How high can Isinbayeva fly?
Petrov was asked:
... With Isinbayeva's rivals so far in the rear view mirror, a more interesting question than who can challenge her, at the moment, is: How did she get so high?
She's strong: She weighs around 140 pounds and can bench press at least 155. But there are other strong pole vaulters. She's fairly tall: she hovers around 5-foot-9. But other vaulters are taller, like Stuczynski, who is 6 feet. She's relatively fast, but there are vaulters just as swift. So how is it that, since '04, she has won all seven major championships -- three indoor and two outdoor World Championships, and the gold medal at the Athens and Beijing Olympics -- and has vaulted nearly half a foot higher than any other woman ever has?
When asked, Isinbayeva's coach, Vitaly Petrov, who also coached Soviet pole vault legend Sergey Bubka, starts by staring at the ground. He's trying to find a satisfactory answer that will translate in his amiable but limited English.
After about a minute, Petrov settles on a single word and raises his head to deliver.
... and he replied with a single word:
"Harmony"
Not a man of many words, in describing Isinbayeva's technique, Petrov hit the nail on the head with that one!
After reading that, the word "harmony" struck me as a perfect description of a "good" vault, and it resonated with me overnight and today.
My dictionary defines harmony as:
har-mo-ny 1. the connection of parts so as to form an agreeable or connected whole; as, the harmony of motion in dancing; to work in harmony; ... 4. in music, the combination of musical notes so as to form chords, or the science treating of this; ... 5. musical notes played or sung to go along with a melody.
So I did some research on PVP, and found that it's quite a common PV word, used by the likes of ...
PVStudent Re: The Pole - from vertical back to vertical.
PVStudent wrote:... ground contact on the 3rd last foot touchdown. Once initiated the arm action proceeds at a rate in the (predominantly) hands upward direction in harmony with the step length, rate and trunk posture of the vaulter until about midway through the stance phase of the final ground contact when the ...
and
Re: The mid mark chart
PVStudent wrote:... ... legs whilst guided by the arms and supported on the torso. Both the step length and rate have to be combined so that there is phasic relationship harmony of pole and body motion which makes pole vault approach run quite specific to the event and to the individual. DJ's chart provides a good ...
Volteur Re: The mid mark chart ...
volteur wrote:... rhythmical structure and pole linear and angular acceleration ("pole drop") must be viewed in the individual case to assess the balance, harmony of arms, torso and lower limbs integration and overall postural stabilty in the run. The grips of the lower and higher hands in association ...
and
volteur wrote:... I guess i trust Bruce Lee like i trust Petrov and like i trust Arthur Lydiard to name a few. ... So if Bruce says "in one hand you have instinct and in the other hand control. The goal is to combine the two in harmony." then i trust him and i seek a way to apply this. When i look at Bubka i see a master craftsman. ...
Barto Re: Letting Gravity Take the Pole- a discussion
Barto wrote:... the runway, the slower the pole will drop. For what it is worth, I teach what I call a "harmonious" pole drop. The pole must drop in harmony with the vaulter's posture as the vaulter accelerates down the runway. The pole and vaulter's upper body will be near parallel to each other ...
STEVIESDAD Re: Big Bottom Arm
.STEVIESDAD wrote:I BELIEVE THAT IF YOUR TIMING, RUNWAY SPEED EARLY PLANT AND JUMP OFF THE GROUND ARE IN HARMONY WITH EACH OTHER.....YOU WILL INFACT HAVE GREAT ARM EXTENSION, YOU WILL NOT LET ANY ENERGY OUT OF THE POLE AND IT COULD BE THE BEST JUMP OF THE DAY
And I really liked the poetry of this one ...
bjvando Re: Paul Litchfield Article
rash course: pole vault
kang@journalnet.com
POCATELLO - Look, just like that, Paul Litchfield tells me. He lopes down the runway, and with his arms and legs flowing with a measured harmony that doesn't look too different from the cogs and wheels churning inside a Swiss timepiece, he hoists himself effortlessly over the ... bar.
by Kelvin Ang
And tonight I found this article from VaultingPoleTips (http://www.vaultingpoletips.com/vaulting-pole/brad-walker-olympic-pole-vaulter-takes-the-hard-road):
Brad Walker Olympic Pole Vaulter Takes The Hard Road 13/08/2008 by admin
Walker says, “When you hit it right, the best way for me to describe it is smooth. A perfect jump is basically a very smooth transition of energy. You transition all of your horizontal energy into the pole and if you do it right, you smoothly begin the swing up to the top. Do it wrong and you can still make bars, but your body will let you know you screwed up.”
Brad never used the word "harmony", but he sure as hell described it!
He's referring to what Roman (agapit) calls "the continuous chain theory". But it's more than that. Continuous Chain is really just the "Swing. Extend. Fly." part of the vault. Harmony is from the start of the runup, right thru to bar clearance!
Harmony! I love that word!
Kirk