powerplant42 wrote:
Quote:
also you could check out Bubka himself and see that his right arm isn't quite straight and not fully extended as the pole hits. This one shows it well, although he is close:
This is an unwanted side effect of having a strong body (and arm) at take-off...
Sorry i don't know what you mean. Can you elaborate?
Sometimes an experienced vaulter might have a slightly bent arm at take-off because of trying to attain a strong body in order to transfer as much energy as possible into the pole/system. In trying to keep a really strong arm, Bubka, as do other jumpers, occasionally (or maybe even frequently or consistently) would try to keep all their arm muscles taught as the plant was finished. All the muscles in the arm includes the bicep, which is rather difficult and uncomfortable to keep tight with a completely extended arm. (You could try this right now...) I'll correct my previous statement now: The slightly bent arm is actually a DESIRED attribute in the vault, because the benefit of being more able to utilized the bicep in keeping the arm strong outweighs the extremely small loss of take-off angle (perhaps 1 - 1.5 degrees?). In addition to being more able to use the bicep, the plant can be more centered over the vaulter's head (try getting your hand directly over your head with out bending your arm. If you can do this, then imagine trying to do it in a vault, and you can see that it's not practical.) Does this make sense?