. Over break, I made some (I think) monumental changes in my pole carry. First, my top hand closer to what you describe, although I have more work ahead of me to keep it in front of my sternum. Second, I now grip the pole differently with my top hand, more of a closed hand grip, as opposed to gripping with my thumb like I had been previously. I feel as though this has improved my runway speed and pole carry control, although it hasn't quite made my carry as high as I would like... I feel as though the more confident I become, the lower my carry becomes... My chest drive is not where it needs to be, but is improving (I think). I still have a tendency to drop my drive knee as well as not tucking my heel to my butt, in addition to pointing both of my toes throughout the vault. My swing is frustrating, as I just cant seem to swing like I do in drills! Yesterday, I stayed on a 4 step, which allowed me to get some good work in with my swing, but I only managed a few vaults at the end with a good swing before fatigue set in. I have a lot of work to do before All-American becomes an attainable goal, thanks for the input!