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My name is Kip Hanson and I've been pole vaulting for a little over a year. I am currently jumping 12' 6" whether I'm in out rain, sleet, wind or snow with a hand height of 12' 9" on a 14' 165, I weigh 160. I have no problem with take off and the initial swing, but I am having trouble elongating my body, shooting my hips and coming to vertical before turning and kipping over the bar. I've been told rowing through the vault will help get my hips back where they need to be while swinging to vertical. How should I train this?

rollbacks helped me get it.

lay on your back, with your drive knee in the air and arms above your head like you are planting. Swing your legs up into the air, keeping the drive knee/ trail leg form, then rotate onto your shoulders and neck. then bring your legs into your chest and shoot them straight up. If you do it hard enough, you can put your hands behind your head and get into a handstand, and then donkey kick onto your feet backwards (like a backwards summersault).

be careful doing these though, use a spotter at first until you get the hang of it. also, do it on pads (wresling mats seem to work best) or grass.

Thanks for tip! I worked on those during the first couple weeks before it was warm enough to vault outside, but it is probably time to revisit that drill. I had a few good jumps today where my feet were at my top hand and then after rowing I found myself much deeper in the pit and actually getting thrown off the pole. I'll try to post a video soon, but I think I'm starting to figure it out!

drills are over rated, rowing i think is one of those things you can only get out of doing a real vault. And i dont think its a good thing that your feet touched the top of your hand. no good vaulters feet get close to touching their top hand. if your feet touch your hands then that means your hips are really far below your shoulders. I would say keep working on your row and try to take your top hand between your shins or even your knee's.

I've been watching quite a bit of jumping lately, especially that of the best female collegiate jumpers seeing that technique gaps their strength void, and I have noticed all of their feet were at their top hand while the pole was still rolling to vertical. This is just prior to shooting their legs and feet up, rowing and making their turn. Maybe I am watching the wrong things, but I think your feet have to get there before they can get any where else. Check out the videos in the media section of this site and tell me what you think.

There aren't too many college girls I would want to watch as a model of how things are supposed to be done.

I'm a college girl and you definitely don't want to watch my vault to see how it's done!