PoleVaultPower.com

I was recently looking at videos of myself vaulting and I realized that I shake my top arm as I am running down the runway.Is this a bad thing?

'Flapping' (elbow moving forward and back without your hand moving) is ok as long as it isn't excessive. 'Pumping' (moving whole arm and pole forward and backward) however, is not ok in any real amount.

In terms of energy, if you are moving your arms in any direction there is another part of your body that is being effected by those movements. If you have all sorts of unnecessary movements in your run, you are loosing energy and not being as efficient a runner as you could be. When running with the pole you want to be in control and minimize other movements not needed to run/hold the pole, as much as possible, but this doesn't mean fighting with your body to be stiff. Being elastic, relaxed, balanced and energy efficient is ideal.

When looking at world class sprinters you can see the fat/muscle on their faces ripple because they have learned how to use only the muscles needed to sprint most efficiently. If the shaking of your back hand seems to be useless and possibly taking away from some other aspect of your run, then start thinking about being more relaxed in the run.

hope that helps....