drills to learn a proper plant (mostly rigid bottom arm)

[satishbhawra27]

how do i fix this and what are drills to practice this? i know its an area thats stressed a lot by coaches so that you can get a real bend and have the time to swing up.

[KirkB]

how do i fix this and what are drills to practice this? i know its an area thats stressed a lot by coaches so that you can get a real bend and have the time to swing up.

The title of this thread implies that a "rigid bottom arm" is a GOOD thing. Not so. If you follow the Petrov Model ... as taught in the BTB2 book ... and the conventional wisdom of most coaches well-educated on how Bubka and Isi broke 28+ WRs each ... it's BAD!

[Note: There's some recent confusion about what Isi's trying to do (under Petrov's guidance) with her bottom arm. In the past, there has also been some confusion about what Bubka was doing with his bottom arm ... but I think the current evidence is clear ... he bent the pole with his TOP hand ... not his BOTTOM hand.]

You seem to have the impression that you must have a rigid bottom arm to "get a real bend". Not so. The bend is determined from the force of your run and takeoff through your TOP arm ... not your bottom arm. Any slight amount of extra bend that you might get by a rigid bottom arm is not worth the harm it does to your swing.

It's OK (altho rather futile) for your bottom arm to be rigid DURING the plant, but AFTER the plant (when the pole hits the back of the box) it's not OK.

"... and have the time to swing up". Not so. On the contrary, a stiff bottom arm PREVENTS you from swinging freely.

We've discussed this topic quite thoroughly in the past year for sure ... and probably a lot longer than that. I see that you're new to PVP, so my suggestion is to catch up on some of the threads where this has been discussed. Mine is only one opinion, but here's a short thread to start with, that sums up my position on this topic quite well: http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=17733&p=126922&hilit=bottom+arm+press#p126922

To find other threads, just search for "bottom arm". You'll find 128 pages of links about this topic! I'm not suggesting that you read them all, but I do suggest that you browse some of them.

Be sure that you distinguish between the ridigity of your bottom arm BEFORE the pole hits the box and AFTER the pole hits the box. The title of this thread is a bit confusing ... a "proper plant" is quite unrelated to a "rigid bottom arm". One happens BEFORE takeoff, and the other happens AFTER takeoff.

Once more well-informed, please let us know what you think ... and we can discuss anything specific that you're still wondering about.

Kirk

[baggettpv]

Learning to plant the pole can be seen on the video "GRoundwork" by Alan Launder and myself. Get it from Becca or me @ www.willamettestriders.com.

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC

[advath]

Here are some Vatali Petrov’s pole vault drills and exercises that I got from the Summit one year.
http://advantageathletics.com/vatali-petrovs-pole-vault-drills-and-exercises/