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I have found that when my run is pretty much steady, followed by a high plant, strong forward chest drive with a high knee, and then I just pause for a moment, and THEN I begin to swing and turn upside down, I literally am one with the pole and extend right off of the top of my 14 foot 165 and 170 pacer carbons. I'm not sure if inversion is a product of those directly, but I know they help.

Now when I get on my 14'6" carbons, I generally blow through my1 60 and go to the 165, and I find that I can sit over 14 feet just as easily as it was to clear it regularly on my 14' poles, and it's freaking crazy!! But what I wanted to know was do you need to drive 14'6" poles a little longer to reach the upsidedown phase I want so badly? I know that when I have my arms directly above my head and straightened but relaxed, it is SO easy to get upside down, but I find it harder to reach that comfortable stage with the longer poles. It may just require practice, but I want to get up on my 15 footers as quickly as I can for summer track this year. Has anyone got any advice?

It may be irrelevant to this topic but I weigh about 157 pounds and I am about 5'10"

jumpinjake wrote: It may be irrelevant to this topic but I weigh about 157 pounds and I am about 5'10"

You're right ... this is completely irrelevant. As is all of your info about size and brand of pole. Technique is technique ... it's agnostic to these metrics.

jumpinjake wrote: I have found that when my run is pretty much steady, followed by a high plant, strong forward chest drive with a high knee, and then I just pause for a moment, and THEN I begin to swing and turn upside down, I literally am one with the pole and extend right off of the top of my ... blah blah blah ...

Let's compare tag lines ...

jumpinjake wrote:5, 4, 3, 2, 1, lift, plant, drive, pause ... swing, pull, and aim for the sky!

KirkB wrote:Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. THERE IS NO TUCK!

THERE'S your problem!

Maybe I should change my tagline. There's not only NO TUCK ... there's also NO PAUSE!

Kirk

Your coach has told you to "pause" because of what happens when you think about pausing- you extend your hands high and extend into an inverted C position. In reality, this "pause" is usually a cue needed when an athlete is under on their step, because if they dont "pause" (aka fight the natural swing of their hips on the pole), their hips move too quickly and they have to bail. So that "pause" is only necessary because your step is not on, or "free". It is important to finish your take off by getting into that "extended" or in your words "paused" position, but the longer you stay in that position, the worse your vault will be. Keep moving and stay active and work ahead of the pole.

jumpinjake wrote:5, 4, 3, 2, 1, lift, plant, drive, pause ... swing, pull, and aim for the sky!

WHY do you think you need to pause?

Kirk

Forget it guys, he's gone. Went out with a bang.

powerplant42 wrote:Forget it guys, he's gone. Went out with a bang.

I deleted posts that were not nice. Jumpinjake is welcome to post again if he can be civil.