Piking at the top of the vault

[Pawelvaulter]

Hey everybody. Lately i've moving up poles and I've been getting a lot of pop. After watching some video i noticed that i dont pike at all at the end of my vaults. I kind of fly over the bar straight without hinging at the hips. I still whip my arns back to try to avoid hitting the bar and it just looks ugly. I just wanted ro know if there are any drills that could help get my hips up and get me to roll over the bar. Thanks

[botakatobi]

Snap top hand thumb down off the pole. This allows elbows to rise. Allow hips to break and and knees to bend. The legs will come downwards eventually. I'm looking at many pics of world record holders over the bar, and the pike is not always quick to come.

[vquestpvc]

Sorry if this is not a direct response to your question, but I'm a little confused by what your : "Piking at the top of the pole" and the statement: "flying over the bar straight". Can't comment on the second statement, but "piking" at the top is an important movement in the vault. Many refer to this as "covering" the pole which is a pike position with feet above the head as one is inverted. Piking should take place part way though the swing. By breaking at the hips or, as I believe you suggest, "hinging", the body's rotation speeds up allowing the vaulter to "cover" the pole more rapidly while the pole is still bent. Commonly used demonstration of this movement is with a set of keys on a string. Swing the keys on the full string length and then as the keys move forward, place a finger in the middle of the string. Results is the radius is shorten whereby speeding up rotation. If covering the pole is effective, the results should be that the vaulter can go more vertical off the pole as it recoils. In effect the vaulter is more in line with the pole which recoils straight.

Best drills for learning to cover the pole are on a high bar or rings. All the lawyers removed such items from our school. A simple drill is to stand about 1 foot away from the pit at either side of the box with back to the pit; the lowest part of pit. With or without a stub (using a stub helps learn positioning of hands relative to this movement), raise the lead leg in the take off position with hands extended above head. In this position, begin to fall back toward the pit (do not jump). As you lose your balance, whip the take off foot up and back. Half way through this movement break at the hips connecting both legs with knees locked straight. The resulting effect should be a rapid movement whereby your feet pass over your head back to the pit. This can be taken even further by thrusting your hips up as the feet pass the head. Another similar drill begins in the same starting position except you hold a pole extended out above your head to a coach or teammate. The coach exerts pressure through the pole into your top hand (try to only use the top hand) and you subsequently repeat the same drill described above. And hey, if you're bored at home, try forward kips off the ground; somewhat similar to covering the pole and then thrusting the hips up coming to your feet. Hope this is some help.

[Pawelvaulter]

Here's the video of some of my vaults at practice. I think the bungee was at 15ft.

[Pawelvaulter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YG74ZvK ... ature=plcp

[tsorenson]

You look great, right up until you start to push on the pole at the end of your turn. It looks like you are pushing the pole away from your body with your hands, which prevents you from pushing down the pole, and takes away the leverage you need for a strong push and pike. The beauty of a good pike is that you can clear a bar that is higher than your COM at the top of your jump, if you time it right!

The push should be a lot like throwing a shot put...your body needs to be in line with the weight you are pushing, or you have no leverage. Go punch a shot put a few times if you don't know what I mean. Just don't try to spin or glide, keep your feet set (called a punch in thrower-speak).

You need to pull your hands in tight to your body while you are inverting/turning, and continue keep everything tight and in line with the pole as you push explosively DOWN the pole and back (into the box, not back at the runway).
A good drill for learning the pike is rockback handstands over a low bungee (stretched between two hurdles behind you) on the grass. Roll back onto your neck and hands, explode the hips and legs upward, and push off hard; trying to get over the bungee without touching it. Your hips will automatically pike so that you can land on your feet. Sort of like the kip-up vquest was mentioning but you actually roll over backwards instead of going forwards.

Good luck,
Tom