PoleVaultPower.com

Hi guys,

So ever since I've started vaulting I always bend my trail leg at 90 degrees at take off rather than leaving it long (I look like Mario jumping in the old NES games if you will). My coach has me focus on keeping it long during short drills which works and I can keep it long in any kind of ring drill. However, when I jump onto my full approach (7 rights), I turn back into Super Mario.

Coach says it causes the pole to bend odd and I don't get as much pop off of it. I have a video that was supposed to be slow motion, but youtube had other ideas. I have other videos if this one is too low quality. Tell me what you guys think, any advice is appreciated.


http://youtu.be/fz_x4bp-qMM

You have decent plant timing which is good and don't stretch too much into takeoff. You are a bit under here so moving back 6" will help. With that said, it looks like you are just running off the ground and not jumping up much. I have a couple of athletes like this and we do a lot of work trying to get them to jump up well at TO. This does get harder the further and faster you run. In addition to that, you need to do some work on a high bar practicing swinging long and kicking down with your trail leg. Once you combine the jump up and high bar swing you should see much better results. Practice it from a shorter run and lower grip until you get better at it and then start moving back and raising the grip.