speed and takeoff

[vaulter894]

I was reading and looking around on the site and I see how a lot of people say you need to be fast at takeoff. According to my teammates and coaches I have more than enough speed at the box but i don't "jump" off the ground as well as i do when i have a short approach. I was wondering what I could do to be able to get off the ground as high as possible but keep that speed I have. I work on the penultimate step but just want to know what else can be done. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[opalkak]

you must first be able to do it slowly, then you can graduate to faster, and faster. If you can do it from short run add a step, and then another until you get to your full run.

[rainbowgirl28]

you must first be able to do it slowly, then you can graduate to faster, and faster. If you can do it from short run add a step, and then another until you get to your full run.

I agree. Don't just take a couple short run vaults and then expect to duplicate that from twice the distance. Take it back one stride at a time and see what happens.

[Robert schmitt]

I've held out a target for my vaulters to hit when they do pole runs. I tie a shirt to a pole and hold it up above their take off and they try to jump up and hit it with thier top hand on the pole. Makes pole runs a little more interesting for them also.

[bvpv07]

We kind of have something like that set up at the place that I vault. My coach made this stand where there are three tennis balls hanging together on a string. You can adjust the heighth of the lowest tennis ball by putting the chain that they are connected to on various hooks along the side of the stand in order to accomodate the vaulter's height, ability, etc. We put the stand on the side of a runway in front of a slide box so that the vaulter can hit the hanging ball with their hand when they jump up to plant. It helps for getting a high plant and extending the arm up straight as you are jumping off of the ground. Kind of confusing to explain, but it works really well because you can tell whether you got your arm up by whether or not the ball is moving at the end.

[VAVAULTER]

Also

Remember that it is real early in the year. you cant just expect to do something in one practice. If you Took off a month or so during the summer you will need to let yourself get back into shape. You need to do a drill over and over to make your muscles remember what it is you are trying to get them to do.

Plus

you will not physically feel the same, in jumping off the ground, from running slower to running faster. but there are techniques you can work on to achieve the same result.

one thing i use to do was put a cone or towel a couple inches in front of my take off point and try to jump over it. first i started with the short runs then worked my way back. it is a good visual aid to make you get your foot down and jump off the ground so you dont hit the object.

another thing you need to be aware of is make sure you are not jumping with an inside step. there aren't too many people that can get off the ground well with one of those.

In Practice with 3-5 lefts, i would jump off the ground be fore the pole hitts the back of the box as warm-ups on a small pole. Doing that will get you that much closer to getting your pole verticle faster and easier.

[vaultguru6]

You have to be careful with the drills that teach you to jump "up" at take-off. Granted, we want to jump somewhat vertically at the take off so we can get the best take off angle we can, but a very common problem that comes with thinking about jumping up is blocking. If you're trying to touch as high as you can on the backboard in a basketball game with a running start, you're going to come in with good speed, and block with your take off foot to get maximum height. In the vault, if you do this, you will lose a tremendous amount of take off energy with that last step. Energy that should go into the pole will instead be going into the ground.

Vaulters want more of a long jump take off. LONG jump. Not high jump. The best long jumpers have a take off angle no more than 30 degrees. This is what we should aim for in the vault. Jumping as high as we can without sacrificing ANY forward energy at all.

Some of the drills described above really make it sound like people are concentrating more on jumping up than jumping forward. Reaching for an object in take off drills is good so the vaulter can learn how to reach as high as he or she can. Jumping up to try and touch an object in take off drills is not because this will encourage blocking.

[Robert schmitt]

You have to be careful with the drills that teach you to jump "up" at take-off. Granted, we want to jump somewhat vertically at the take off so we can get the best take off angle we can, but a very common problem that comes with thinking about jumping up is blocking. If you're trying to touch as high as you can on the backboard in a basketball game with a running start, you're going to come in with good speed, and block with your take off foot to get maximum height. In the vault, if you do this, you will lose a tremendous amount of take off energy with that last step. Energy that should go into the pole will instead be going into the ground.

Vaulters want more of a long jump take off. LONG jump. Not high jump. The best long jumpers have a take off angle no more than 30 degrees. This is what we should aim for in the vault. Jumping as high as we can without sacrificing ANY forward energy at all.

Some of the drills described above really make it sound like people are concentrating more on jumping up than jumping forward. Reaching for an object in take off drills is good so the vaulter can learn how to reach as high as he or she can. Jumping up to try and touch an object in take off drills is not because this will encourage blocking.

Very good point. You really need someone to give you some feedback as to how well you are transfering energy into a takeoff.

[vaulter894]

Thanks for the help everybody, I decided at the first meet this year to go with a short 5 step and i really think I came through with a good vault and this week I am going off 6 and I ll stick with this approach for a while then go to 7 and so on, so I really appreciate ur help.

[VAVAULTER]

Vaultguru6

I guess i should have said that to. you are very right. i took it for granted when i wrote what i did.

Remeber to keep a good continuos motion through the vault. if you stop any motiont you have stopped alot of your energy.

[MightyMouse]

Theres a great drill on PVEI for a good take off, the pool noodle drill

check it out herehttp://pvei.com/vault/viewtopic.php?t=341

[rainbowgirl28]

You have to be careful with the drills that teach you to jump "up" at take-off. Granted, we want to jump somewhat vertically at the take off so we can get the best take off angle we can, but a very common problem that comes with thinking about jumping up is blocking. If you're trying to touch as high as you can on the backboard in a basketball game with a running start, you're going to come in with good speed, and block with your take off foot to get maximum height. In the vault, if you do this, you will lose a tremendous amount of take off energy with that last step. Energy that should go into the pole will instead be going into the ground.

Vaulters want more of a long jump take off. LONG jump. Not high jump. The best long jumpers have a take off angle no more than 30 degrees. This is what we should aim for in the vault. Jumping as high as we can without sacrificing ANY forward energy at all.

Some of the drills described above really make it sound like people are concentrating more on jumping up than jumping forward. Reaching for an object in take off drills is good so the vaulter can learn how to reach as high as he or she can. Jumping up to try and touch an object in take off drills is not because this will encourage blocking.

That all sounds good in theory...

I don't think teaching a kid to jump UP encourages blocking. I guess it depends on how you are teaching it, but I don't think I've ever seen a kid block when I tell them to jump up. Obviously blocking is something to watch out for, but I wouldn't let a fear of blocking keep a kid from getting a better takeoff.

I have seen lots of kids with really flat takeoffs who sit on the pole and wonder why they can't get anywhere.