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Hey gang! I recently attended and coached out in Humble at USATF JO, where we all had a great experience. Paper watching all but one warm-up sessions, 15-16 boys, I noticed there was quite the amount of different type of one-arm drills...would someone like to explain the purpose & possibly the reasoning behind so many different types. i.e. Taking the one arm to landing on the back in a tucked position, landing on your feet with one leg wrapped/straddled around the pole, and one athlete turned fully and landed on their stomach. Thanks y'all!

- Matt

I'm not a big fan of one arm drills. The left wrist staying above the left elbow throughout the approach and takeoff is so important that I want it to be a part of pretty much every drill.

Mbarry628 wrote:Hey gang! I recently attended and coached out in Humble at USATF JO, where we all had a great experience. Paper watching all but one warm-up sessions, 15-16 boys, I noticed there was quite the amount of different type of one-arm drills...would someone like to explain the purpose & possibly the reasoning behind so many different types. i.e. Taking the one arm to landing on the back in a tucked position, landing on your feet with one leg wrapped/straddled around the pole, and one athlete turned fully and landed on their stomach. Thanks y'all!

- Matt

I think some coaches use the drill for a variety of reasons. I have some of my athletes use it as a warm-up for the shoulder and for others I use it to teach the feeling of supporting body weight through the top hand. I personally like the drill and I think it comes in handy when I have an athlete that's not a very good audio learner.

If you say you have those specific uses for it old son I will take your word for it. I think you should expand your rationale here because I believe that the one arm drill is often used by coaches without any understanding of either its value or its limitations. They just use it because it looks difficult and different.

While I accept your reasons I do not use it at all because, like Tim, I believe that vaulters MUST learn to use the left arm very precisely throughout the plant and into the take off. My observation of large numbers of young vaulters in the US over the last few years along with discussion with their coaches indicates that few really understand how the lower arm/wrist/hand should be used in this phase. I remember Petrov did an hour lecture on this topic at Reno a few years ago and I sensed that most of the audience were left bemused because what he was presenting was so different from their practice; in essence they did not understand why this very specific method was critical to the take off and swing into inversion.

I realised some time ago that I had not adequately clarified this issue in BTB because I had tended to take it for granted - should not have done so because it is very important.

altius wrote:If you say you have those specific uses for it old son I will take your word for it. I think you should expand your rationale here because I believe that the one arm drill is often used by coaches without any understanding of either its value or its limitations. They just use it because it looks difficult and different.

While I accept your reasons I do not use it at all because, like Tim, I believe that vaulters MUST learn to use the left arm very precisely throughout the plant and into the take off. My observation of large numbers of young vaulters in the US over the last few years along with discussion with their coaches indicates that few really understand how the lower arm/wrist/hand should be used in this phase. I remember Petrov did an hour lecture on this topic at Reno a few years ago and I sensed that most of the audience were left bemused because what he was presenting was so different from their practice; in essence they did not understand why this very specific method was critical to the take off and swing into inversion.

I realised some time ago that I had not adequately clarified this issue in BTB because I had tended to take it for granted - should not have done so because it is very important.

Great idea for a new topic! Especially since I'm struggling trying to figure out how the bottom arm should be used correctly. I look forward to your guidance, as well as suggestions from others. I'll start a new topic here in Intermediate Technique.

One-armed drills are really only useful for people like me that have trouble keeping the arm completely straight at take-off. It forces the vaulter to jump off the ground more and keep the arm straighter.

However, it also can put strain on the shoulder for inexperienced vaulters that hold too high right off the bat. Also, as my club coahc said, "vaulting is preferably done with two hands....so let's keep it that way." Short drills with both hands are just as beneficial.

You mentioned straddling the pole on a one-armed drill? I o not see the point of this. One-armed drills are for emphasizing take-off mechanics.

One-armed drills are really only useful for people like me that have trouble keeping the arm completely straight at take-off. It forces the vaulter to jump off the ground more and keep the arm straighter.

However, it also can put strain on the shoulder for inexperienced vaulters that hold too high right off the bat. Also, as my club coahc said, "vaulting is preferably done with two hands....so let's keep it that way." Short drills with both hands are just as beneficial.

You mentioned straddling the pole on a one-armed drill? I o not see the point of this. One-armed drills are for emphasizing take-off mechanics.