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I can get the leg whip and kick up, but I do not let my shoulders drop down to raise my hips to get fully vertical. I have tried throwing my head back to look at the runway but it feels very weird and I bail out. Any help on getting past this so I can get fully inverted?

Well, let's begin by noting there is no "kick up. As you "whip" your leg, you are going to break at the hips which speeds up your rotation; think of it as swinging through to touch your toes over your head. This position is know as "covering" the pole. From this position you will pull up the pole with the top hand going to the same side hip while simultaneously thrusting your hips into the pole and beginning a quarter turn. And, by thrusting your hips into the pole, your shoulders will drop. Think of it as being in a swing. As you swing back, you are in a "L" seat, but as you swing forward attempting to go as high as you can you will pull the swing chains and straighten your body; similar in the vault. DO NOT look back or down backwards though! This will cause you to loss your sense of equilibrium; fortunately, as you put it, your mind and body have the sense to "bailout". However, if you continue to push the attempt to look back, it may very well be very dangerous and fatal.