freshman vaulting

[KirkB]

You're gripping too high ... and not getting far enough into the PLZ. Grip lower. Your takeoff is under, putting you into a backwards-leaning position once you leave the ground. Don't.

You're also trying to force a bend with the bottom arm. Don't.

This prevents you from having any downswing. You're throwing your head back ... which is in vain. That's not going to make you swing thru any better. Don't.

Don't focus on bending the pole ... that will come later. Instead, focus on getting a good, forwards-leaning takeoff (further out) ... and drive the lead knee and the chest forwards so that you pass thru a nice C-position. This will set you up for a powerful downswing and upswing ... and you won't need to throw your head back at all.

This is not as easy as I make it sound. You need a coach standing there to coach you thru all this ... with baby-step improvements over several weeks.

Don't worry about the top half of your vault ... that's the least of your worries!

Kirk

[Barefoot]

Tylerd...

Everything Kirk said... Spot on brother.

Now... if you don't have a coach or you were my vaulter... here's what I'd suggest that may help:

Look at your warm-up vault and compare to your regular vaults. What do you see? A lot is the same, head thrown back, steps under. But notice that your body is in a "c" after take-off and that you nearly swing to inversion despite the head toss, step, and lack of pole speed. So... if you devote a large portion of your practice to straight pole vaulting the pole will teach you not to be under, to jump at the take-off, it will force the C... all of which is precursor to inversion.

Not seeing the run, I don't know if you are still "pumping" the pole, but don't do that either.

You obviously have talent, and could probably do just as well if you stiff poled every practice and did your "normal vault" at meets, but to really progress you have to fix the first parts of the vault first. So I suggest you try a bigger pole, start with a low grip and move up one finger at a time with no bend. Stiff pole vault over a bar, setting and raising your "stiff pole record". Do this from short runs... 3,4, and 5 lefts. Make sure you keep the standards at 80cm. You could probably stiff pole your bending PR in a short order. Then with less bend, a lower grip, and greater depth, set a new PR. The pole can teach you stuff, but not when you are bending the snot out of it.

I'm not surprised you broke a pole given the "straight" bottom arm. That's called locking and blocking. Its hard to swing to inversion doing that, it requires an incredibly strong row and tuck. Stiff poling can help cure that too.

Now re-read Kirk's post.

[tylerd1994]

thanks guys

I really didnt know you were not supposed to lock your bottom arm. People have taught me that since i started. I had a feeling i was under. A coach from another school told me that. So I will try moving my steps back. Today i will Stiff Vault the majority of the day but how can you get your arm not to be locked at takeoff? It feels so natural to me now. The head thing i think was me trying to get inverted too hard. Ive never done that before. And i did fix my pole pumping. So the C position will come naturally right.? Thanks again guys i gotta go talk to you more when i get home from school

[Barefoot]

The "C" happens when you are "elastic", not when you lock the arm. No one can stiff pole and lock.

Without video of the whole run, the answer to being under may or may not be moving your steps, it may be a matter of turnover and posture... run technique. Move the steps in small increments, but make sure your aren't slowing/flattening on the final few... quick, tall, explosive into the plant!

Coach Butler from Rice has an interesting article worth reading... Better yet... watch his video presentation at Reno... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 052593028#

[tsorenson]

I agree with everything Kirk and Barefoot said. You can jump higher by lowering your grip, even with the pole you are currently jumping on. Focus on moving the pole forward, not bending it...this is what you learn by stiff poling. It won't be easy at first, but keep at it and it will come. Use stiff poling every day as part of your warmup; don't swing at all until you get the hang of moving the pole, taking off "on or out", and standing up a stiff pole with a grip at least 4-5 feet above your standing grip.

Also, don't ever let anyone sit on the pad when someone is vaulting. That guy is lucky he didn't end up with a face full of spikes...especially because you were coming up short consistently! BTW, is your entire pit surrounded by concrete?

Good luck,
Tom

[tylerd1994]

Well today guys I worked on some stiff pole vaulting. And gradually started moving my steps back. I was really getting a good jump at the plant and I had my bottom arm not stiff and i did so much better! We had the bungee up at 12-6 today and i was hitting it less than i was on 11-6 the day before. and i also was landing safely in the pit. I didnt get any video today but im hoping to get some tommorow. My entire warmups now are stiff poleing from 3 step then 4 step and 5 step. Sadly our pits are completly surrounded by black top. And ill advise everyone to get off the pits. We had a great set up and then they decided to tear it down because we are gettting a new school. so we found the most level place in the parking lot and put it there. Its not the greatest but it really beats not having pits.

[Barefoot]

Tylerd...

Good to hear. Most Vaulters will resist stiff pole vaulting because they feel "real" vaulters bend the pole and if we are honest, bending the pole is fun. Keep at it. And repeat after me: "It's pole vaulting, not pole bending, pole VAULTING, not pole bending."

Here is an excerpt from an interview with S Bubka:

Q. How would you describe the action of bending the pole?
A. Before the fiber glass pole, pole vaulters put their focus on moving the pole, then, when the flexible pole appeared many people put their focus on bending the pole. The pole bends as a result of the speed and mass of the jumper,therefore, it is more important to concentrate more on moving the pole towards the plane of the bar, rather than being aware of bending it. If the vaulter can put all his speed to the pole, the bending of the pole will happen in a very natural way and this, together with a good height of grip will ensure good results.

Q. Some years ago an article appeared in which the author stated that you use to jump with a stiff pole, and with a run up of six strides you could determine the height of grip or take off efficiency....
A. It is true, we utilized this drill, but why? The bending poles allow you to hide technical mistakes, on the contrary, stiff poles immediately hurts you. I don't exactly remember, but I think I had a grip height of around 4.20 or 4.25 mts. With stiff poles, if you do the right action, you can feel where you are, and from then on you can increase the grip a height.

The whole article is on Neo Vault... http://www.neovault.com/articles_bubka_roundtable.asp ... go read it.

[tylerd1994]

Yeah alot of vaulter do just worry about bending. I enjoy stiff poleing because it shows your raw talent. Like Bubka said bending the pole hides all the weaknesses. I watched the reno video and read that article and I have a question im kind of confused about. When they say pushing the pole the plane. What do the mean. Do you litterally push the pole during the vault towards the pits?

[Barefoot]

I like Bubka's phrase of moving the pole to the plane of the bar. Or as I tell my kids, move the pole to vertical. The bend will happen because you are running faster, jumping higher, and moving the pole with a strong top hand.

To move the pole requires horozontal and vertical velocity. Run fast, plant tall, jump!... Keep stiff poling, then vaulting with less bend and see what the pole teaches you about moving it quickly to the bar. Play with it and you will find the sweet spot where the pole moves with speed and gets you deep and safe into the pit.

Create pole speed.

[tylerd1994]

Ohhh ok i see. So you dont have to push the pole. It is your velocity and planting tall and good form that creates the pole speed. I have noticed that some days i do alot better stiff pole vaulting than others. Im going to guess on some days i find that sweet spot and I didnt even realize it. Thanks!

[Barefoot]

All words are semantics... "push" means different things to different people. In your case "push" might mean you go back to locking out (bad) or it might mean you create space above your head with your top arm (good). And people much smarter than me have been arguing push/pull semantics on this board for years.

Focus on one thing at a time... when the pole moves quickly and easily (freely) to the top you are on to something good.

You're gonna be just fine.

[tylerd1994]

yeah thats what i was thinking . I might go back to locking if i push..but ill see what happens. I have a meet tommorow and ill post what happens! thanks again