HOWS IT LOOKING?

[straightup]

hey just jumped my pr of 14-3. just looking on areas i need to improve on. any help is much appreciated

[straightup]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXbBc51D ... pQ&index=2 this is the link to the video.
i was on a 14-7 pacer 170 gripping 13-9. i am 5-10. run from 7 lefts. 87-6

[altius]

Is that that great hand built facility in outback Illinois? The one made from the wood from an old Amish church?? Fabuous place -dont worry about technique just enjoy vaulting there!!!!

[CoachEric]

The biggest thing holding you back is that you row your hands down when you see the bar. Rowing down directs force down the length of the pole, causing it to unbend prematurely. Rowing also prevents you from being able to drop your shoulders and achieve full inversion.

So, focus on keeping your arms up. Work on hitting the "elastic" position post-takeoff, letting your left hand move up and back over the head, and opening the shoulder angle. You're blocking a little bit with your left arm, so you're not quite getting there, and it's keeping you from being able to swing with any power. That's probably the reason you feel like you have to muscle yourself to inversion.

A couple corrections that will help you get there:
1. Narrow your grip - I think you're holding about a one fist too wide, but make the adjustment gradually, one inch at a time
2. Carry the pole with your left elbow down and your wrist cocked up, so that you support the weight of the pole from underneath.
3. As you approach takeoff, allow the right hand to move back behind the torso and up behind the shoulder. Right now you're dropping the pole by lowering your left hand, which is making it more difficult for you to plant and take off.

The best drill for fixing your issues is to do lots of straight pole work from 6 steps (3L). Devote entire practices to nothing but straight pole. Put a bungee up with the standards 4 ft back, and work on swinging to the back of the pit by creating lots of space at the plant, going elastic, and keeping the arms up all the way through the jump. Try the drill with various grip widths.

[CoachEric]

Also, you should be moving to a longer run. You're too far along not to be running from 16 steps.

[altius]

Just keep that old wood fire burning.

[straightup]

hey thanks a ton for the help. its atucally the barn in warwick ny. 16 steps meaning 8 lefts?

[straightup]

also so instead of rowing should i just keep pushing the pole? thanks again for the help. its nice tio have somewhat of a coach

[CoachEric]

Yes, 16 steps is 8 lefts.

And yes, keep pushing the pole up. Think about keeping an open shoulder angle. If you push the pole forward instead of up, then it will stop your swing.

[altius]

Amazing - it is a twin of the facility in Illinois!!

[BethelPV]

Ive got to be honest here. Your jump looks very good and heading in the right direction after you leave the ground. However before heading back to 16 strides, I would really work on getting your last 4 steps quicker and more powerful. If you watch your video, your strides become longer and you slow down coming into your plant, killing all momentum you had built up until that point. If you watch video's of Bubka, Tarasov, Otto, Walker, and Hollis you can see that they really attempt to get their feet up and down quicker in their last 4 strides and really crank up the frequency of their strides. That is what you need to the most work on at the moment and if you can get improvement in that area, your jump should be more powerful and smooth.

I would work on this not on the runway planting into a box, but rather into a towel on the track with your measured out steps. It might cause your run to move up just a little bit but that is perfectly fine if you continue to run with good posture and amp up the frequency of your strides. You should feel faster at the end of your run, and that is why you are using a tape measure off the runway to mark your steps and where you are taking off from and work on building a consistent approach. Good Luck!!

[altius]

Suggest you include the 20/20 rill in your warm up. This will help you learn how to control your stride pattern and eventually help you to tighten up the last six steps into take off.