PoleVaultPower.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8n4WLs5iAA

feedback + comments???

oh and also pole stats...

14'6 160
grip 14 ish

Nice jump! You're doing a lot of things right in your jump, but the biggest issue I see is your trail leg during take off. Once you take off, you break a lot at the knee and then fully extend it once you hit the chord of the pole. You should focus on trying to keep the leg mostly straight, it can bend a little bit to begin the swing, but it can't break as much as you did during that jump. A straighter leg will keep your body position straighter and make your take off phase a lot stronger.

I've been having the same issue and then best way to work on your trail leg is to do 3-5 steps and focus on keeping that trail leg straight and strong. High bar work can always help, but I've found that pit work has helped me more.

If you're a sophomore (I'm assuming high school), you're future's looking quite bright! Good Luck!

Just with that trail leg after takeoff:



In my opinion this is due to an athlete not finishing the take off. You need to finish off the full take off motion before you try and swing forward. You may be trying to swing as early as possible, I'm not sure. In any case the goal is in fact to swing as early as possible but only after you finish the take off. Not finishing the take off will cause you to have a flatter trajectory, making the pole do more work for you. Improving on this will get you better results with your current pole. If you ask me, you can really benefit from long jump take off drills.


Otherwise this particular jump looks pretty good with a nice relatively free take off there.



Nice job and keep up the good work!

Starkey, as Andy says ... your takeoff looks very good, but your trail leg swing really sucks.

Do 10,000 Hinge Drills on the highbar, and you will then automatically swing with a long ... or longer ... trail leg. You won't be able to help yourself.

On the positive side, you're doing great for a soph. I wish I could have cleared 14-10 when I was your age! My best was only 10-6!

BTW, I don't expect you to do 10,000 this year ... but you should be there in a few years! Then I will look for you to follow in your father's footsteps over the next few years ... but no pressure!

Kirk

ya i have been workin on that pesky trail leg haha. it seems like from long run i can always get it straight when it is pointing at the box, its just it collapses at the takeoff. Its actually usually a little better than this... i can get it perfect from 5 lefts its just trying to get it into long run... im really happy with the way i got vertical on this jump though.... but i will keep workin on that trail leg and finishing the takeoff!!!

starkey480 wrote: ... i can get it perfect from 5 lefts its just trying to get it into long run...

Perfection is like infinity. When you think you're almost there, you begin to realize how far you still have to go!

If you even get CLOSE to "perfect" from 5 lefts, then it will come more naturally on your long run than what I see in your vid. You have a LONG way to go yet ... always STRIVE for perfection ... and enjoy the journey to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Kirk

ya perfect probably isnt the right word... but it is ALOT better from 5 lefts

this is another jump i have... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7yInxap ... re=related again not my best jump in the world but i have very few filmed... i like the top end alot better in the reno clip but the trail leg is better in this one...

starkey480 wrote:this is another jump i have... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7yInxap ... re=related again not my best jump in the world but i have very few filmed... i like the top end alot better in the reno clip but the trail leg is better in this one...

Yea, you're trail leg is better in that one, but since the swing isn't quite fast enough, you tuck in to get vertical and extend off the pole. In the Reno clip, you shorten your leg, which increases the speed which you can get to vertical, but you loose a lot of power in your take off when you do that. You need to get a strong take off and a good stretch before you execute your long whipping swing. The tension in your body that builds up as you stretch helps swing your trail leg through long and still get to vertical so that you don't have to tuck. Keeping your leg back straight for a slip second before swinging should help create a faster swing.

Still, for a sophomore, your technique is pretty impressive!

And Kirk, sorry for the confusion, I'll try to remember to refer to the top and bottom hand next time!

starkey480 wrote: ... the trail leg is better in this one...

Yep. ... but it still needs lots of work!

gvvault wrote: ... You need to get a strong take off and a good stretch before you execute your long whipping swing. The tension in your body that builds up as you stretch helps swing your trail leg through long and still get to vertical so that you don't have to tuck.

This is excellent advice.

gvvault wrote: ... Keeping your leg back straight for a split second before swinging should help create a faster swing

This advice is OK, but if you take it too literally, then you're introducing a passive phase to the vault ... and you're going to run out of time before gravity pulls you down. You need to stretch FULLY ... but once you get the knack of that with a split second pause, then you need to start working on eliminating the pause. Ideally, you should be pre-stretching fully ... and QUICKLY ... then start your downswing IMMEDIATELY.

To say this another way ... most vaulters think there's not enough time to fully stretch (or they haven't done enough highbar work to be physically able to do this), so they just swing ... slowly. That's ultra-passive. But in the same amount of time that that takes ... or preferably LESS time ... you can FULLY stretch, then QUICKLY start your downswing. The net amount of time that this takes ... if done correctly, will be less than a lackadaisical swing ... plus you're going to put a lot more WHIP into your swing by driving it harder.

And yes Starkey ... your trail leg is better on this vid ... but it's still "lackadaisical".

Normally this advice is more suitable for the Advanced Technique forum ... but Starkey, I think you're smart enough ... and APPROACHING the point where you're advanced enough ... to start thinking of this ... and I think you have a good coach/father to guide you in this regard ... so go for it!

gvvault wrote: Kirk, sorry for the confusion, I'll try to remember to refer to the top and bottom hand next time!

np

Kirk

gvvault wrote:

starkey480 wrote:this is another jump i have... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7yInxap ... re=related again not my best jump in the world but i have very few filmed... i like the top end alot better in the reno clip but the trail leg is better in this one...

Yea, you're trail leg is better in that one, but since the swing isn't quite fast enough, you tuck in to get vertical and extend off the pole. In the Reno clip, you shorten your leg, which increases the speed which you can get to vertical, but you loose a lot of power in your take off when you do that. You need to get a strong take off and a good stretch before you execute your long whipping swing. The tension in your body that builds up as you stretch helps swing your trail leg through long and still get to vertical so that you don't have to tuck. Keeping your leg back straight for a slip second before swinging should help create a faster swing.

Still, for a sophomore, your technique is pretty impressive!

I don't thik this one is better:

Otherwise I second your opinion.