Pole Vault Manifesto

[RPVA03]

And I still do not completely understand the pull-push concept. From what I have come to think, it is a very natural action where the vaulter pulls the pole towards themselves with the bottom hand in an attempt to speed up the swing. It eventually ends with the pull-turn and push-off. Is this correct?

If you want to see this I think you should go to http://www.stabhochsprung.com/ and look at Isinbayeva's 5.00 vault in slo-mo. Once she has taken off and is about perpendicular with the ground you can actually see her left arm begin pulling and the pole actually slightly unbends in the area near her left hand. This pull continues all the way through the vault until the push phase at the top. You can see how this drastically accelerates her swing and keeps her swinging around her top hand for longer than other vaulters. This pull creates a stream of energy going into the vaulter-pole system. There are no delays and no time wasted by pushing into the pole with the left arm. Think of it like this, if you are trying to swing up why would you push your body down and away from the direction you are trying to swing. Instead you can pull yourself in the direction you are intending to swing and help yourself out a little. This is at least how I understand the pull/push phase whether it is correct or not.

[powerplant42]

I have been thinking very hard over the past few hours...

Flexible pole vaulters do not cover the chord of the pole. If Dutch's vault had been translated onto a flexible pole, he might have come close to coveringthe flexible pole itself (as he came off of it), but still not even close to the chord. This is still not completely clear in my head, but I am starting to think that covering the pole is a side effect of 'beating the bend' (COM rising faster than the recoil of the pole). In Dutch's vaults, he can not beat the bend, because there isn't one to beat. The amount that he would have covered the pole on a flexible pole is proportional to the push-off needed. Maybe I'll be able to explain my thoughts better later. For now, I'm quite befuddled by my own perceptions...

[Tim McMichael]

I have been thinking very hard over the past few hours...

Flexible pole vaulters do not cover the chord of the pole. If Dutch's vault had been translated onto a flexible pole, he might have come close to coveringthe flexible pole itself (as he came off of it), but still not even close to the chord. This is still not completely clear in my head, but I am starting to think that covering the pole is a side effect of 'beating the bend' (COM rising faster than the recoil of the pole). In Dutch's vaults, he can not beat the bend, because there isn't one to beat. The amount that he would have covered the pole on a flexible pole is proportional to the push-off needed. Maybe I'll be able to explain my thoughts better later. For now, I'm quite befuddled by my own perceptions...

Good stuff. Now I have to chew on this thought for a while too. I have always agreed that the fiberglass vault is "like" the bamboo vault, but "like" does not mean "identical." And I think you may be on to one of the crucial differences.

[KirkB]

I have been thinking very hard over the past few hours...

Flexible pole vaulters do not cover the chord of the pole. If Dutch's vault had been translated onto a flexible pole, he might have come close to covering the flexible pole itself (as he came off of it), but still not even close to the chord. ... I am starting to think that covering the pole is a side effect of 'beating the bend' (COM rising faster than the recoil of the pole). In Dutch's vaults, he can not beat the bend, because there isn't one to beat. The amount that he would have covered the pole on a flexible pole is proportional to the push-off needed. ...

Powerplant, in the context of this post, can you please clarify what you mean by "cover the pole"? The term has been used and abused too often - I want to be sure I got it.

"Beating the bend" is quite clear. Just as we discussed in the "Unbending the Pole" thread, here: http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=15218

Let's not forget that bamboo actually bent. By about a foot (for Dutch, I think). Swedish steel bent too, but not nearly as much as bamboo. The process of selecting a bamboo pole was much like selecting the right flex of a glass pole - just not as scientific.

Without actually realizing it at the time, in Jr. High, I found a bamboo pole that seemed "just about right" for my speed and technique. Not too heavy and stiff, but not too weak. Mind you, I ended up growing out of it, and I broke it by overbending. I was on to a nice jump at the time!

In hind sight, I should have stuck to bamboo, and found another one. But my school had an aluminum pole, so I used that. Then a Swedish steel one. Then glass. But if I had understood the significance of the "bamboo bend", I should have looked for another one with a higher flex. This was the mid-60s, so glass had already been used for almost a decade, and John Ulysses had already set the WR (16'-0") in 1962 with glass. So my better bet would have been to go straight to glass, but I wasn't that smart/aware or serious in Jr. High.

I've often wondered if Warmerdam had an advantage over his competitors, due to discovering how to use this bend? I mean, he was dominant for so many years! Did he know something the steel vaulters didn't?

Just my guess, but I don't think steel vaulters went with steel because it let them vault higher. Like me, I think they went with steel because it wouldn't break as easily, and it was more readily available. Instead of shipping a bamboo pole in from the Far East, the US sporting goods companies could just buy them from a US manufacturer and save the shipping.

Am I all wet on this? Any comments from other old geezers?

Kirk

[powerplant42]

What I mean by 'covering the pole' is getting one's legs in line right next to the pole before driving the hips.

[KirkB]

"Driving the hips"? How do you do that?

Kirk

[powerplant42]

Perhaps I have slipped into oversimplificationism... Bubka's swinging his legs to being in line with the pole (covering the pole) is only a side effect of transferring the early swing energy more upward than Warmerdam... Dutch did not need to in order to clear the bars he was jumping, nor would it have been desirable because energy could not be stored in the pole very well (compared to glass). If you try to cover the pole and redirect swing energy almost straight upward like with a flexible pole, you will usually find yourself stalling out over the box (or simply not gripping/jumping as high as you should be). This is because there is less energy from the pole helping you upward (more notably, outward). Perhaps I will be able to offer more on this in the near future.

[KirkB]

OK, but still not sure what you mean by "driving the hips".

Kirk

[powerplant42]

To quote what a great pole vaulter once said to me: "Run. Plant. Jump. Split. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. THERE IS NO ROCKBACK OR TUCK!"

Drop the shoulders, drive the hips. One forceful, but still HARMONIOUS action. This is a continuation of the swing where energy is simply directed upward. What would you say instead of 'drive the hips'?

[lonestar]

In other words...do a "BUBKA" on the pole. The body extends from a jackknife position by the shoulders rolling backward down the pole as the hips roll upward and the legs "cover" or get in line with the top of the pole. By saying "drive" the hips, it emphasizes the explosiveness of this action as in completing a deadlift or clean high-pull while upside down. I don't think this is possible in the steel/bamboo model - there is not enough time...too much pole speed.

[KirkB]

To quote what a great pole vaulter once said to me: "Run. Plant. Jump. Split. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. THERE IS NO ROCKBACK OR TUCK!"

Drop the shoulders, drive the hips. One forceful, but still HARMONIOUS action. This is a continuation of the swing where energy is simply directed upward. What would you say instead of 'drive the hips'?

I would say "Shoot like hell!"

I did understand that you were referring to the "Extend." part of the vault. What I didn't get (if I was your athlete and you told me to "drive the hips") was how I would do that? Lonestar said it quite well. The problem with saying "drive with the hips" is that the motion doesn't start with the hips, so "what are you gonna do?"

Not to be over-critical, because I think you "got it" for the most part, but you shouldn't actually tell an athlete to "drop the shoulders" either. Although when you swing/extend in a continuous motion it may feel like your shoulders are dropping, there's nothing that the athlete can constructively do at that point of the vault to cause his shoulders to drop. And technically, the shoulders aren't dropping - your entire body is rising.

Instead of words like "drop the shoulders and drive the hips", a more action-oriented way to say this would be to "get your feet back, above your hips, and shoot like hell!". Or even simpler: "Do your hip-circle-to-handstand, just like I've seen you do it on the high bar 100 times!".

And I do like the word "harmonious". That's a good word to describe a smooth-flowing vault AFTER IT HAPPENS! But you wouldn't instruct your athlete to "be harmonious". It's just not an action-oriented word. Unless you want him to start humming a song as he's goes into his "Run. Plant. Jump. Split. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear."! Just joking!

Kirk

[KirkB]

Once your vaulter understands what you mean by "get your feet back, above your hips, and shoot like hell!", you can shorten it down to a single word ...

Extend. !!!

Kirk