New PR

[bzugar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVVdSFjBsbE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mj-k_OEGVs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6R8K2zaZHM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6haVgPM9xqs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL2D5cQGF18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0X4QpvMZwU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v5D7GWq5fo

Got a new PR this weekend, changed poles but i feel like its almost too stiff and i need a softer pole to give me more time to invert. Thoughts??


Stats
11'6" was on a 14'7" 165 pacerfx holding 13'9" from 6L at 81'6"
12'-13'3" was on a 14' 180 spirit holding 13'7" from the same step

I was wondering any quick tips to help me get out of the seated position that i seem to be stuck in.

[GasPasser]

Nice job on the new PR! Given the poles you are jumping on, and where you are holding, you can jump higher. The plant and take off looked good. The things that I saw that need to be corrected are: (1) you are blocking out with your lower hand - which blocks your swing, (2) because of the blocking from your lower arm, and resulting blocked swing, you're not getting your hips very high above your head before you start coming off the pole.

My recommendation is to do lots of short-run (3-4 lefts) straight pole swing to invert drills. Have someone watch your trail leg so you stay long, and make sure you get fully inverted prior to the pole getting vertical. When you think you have that nailed, then add the turn and fly away. Once you can come off the pole fully inverted, start moving your grip back up as you add steps. The pole will bend on its own as you move up the pole - you don't need a lower arm block to bend the pole.

[KirkB]

... you don't need a lower arm block to bend the pole.

Kirk

[bzugar]

Thank you soo much, i never even noticed that i was blocking.

Now the harder question..... see here in Pennsylvania we have a few inches of snow and ice on the ground at the moment and are expected to get quite a bit more tonight, so how do i go about practicing to fix this before a big invitation saturday with no access to an outdoor pit or an indoor pit??

[CoachEric]

bzuger,
Take another look at you videos. When you plant, you should notice that your hands go up, and at the instant before you hit the box, the hands come forward and down - like you're trying to stab the box. I think this is one of the biggests reasons you are blocking. You are tensing/reacting to the impact of the box, and this is why your shoulder angle stays closed.

Since you likely won't get much practice, do this at your competition this week:
1. Focus on taking the hands upward through the plant. Think of the box as the halfway point of your plant motion, and make the hands go even higher as you leave the ground. Continue planting into the air.

2. Raise your grip. You're landing really deep, and the pole is reacting too fast for you. Raising your grip will allow your left hand to go higher at the plant,and may reduce the feeling of impact due to the stiffness of the pole at takeoff. You can probably go up at least 1 fist, maybe more, but work your grip up by about 2 fingers per jump during warm ups.

3. As you swing, keep thinking about your plant motion going higher into the air. You are driving the hands down and blocking your swing. The hands and elbows must stay over your head for the hips to keep moving.

[GasPasser]

Excellent observation and suggestions CoachEric.

Since you have a snow day from school and no way to get on a runway, there are a couple of things you can do today.

1 - Watch these videos on planting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_b45GBLQZ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noO3DQh8JUA

2 - Practice the plant and last 3-steps with a stubby or broom stick many times today. Take a break from your homework every hour to do 10-15 reps. Quality reps, concentrate on the hands being at the right spot in time with your feet, slow and deliberate.

3 - Follow those plant drills with 10-15 reps of going through the motions of the vault from take off to fly away (with the stubby). For safety reasons this "land drill" should be done standing (and bending over) on both feet. The right knee drive has to left out. Sorry, I don't have a video to reference for you. Practice getting into the key positions including the elastic take off position Coach Butler points out in his videos, another is the start of the invert (right hand right shin, left hand, left thigh), keep the pole close to the body (cover the pole) as you get to the fully inverted position (right hand at left waist, left hand at left chest, elbow out and on body side of pole), then push the pole straight up into the air as you step the right foot across as you turn and fly away (left hand releases before the right (top) hand). This assumes you are a right handed vaulter.

On meet day, here are my suggestions. Get there early enough so you can warm up before the runway opens. That way when the runway opens for warm-ups you are ready to jump. Do the 3-4 left straight pole swing to invert drills I suggested. Hold low, between 11-12 feet. Do as many of those as time permits. But leave enough time to get two full running jumps in before warm ups end. Meet Jumps - relax, run at 100%, not 110%. Push the hands high, keep pushing the pole up, stay long, swing long, hard, and quick, get inverted, cover the pole, enjoy the ride. New PRs come from trying to do it correctly, not from trying to do it harder with more intensity. If you fix the lower arm block, your swing will be better, you'll get fully inverted, and you'll PR again.

Keep up the good work, I can see you hitting 14' or better this spring.

[bzugar]

Thank you for the suggestions. I managed to create a stubby with some pvc pipe for practice for today and tomorrow. But i have one last question for CoachEric, you said to raise my grip, but the problem is that im holding the max grip of 13'7" pole im on(14' 180) and cant legally raise it any higher. now i have a 14'7" 175 i can go up to, should i go up to that or no?

Again thank you so much for your help.

[CoachEric]

That's definitely a step up. Remember that 6 inches of pole equals about 10 pounds of stiffness, so that pole is 5 pounds heavier. Start on your smaller pole, and focus on keeping the hands and elbows up over your head. If you can land very deep in the pit, change poles and start raising your grip. The earlier you can move up poles, the better. Keep the standards at 80 during competition, and focus on rotating the pole upwards with the arms overhead.

Also GasPasser, I was glad to see you using my YouTube channel as a reference. I'm glad folks are finding our videos useful! More to come.

[KirkB]

... If you can land very deep in the pit, change poles and start raising your grip. The earlier you can move up poles, the better. Keep the standards at 80 during competition, and focus on rotating the pole upwards with the arms overhead.

Excellent advice!

Do NOT move the standards towards the box if you're not landing deep. Instead, lower your grip a bit!

It's better to have just one variable (grip) than to have 2 variables (grip and standard settings).

Kirk