double leg swing

[vault3rb0y]

There should be pressure on your back, and if its painful you didnt do one of three things right:

1.) didnt warm up correctly
2.) twisted your back in an unnatural way, inconsistent with other jumps
3.) took off inside, which forced your top hand and arm back, jerking your back in a sudden motion.

This is assuming you dont have prior back problems, if you do, just stretching your back may hurt it. But generally, your back will have problems in the vault if there are sudden jerking motions. The vault is supposed to be fluid, and if your take off is smooth, followed by a huge-but flexible and smooth trail leg, you still shouldnt have problems. Just warm up a ton and take 2 or 3 short runs, increasing the intensity of your swing each time, before going back to a long run and really turning it up.

[txpolevaulter_k25]

thanks for all the information because i never hear about the double leg swing or anything about it hardly

[ladyvolspvcoach]

Dude, simple check!! Stand on the runway. Take a step with your right leg and jump as high as you can off your left leg (if your are right handed). What happens to your right leg!! Yeah it comes up to your chest almost. Now try to do it without letting your right knee come up!!! Can't do it can ya!!! so if you really are jumping then you will not be able to do a double leg take off.....simple as that.

[txpolevaulter_k25]

yeah you are totally correct if i look at it that way, unless you make an effort not to raise you leg but then you dont jump near as high

[vault3rb0y]

A true double-legged swinger hits a big take off, and gets the knee lift. But after he has jumped as hard as he can, he drops the knee to contribute to his swing. It will add energy to the swing, however he has already lost energy by dropping his knee. Thats as much as i think ive heard about double-leggers, but its a complex and extremely difficult thing to do efficiently.

[jcoover]

of course there are always exceptions to traditional technical models. Mark Johnson of Auburn jumps 5.40+ off of his right foot with a double leg swing. really somethin to watch. In the grand scheme, however, the typical extended drive knee with an active single leg swing is the most efficient and best model to go with. im sure altius could back me up on the inefficiencies involved with dropping the drive knee

[altius]

" im sure altius could back me up on the inefficiencies involved with dropping the drive knee".

Im with you on this jc although it is not completely cut and dried. The dropped leg does keep the centre of mass fractionally lower in the initial swing BUT it also slows the swing down so that it makes it difficult for the athlete to get on top of the pole fast enough to exploit the recoil. That said it it is possible that an international gymnast with the physical parameters of say Tim Mack could exploit the advanatages of the double leg swing in the early phases and still be able to get on top of the pole fast. The Frenchman Collet was pretty good but the best was probably Igor Potapovich - world indoor champion a few years back at 5.90. However there is no doubt in my mind that this issue prevented Dimitri Markov from jumping 6.10 plus.

As always my model is Bubka - he was the absolute professional - and he had the ultimate professional coach - everything he did was based on a detailed analysis of the vault - if he had believed the double leg swing was the most effective way to vault that is what he would have done.