PoleVaultPower.com

I would be happy to get some suggestions to get more "pop on the top".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTfOSPxtfYY I believe his plant is OK, but nothing "happens" on the top. Any suggestions and/or drills are deeply appreciated. The boy vaulting is 14 years old, height 5 feet 2 inches, weight: 95 lbs. Grip: 3,75, pole Nordic 3.75/120.

He is not getting the "pop" out of the top end of the vault because he is blocking with the bottom arm. This is forcing him to break the swing, tuck, and muscle himself to inversion by pulling. This kills pole rotation and slows pole recoil.

He needs to learn to open is shoulders post-takeoff, and go "elastic" with the arms. After creating as much space as possible between himself and the pole, he should allow his bottom hand to travel up and back as it moves directly over his head. If the bottom hand stays in front of the head, then he has not achieved the correct position.

I recommend that he spend a lot of time on a straight pole. Challenge him to raise his grip from 6 steps (3L) as much as possible with emphasis on "going elastic" with the arms. Try putting the standards back at 120cm and have him swing over a bungee on the straight pole using a narrow grip.

Also, cue him to keep his elbow down and push the pole from underneath when planting. He has a bit of a "roundhouse" plant motion that makes it difficult not to block at takeoff.

Nice vaulting for a 14-yr-old!

I agree with CoachEric's advice. In addition to what he already stated about what his ARMS should be doing, I'd like to add what his LEGS should be doing ...

Or at least his TRAIL LEG - his lead leg is good!

In the vid, his trail leg is just hanging there - rather than SWINGING. This is a passive phase that needs to be eliminated. Don't just let the trail leg HANG there while the arms (and inertia from the run) do all the work.

Instead of just "letting" things happen, "make" them happen - by forcing the trail leg DOWN and around as vigorously as possible, immediately AFTER the elastic stretch. This is what I call the DOWNswing part of the vault, and the faster (and earlier) you do this, the faster (and earlier) your UPswing will be.

The consequences will be astounding once he "gets" this!

He will no longer need to "pause" in any tuck whatsoever to give the pole time to roll to vertical.

He will no longer need to shorten the radius of the trail leg to get into the tuck faster. He will invert plenty fast enough with a STRAIGHT trail leg for the entire DOWNswing and UPswing.

And the UPswing will be so fast that he will literally FLY off the top of the pole.

That's the "pop on top" that you're asking for - and this is how to get it!

p.s. This isn't easily mastered overnight. But if he works on this all year, his results by next August will be astounding!

Kirk

Thank both KirkB and CoachEric, now we know what to work on . This coming winter we have got a place to vault indoor, so I believe he could make a lot of progress. Will keep you updated.

CoachEric wrote: ...
He needs to learn to open his shoulders post-takeoff, and go "elastic" with the arms. After creating as much space as possible between himself and the pole, he should allow his bottom hand to travel up and back as it moves directly over his head. If the bottom hand stays in front of the head, then he has not achieved the correct position.
...

The bolds and underlines in the quote above are mine.

I missed this before ...

I'm sure that CoachEric means his TOP hand!

The secret to this "elastic" position/process is to create an arc from top hand --> torso --> trail leg (view Bubka vids for this). If he does not pass thru this elastic position, then he won't be set up properly for the vigorous trail leg downswing that I recommend.

Good exercises to ensure a good "stretch" into the "elastic" position are all kinds of stretches that make the shoulders flexible, including sitting prone on the ground with arms behind you (thumbs out) - and stretching lats as much as you can, walking the hands further and further back; skin the cat on rings, highbar, chin-up bar (rings are best); and any/all other types of stretches that stretch the shoulders out. These stretches should be done almost every day - as part of normal warm-ups and cool-downs.

Incidentally, these types of stretch excercises will also improve his round-house style plant to become more of a straight-up plant (closer to the body and ear).

Kirk

No, I actually did mean the bottom hand. Yes, the top hand does stretch behind the head, however, the correct position can be identified when the bottom hand moves far enough back - directly over the head - that it is impossible to block the shoulders.


Note that in the video of your vaulter, the bottom hand stays in front of the face. This impedes the swing, and forces him to tuck to get inverted. Fixing this will improve the trail leg.

Kirk and I are talking about the same thing, just with slightly different "cueing points."

hello

He is swinging "TO" vertical and should be swinging "through" vertical.

Another way to look at it is to continue swinging, from takeoff (yes long arms/elastic) to max height, using the arms to swing, pull, turn… all in one continuous motion.

Another consideration is that the "pop" is not from the pole "catapulting" the vaulter. The "height above grip" is proportionate to the swing speed and radius. The longer in distance (higher grip) and faster the swing the higher a vaulter can go above there grip.

This is shown in my Six Stride Mark Chart at www.oneapproachrun.com.

Ie a 12-3 grip is an average 12-0 vault where as a 13-2 grip results in an average 13-6 vault.

Longer-faster swing results in the vaulter "flying higher" above the grip when they release.

dj

CoachEric wrote:No, I actually did mean the bottom hand. Yes, the top hand does stretch behind the head, however, the correct position can be identified when the bottom hand moves far enough back - directly over the head - that it is impossible to block the shoulders. ...

Kirk and I are talking about the same thing, just with slightly different "cueing points."

Right. I stand corrected.

The reason I was confused is because I never - ever - worried about what the bottom hand was doing. It just went where it had to. I'm quite sure it stretched overhead like Bubka - probably even more. CoachEric knows this about me.

But yes, he's 100% correct - the bottom arm just wasn't anything I cued on. Sorry to confuse you.

Kirk

to DJ's post.

dj wrote: Longer-faster swing results in the vaulter "flying higher" above the grip when they release.

Yes. I would add "sooner".

Sooner-longer-faster!!!

Once you're fully stretched to the elastic position, there should be no delay on the downswing!!!

I mention this because some vaulters emphasize a full stretch (with a slight delay - I was guilty of this myself), and some vaulters emphasize an earlier downswing (without a full stretch).

You need both!!!

Kirk

Thanks a lot for all the advices. We have tried to work on not blocking, and also on swinging faster. I believe it´s still a way to go, but I am happy with the progress. Here is a jump from last week, the bar is 11´10", grip is 12´7". Pole 13´1´´/118. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=196174707242032&notif_t=like

I think he could jump harder off the ground, and I think this trail leg could swing much faster. Practice this on a high bar, working on the speed of the swing. You will find that you need to get into a bigger C to get a faster trail leg swing. He will also not tuck at the knee once he gets a faster swing (he won't have time).

Kirk