What does the bottom arm do????

[PVDaddy]

Wow Tim 15' 9" on a Metal Pole is better than my Hero Cornelius Warmerdams World Reord of 15' 7"! Was he the guy who beat it?

[Tim McMichael]

Wow Tim 15' 9" on a Metal Pole is better than my Hero Cornelius Warmerdams World Reord of 15' 7"! Was he the guy who beat it?

Sadly no. The jump was disallowed on a technicality concerning the standards. Wamerdam remained the world record holder but J.D. Marin had the highest clearance on a metal pole. I have talked to people who saw the jump and they swear he made it clean. Just a bit of arcane PV trivia. The larger point is that Coach Martin was someone whose opinion on stiff pole vaulting I would trust, and he saw the essential elements of his own technique mirrored in what Bubka was doing in 1989. I filed that away in my memory at the time, even though I didn't understand it. The more I learn about the vault, the more I am convinced that stiff pole technique is essential. A person can bend the pole with their bottom arm, but that does not mean that they ought to do so. Let me put it this way. The only way an active bottom arm at takeoff can be anything but bad is if the pole would have bent anyway without it. With a perfect approach and takeoff, a pole can be bent with the bottom hand in the athlete's pocket. Having it straight or bent influences the jump in important ways, and there might be a fruitful discussion of how, but what it absolutely does NOT do is make the pole bend. If it does, it is a compensation for a problem in the approach and takeoff. I used a very straight left arm in my own jump because I wanted my hips farther behind the chord of the pole and because I could pull harder with it in that position. But I could also vault over 15' with my hands four inches apart. Despite the appearance of pushing at the takeoff, I was not. I was pulling as hard as I could. This is one of the reasons the action of the left arm is so misunderstood. I know for a fact that watching me vault ruined a lot of high school vaulters in Oklahoma because it perpetuated a myth that the pole is bent by shoving the bottom arm through it at takeoff. All of this is subjective, and my experience is by no means a measure of what is good or best. But it is a very good example of how what appears to be happening and what really is happening can be two completely different things. This is why it is so hard to nail this stuff down. If we study film, we cannot be sure of what we are seeing, and if we ask the athlete, they may have no more idea than we do. Most great athletes move instinctively, and if you ask them for their secrets you are likely to be disappointed. A famous example is Harry Vardon's golf swing. He wrote a book on it, a very lenghty, detailed, and precise book, that describes a golf swing that NO ONE has ever used, not even him. It can be maddening. Now I'm rambling and its late

[PVDaddy]

What does the bottom arm do?
Well it helps carry the pole. It swings forward with the opposite leg as you run with the pole. It serves as a fulcrum through the thumb and forefinger as you lower the pole. It moves forward with the penultimate step as you plant the pole in the box. It moves up, bent, with the elbow facing out, with the hand above the forehead to complete the plant. It moves back with its hand above the head as you load the pole/vaulter system. It straightens out( is extended) as you swing from the inverted-c position to the L-position. It pulls through the shoulders at the exact moment you hit the L-position and this pull continues until your swing leg comes to the top of the pole and then is seamlessly transferred into a strong push toward the pit as you lay your shoulders back to inversion, assist the turn and helps propel the vaulter skyward off the pole at fly-away. The bottom arm does a lot!

[agapit]

Check my take on what the arm does at http://m640.com/member_content

[PVDaddy]

What SHOULD the bottom arm do?
Well it helps carry the pole. It swings forward with the opposite leg as you run with the pole. It serves as a fulcrum through the thumb and forefinger as you lower the pole. It moves forward with the penultimate step as you plant the pole in the box. It moves up, bent, with the elbow facing out, with the hand above the forehead to complete the plant. It moves back with its hand above the head as you load the pole/vaulter system. It straightens out( is extended) as you swing from the inverted-c position to the L-position. It pulls through the shoulders at the exact moment you hit the L-position and this pull continues until your swing leg comes to the top of the pole and then is seamlessly transferred into a strong push toward the pit as you lay your shoulders back to inversion, assist the turn and helps propel the vaulter skyward off the pole at fly-away. The bottom arm does a lot!
Every jot and every tittle adds up to more than just a little.