4.90 at George Mason

[IAmTheWalrus]

Hey guys, I had a pretty decent meet yesterday where I jumped 4.90 from 6 lefts. Some things felt pretty good, some felt pretty awkward (namely my plant) so please take a look and give me any feedback you have. Particularly if you think I should raise/lower my grip or move to a bigger pole. Also, I know there are some significant problems with the last few steps of my run (i.e. my plant) such as my hands being low, and probably initiating the plant a bit late, so instead of pointing that out, if you guys could give any advice on how I should go about working on that, I would much appreciate it. And I haven't really incorporated DJ's chart yet which I plan to do, so I imagine doing that will help a lot of things on the runway as well.

4.90 18.4 (180)
4.45 grip
6L (83'ish)
I weigh 170ish

4.90 clearance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iomyYrzNUzU

5m miss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv0p1jP9rls

Thanks guys!

[xjoeyx]

Your run looked pretty strong I think you could probably grip up a little more. but yeah your hands did look a little low, best way i know to fix that is to do walk plants from six lefts. Just working on getting the hands in the right place.

[KirkB]

Hey Wally, I'm impressed with your acceleration down the runway, and your overall Petrov technique. I think 170 is a good weight for you!

On your 4.90 clearance, you really hit your C nicely, with the trail leg back, and fairly good body posture. Posture could be a LITTLE better (a little more forwards lean) ... but still very nice!

On both the jumps shown, I don't think you're landing far enough into the pit to justify a stiffer pole or higher grip. I'd just keep working on your technique if I was you. Once you REALLY start driving off the ground on takeoff ... and REALLY start downswinging vigorously ... and REALLY start bending the pole ... and REALLY land well into the pit ... then ... and only then ... should you up your grip or your pole. What are your standards at?

I don't mean to say that you're not already running, jumping, and swinging well. Well ... on your miss at 5.00 you did have a bit of a weird pause between your swing and extension ... I think your timing was off ... but overall, you had a GREAT day!

You came down on that 4.90 bar. To me, that's NOT an indication that you should move your standards in. Instead, it's an indication that you need to move thru the bottom half of your vault BETTER/FASTER/HARDER/STRONGER. This will improve your forwards momentum. I think it's a mistake to assume that your technique can't change from one vault to the next, so you should move your standards. Far better to just JUMP harder ... as I explain in the next paragraph.

Regarding your plant ... this may sound counter-intuitive ... but I think you're planting too EARLY. The problem with an early plant is that you don't hit your plant at the same time as you jump. The result is that you stretch your arms up and then just hold them there. That's passive. Have you considered timing your plant so that you get the upwards thrust of your arms to coincide with the upwards thrust of your lead knee and takeoff foot? This would result in a higher ... but "just in time" ... plant, and give you a much better pole angle on takeoff. Once you can do THAT, then you can start moving up grip and poles!

If you think I'm completely off base on this, let me know ... but it's what I see. What is your INTENT on your plant? Is it how I've suggested ... or something different?

Kirk

[Barto]

Looks like you are ready for a little more run, little more grip, little more pole.

Keep the increases small and try to maintain the same pole speed.

Good jumpin'

[IAmTheWalrus]

Thanks for both the advice and the compliments kirk. I understand what you mean with the plant and I agree. The way I try to think about it is to keep the pole constantly moving up, so once the pole is up I feel I should be jumping and continuing to drive the pole up. I think in this instance I just got my hands up and then waited for the pole to hit the box as apposed to staying active in this regard throughout the plant and takeoff.

When I said I thought I started the plant to early, I was referring to the initiation of the plant by moving the right (top) hand up on the 3rd step out (2nd to last left). If Yelena does it in most of her videos, although Bubka doesn't seem to, so I'm not entirely sure how important this is. However I'm fairly certain that the tip of the pole is a bit low as I come into those last few steps.

One last thing. The step between my second to last left and my penultimate seems a little weird. I think I transition from penultimate to takeoff reasonably well, but the step before that is long and perhaps has a bit of a "sink" to it. Any ideas what could be going on here? My best idea right now is that I'm dealing with a combination of carrying the pole too low coming into the plant, and perhaps having a run that is too long, causing me to stride in a bit. What do you think?

Thanks for the help and the compliments. I'm having a blast and can't wait to see what happens when I get back to 8 lefts!

[KirkB]

... I just got my hands up and then waited for the pole to hit the box as apposed to staying active in this regard throughout the plant and takeoff. ...

You got it.

I agree with Barto that you should be ready to move your run back soon ... with corresponding grip and pole increases. Just no on your present run length.

I'm going to pass on your request for advice re how to start your plant a couple strides out ... and where your pole butt should be. I'd like to help you ... my pole drop was GOOD ... pretty close to a "weightless pole drop" ... ... but my run was too slow ... and my plant was so-so ... so I don't consider the run/plant transition as my area of expertise.

I'm still wondering where you had your standards.

Kirk

[IAmTheWalrus]

Oh, my standards were at 75cm

[KirkB]

Oh, my standards were at 75cm

OK, thanks. That's good. There's not much diff between 75 and 80 ... so I think you just need to work harder on takeoff ... to peak over the bar. Or even if you just fix that glitch in your plant.

Kirk

[Barefoot]

First off... lotta good stuff in your vault.

I'm gonna throw one thing out there, take it or leave it... Looks like you may be starting your pole drop a bit early. Your pole tip seems to be coming down from your sixth left, not hugely, but enough to throw off the timing of your plant. Isi looks like she starts her drop between the 5th and 4th left. If your pole comes down early you may be putting pressure/pressing down with your back hand to slow the drop, possibly forcing you to lower your hands... this means that your top hand may be traveling longer and later, and carrying more weight than need be and may slow and flatten a few steps before the flip of the pole. If the pole is dropping free, you can get the top hand higher up the body on the 2nd to last left for a more efficient flip.

Try delaying the beginning your drop by a left and see if you can cock the top hand higher on your hip at the 2nd to last left for a quicker flip of the pole.

Just 2 cents worth...

[IAmTheWalrus]

same jump, better quality video. Just thought I'd share. Thank you for all your help so far guys, great advice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7w7DAr4PHg