I feel like I'm not inverting.

[Js1996]

I feel like Im having trouble inverting and the top of my vault is really ugly. It also gets worse when I use a bar.
Bar (meet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF2R5-Gilk0
Bungee (practice): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPj33q5 ... dH6xsSOBgQ

[KirkB]

Fix the BOTTOM of your vault - and everything before that - and the TOP of your vault will be 100% easier!

In fact, dont even worry about inverting. First you need to learn to run, plant, jump, stretch, and swing! THEN the inversion will happen auto-magically!

Kirk

[Js1996]

Thanks for the advice. I see what you are saying about the swinging and stretching. I'm not sure what you mean about the run and the plant. Any Ideas on how I can fix this?
-Jake

[KirkB]

I suggest that you read thru some of the other vaulters' posts re this same problem. The trouble is that everyone wants to fix the top half of their vault, and they think it's just a minor tweak that's needed. The truth is that there's SO MUCH to fix in the run/plant/takeoff/stretch/swing that it's a lot more than just a minor tweak up top.

There is no specific advice that I can give you, that would be anything different than advice that anyone else can give you re your run/plant/takeoff/stretch/swing. PVP is full of good advice re all this - you just need to take some time to hunt for it (use the SEARCH button, or browse thru thread titles). And then after you've tried everything that everyone else has already tried, then come back and ask for specific advice about your specific problem (and give us some indication that you've done your research and tried what was advised).

Good luck on your research, and good luck on your vaulting this season.

Kirk

[willrieffer]

Side angle vids are much better for analysis...

You have what I call swing progression which is that early on your body is forward of the ideal swing angle in time. It robs you of energy early and makes you see saw on the pole at the invert dropping your hips right about the time you're trying to get them over the pole. Much of the vault is about management of rotational energy, its initiation and timing in length control. I tell my kids this. Think about a figure skater doing a spin. When their arms and legs are outstretched they spin slow. In the vault this is what you want in the take off, early swing, and compression phase as a long slow swing "rolls" the pole toward the pit. Then a figure skater will shorten their rotational axis by pulling in their arms and legs and spin faster. This is what you need in transition to get your hips forward and above the pole. There is a balance between maximizing the early slow swing and then adjusting your swing speed mid vault so that you are not getting too far behind where your hips get caught behind the pole. Timing is essential. Then you extend to finish.

At take off you want to be as long/tall as possible. Press the pole up and leap and drive into the take off. Kick the take off leg down. This is imperative as it imparts rotational momentum that can be added to the swing. Press along the left arm and take off foot axis to maximize your length as you kick the take off foot down. At knee extension begin working the hip of the take off leg. Swing! You have to somewhat anticipate the pole recoil and at this point shorten your rotational length, that is bring the take off leg in as you keep pulling the drive leg knee back to the shoulder. Work with the arms to close the angle between the pole and torso, but it should be much much easier if you manage your rotational length properly.

With almost all beginning vaulters, every instinct is against what a good vault needs. They want to be closer to the box and pit, i.e. under. They want to pull with the arms and pull the legs up at or after plant when they need to extend and make themselves as long as possible. Many that can get a good plant and some swing want to pull late stopping the invert rotation.

If you can work on the early vault as Kirk suggests, you should be on bigger poles...and vault higher. There is a lot to like here and...a lot to criticize. Your plant is low/late. Your head is tilted back which progresses your torso and hurts your swing by progressing it. Your take off foot is a bit...lazy. I hate to use that word, but you need to kick that sucker down after take off as it imparts swing rotation you can get back later in the vault to invert. The "summer vault" vid is worse. You pull up both legs which first robs you of swing and then energy to invert.

Explode up into the pole at take off. Reach the take off leg back and then kick it down hard and keep it extended rotating at the hip. If you do that the finish will be much easier...

[Js1996]

Thanks for all of the advice. I have spent a lot of time over the past couple days working with a slide box and a high bar. I competed yesterday and got a good side angle video. Standards were off but it was an 11 ft clear.
http://youtu.be/gAsGL1PPH7I

[willrieffer]

First, I dislike that video app and its narrow view for vaulting. In this case we do not see any of your plant or early swing.

What we do see is that your hips at the crucial moment get caught behind the pole. Now as you are trying to get them up into your invert the force of the pole is working in the opposite direction. It's pulling your shoulders and torso up and the hips want to see saw down. With the video I have to guess that the main culprit is as I said before, imparting and carrying swing rotation early in the take off leg and/or the torso being progressed(tilted back too soon) in the early swing. None of these things are intuitive to a vaulter, that in some way being tall at take off, pressing the pole and reaching back to create length (all to keep the hips back), or the necessity of generating as much swing momentum as possible with the take off foot by kicking it, are imperative to getting through the invert, but they are necessary to initiate and keep swing momentum through the full vault.

So close but yet so far! These problems seem so simple to talk about one might think they are easy to correct. You are an easy 13' plus vaulter if you can progress toward the ideal swing position and movement. And that pole will become one you won't be able to use to clear a bar!

You need a lot of swing drill work. One idea is that when you take off imagine that you are trying to kick a football or soccer ball laying on the runway just in front of you. You know you are going to have to press on the pole and reach down with that kick leg if you are going to have any chance! The same if you can work the idea on a high bar. Always on take off explode to achieve a "deep" vault, to swing easy and land deep in the pit.

As you get to the pole later and progress toward the bar, do not worry about going over it. Don't look at it. Imagine you are trying to shoot yourself straight up through a tube barely big enough for you to fit through right in front of the bar. Relax a bit, don't block with the left but let it rotate past the pole while you close up the angle with the top hand to the hips. Let the shoulder drop under and the head has to go back with them. This is why if you start "looking" forward late it kills the rotation momentum, and again the head and shoulders are going forward/up forcing the hips down. This is why you have to very aware of when, where, and how you do any "pulling" to gain height. If the hips are not above and at the correct angle you just stop their motion and push them down. Keep pulling you right knee back to your right shoulder through the late swing and never think of extending it "over" the bar but to extend it again through that tube.