Need help with form! Bad plant and can't get inverted

[jeffthecrowna]

Can anybody please tell me what I'm doing wrong?
I think my plant is messed up, and that affects everything after and I can never invert or turn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fpk3RAN_cw

[dnike13]

You have good speed, that's a great place to start. From the video, it appears you aren't jumping up at your takeoff, most likely caused from being under when you plant. You also do not need to be running from as far back on the runway as you are. 6 Lefts? Too far back my friend. Lower your grip, shorten your run and focus on jumping up, getting your hands up, and you will see that your swing will fall into place. For some reason a lot of young vaulters have this image in there head that the more steps they run equals the pole bending more and jumping higher.....That is one of the most unsafe things you can do!!!! Anyways, run from 3 Left with a low hand grip (just reach up with the pole next to your body). If you are constantly landing deep in the pit move up one fist grip at a time. Don't worry about bending the pole, just worry about jumping at your takeoff, having a good drive knee, and swing up to vertical. You'll see in time that not only your swing will be fixed but you'll be a more consistent vaulter. Hope this helps.

[jeffthecrowna]

thanks for the tips! i appreciate it
im gonna work on a bunch of 3 steps for the next few practices and ill take 5 lefts instead.
I think its the lack of me jumping which is the thing thats not getting me upwards, and im kinda just running into the pole

[dnike13]

Just remember, you do not need to be going from far runs. If you can use the speed you have in your video and fix your form problems 10' from 3 Lefts will be very possible. I would fix your form from 3 Lefts before I moved you back on the runway if you were one of my guys. That's just my amateur opinion though.

[jeffthecrowna]

thanks for the tip! i guess i should get my straightpole form solid, then just naturally get the swing and turn.
I guess my speed will help a bit in the future.

[sooch90]

Hey, nice takeoff! I think your plant is fine for now. You're taking off outside of your top hand, which is good! You're swing is also decent too
Maybe a helpful que for getting a better plant is to hit the pole before the pole hits the box with both arms, and driving your arms UP. Just make sure you don't start blocking out by putting pressure on the pole with the bottom arm.

I think you should work on the plant sequence. You're bringing the pole up a little bit to early, which forces you to hold it next to your ear for an additional step before planting it. Holding it at that position will definitely slow you down as you go into the takeoff.

You also should work on keeping your top arm straight. The reason why your top end is messy is because you're pulling with your top arm, which pulls your entire upper body up which prevents you from completing the swing. At this point, pulling with the top arm is probably a habit, so you're going to need to slowly break it. Try starting with one armed drills (where you just run up from a short run, holding low, and plant with only top arm, and get the feeling of driving the top arm up and NOT pulling down on the pole). Then once that's comfortable, try adding the bottom arm repeat, making sure you don't pull. Then you can gradually grip up higher and move your run back.

Perhaps a helpful mental que for keeping the top arm straight is to DRIVE the pole UP with the arms. If you start pulling, that puts a downward force on the pole. You want to go up, not down. Also think about dropping the shoulders instead of pulling them up.

Hope that's helpful! I'm no coach though, so take my advice lightly