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I have a real problem with my bottom arm, it gets rocked as soon as the pole hit the back of the box and I come inches from getting a faceful of fiberglass. It really hurts my pole speed and it puts my elbow on the wrong side of the pole, which is probably part of the reason I can't invert. I don't know if this is because I don't get my plant up early enough, or if it's a strength thing. I've been doing diamond push-ups and I'm going to try and get a weighted stubby soon to plant with. Is it a lack of strength in my triceps (I assume that's the muscle that holds the bottom arm stiff), or is it a technique thing, or is it a mental thing? Man I wish I could just vault.

P.S. there are videos in the link in my signature if you want to see what I mean (I'm the guy, not the girl named Britt)

The videos would help a lot, too bad i dont see any in your sig .

It would help to know what poles you are on, how much you weigh, and where you are holding on the poles.

If the pole isnt very long it will be very hard to put pressure with your bottom hand. However i recently went through somewhat the same problem, and its not a strength or pressure thing, its from a late plant. Make sure both hands are up and above your head before the pole hits the box. That should make putting pressure with your bottom arm a lot easier.

It is a matter of learning when and how to apply force to the pole with the bottom arm. I can bench 300+ and I still have an issue with it. I know guys who are much weaker than I who are great at keeping a stiff (but not too stiff) left arm. You don't want to apply so much force it blocks you from swinging, but you want to make sure you are helping the pole to vertical,

Try pushing your arms straight up at the ceiling at takeoff instead of up at the pole, that usually helps.

Sorry about the videos, apparently I don't know how to change a signature. It's there now, I hope... I'm about 140-144 lbs and in the "practice" videos I'm on a 13' 160, but at camp I was on a 14' 150. I'm holding at the top of the 13 footer in the vid, and I was at the top of the 14' at camp. I have video of the 14' but it's on dvd and I don't know how to get that on the computer.

dont stiff arm the pole with your bottom arm...

go and look at a thread called the pole vault manifesto, and if you can get a copy of beginner to bubka.
the left arm(if your right handed)is never stiff/straight throughtout the entirity of the whole vault.

read up on the swing/russian/continious chain/petrov,bubbka model of pole vaulting, it will help you with both the problem you are describing now and getting inverted.

First off buddy if I can even see the video right your like 10 feet under. Not literally but your way under. Because of this your getting ripped off the ground. Get your plant up sooner and get your final step out away from the box I would say easily another 1.5 feet to start and check again.

The bottom arm is not what I would be worried about it is the pressure your putting on your top arm shoulder.

With that video i can see your bottom arm is never above your head at take off, like it was said, you are taking off so far under your head is almost touching the pole!! I would suggest going back to a short run and get both hands above your head before your plant, and take off hard to throw your swing leg behind you. The more you throw that leg back, in turn your hands will come farther above your head, in a reverse C.

During the plant your bottom arm wont be straight AND over your head, otherwise the pole would be parallel with the ground. But make sure both hands are up before you take off. If you are holding at the top of a 14' 150, assuming you are about 5'10 your take off should be ABOUT 10'10-11'3. It definitely shouldnt be under 10'.

The bottom arm is definitely NOT a strength issue. The pole is bent through proper posture and leverage through the top arm, not the bottom. The bottom arm does give a tiny bit of pressure at takeoff, but that is all that is needed. After the pole starts bending, you could let go with your bottom hand (but don't) and it would keep bending. The worst thing you could do at this stage of learning would be to start jamming your left arm into the pole. It might work as far as bending the pole goes, but it will kill your development as a vaulter. Work on posture, timing, and getting your step on before anything else.

Ask this question. If your top hand is at 15' and your bottom hand is at 13', where do you efficiently apply force to the pole? It is much more efficient to apply force from the top hand IF the plant is high (Straight Top Arm).

ROLE OF THE LEFT ARM (for Right Handed Vaulters)
1. DO NOT COLLAPSE
2. DO NOT TRY TO BEND THE POLE BY PUSHING WITH THE LEFT ARM
3. A STRAIGHT LEFT ARM IS THE RESULT OF A PROPERLY BENDING POLE, NOT THE CAUSE OF IT.
4. THE LEFT ARM STRAIGHTENS BECAUSE THE POLE BENDS! THE POLE DOES NOT BEND BECAUSE THE LEFT ARM STRAIGHTENS

The worst thing you could do at this stage of learning would be to start jamming your left arm into the pole. It might work as far as bending the pole goes, but it will kill your development as a vaulter.

Right on. A little while into my freshman year I started to bend the pole, and that's how I was taught to bend it. It took more than 2 years to undo that, and once I did. I almost automatically added 2+ feet onto my PR because I could finally get my hips past my top hand!

I looked at your video in slow-mo, and step by step. At first, you are right, you do collapse it in right away. But then, you start to actually put a little bit of pressure into it as soon as you start rocking back. So. my advice is to pressure sooner, break the elbow when you you are rocking back, so that you can fully get inverted instead of shooting out, you can shoot up. Hope this helps. Trust me, the bottom arm is my biggest problem right now. I either totally cave my elbow in, or totally brace it out, and can't rock back. I'm tryin' to find the in-between!

BTW: Just out of curriosity, what is Brittany's pr, and do you know what height she cleared, or was going for in the indoor video?

She did really bad in indoor last year. Her PR is (was) 9', our schools girls record. I don't remember what the height is in the video.