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someone told me that if i want to get any higher i need to get "on top of the pole before the push off" but i don't know what he meant or what i need to work on to do this, will someone lend some help?

umm i think it means that when you are verticle and or getting verticle you need to work your why little by little up the pole while it is recoiling.

do mean pulling up by bending my arms?

and when should i quit driving in and start dropping my arms to do my swing through?

Push through and hang your left foot for about 1/2 a second until you've charged up the pole. As soon as you feel the pole really give, throw your head back and swing your left leg forward HARD. At the same time your hands should end up above you as you swing benesth them, then as you invert and go up start to twist and then, only when you're fully extended and "off the top of the pole" as my coach says, push. The push is really for the flipping motion to clear your chest & arms- it won't get you over if your feet aren't already over and past the bar.

That help?

whoaa i got the wrong idea when i read the subject for this haha.

AKell wrote: throw your head back

Uh....sorry...

Mecham wrote:

AKell wrote: throw your head back

Uh....sorry...

Mecham, if you are going to comment, for the love of God, make it useful!

here is what I think he was trying to get at... "throwing your head back" takes your neck/shoulders/back out of a powerful position into a rather weak one. your best bet is to keep your head directly above your head while you invert.

If you dont believe me, go to the weight room and do shoulder/military press w/ your head looking straight ahead and looking up/back (with a spotter of course).

keep your head directly above your head while you invert.

i'm sorry, what does this mean?

all comments are helpfull in some way or another.

keep your head directly above your head while you invert.

I dunno what that meant, but
What I meant before is that if your head isn't back enough (i'm not saying as crane it though) your upper body fights your lower body and stops your swing short of its potential, putting you in a "c" position and keeping you from inverting completey. That's how my coach explained it when I had this problem. (in simpler terms your head has to move with your feet or you can't invert well)

SKOT is this what you're getting at too? tell me if i'm wrong.

i get it, rotate my upper body at the same rate as my lower. do you need to be inverted before the pole uncoils?

kinda happens together. google "pole vault videos" and find some clips of people doing 18'. watch them, pause, slo-mo, examine it and you'll understand way better than i can explain it.