Why do some vaulter look at the bar?

[bushy_12]

What is the in depth, underlining reasoning for this phenomenon. I believe its the fear of knocking down the bar, which is ironic because this habit leads to missed heights.

Any opinions?

[powerplant42]

"I need to see the bar in order to know where it is, so that I can clear it and get ready to try and avoid knocking it off."

[bushy_12]

To me, looking at the bar is a bad thing

[powerplant42]

It is. My previous post is what many people think, consciously or subconciously.

[KirkB]

For beginners (this is the Beginning Technique forum), I think it's necessary to look at the bar. To state the obvious, when you're just beginning to learn to vault, you won't know where the bar is if you don't look for it while you're approaching it during your swing and inversion. And certainly, your inversion isn't anywhere near the inversion of an intermediate or advanced vaulter, so you won't be vaulting higher than your grip. In this situation, I see nothing wrong with looking at the bar.

Once you progress to vaulting higher than your grip tho (or thereabouts - I don't mean to imply any exact height), you shouldn't have to continue looking for the bar. You should "feel" where it is. And you should have more important things to focus on, so you shouldn't worry about EXACTLY where it is.

Once you start getting a better inversion (i.e. start to shoot your legs more upwards, rather than shooting towards the bar), then you'll have other cues on where the bar is, so you shouldn't have to look. And ironically, as others have already mentioned above, if you look, it's actually self-defeating.

But I don't think beginners should worry about this. Just get the feel for where your body is in relation to the bar. Once you get that feeling, then you'll start getting secondary cues as to where your body is, and you won't have to rely on direct visual observation.

Having said that, your focus should be on raising your hips above your grip and your shoulders. The more you focus on what you SHOULD do, the less you'll worry about what you SHOULDN'T do. In other words, you should be action-oriented. i.e. Think about what you're GOING to do, not what you're NOT GOING to do!

Kirk

[jvt51091]

from what my coach tells me


i look at it because im a retard

[powerplant42]

Not exactly funny.