Help. . . what should i do?

[kitttty5968]

I have been having trouble vaulting lately, after going to a camp and learning the things i need to fix in my vault i discovered my left arm keeps collapsing immedietly during the press, this is also causing me to pull slightly. After doing many drills and such ive come to the conclusion that it may be the pole not me because i try so hard to keep my left arm out but the pressure from the pole is just too much. It is a 170 pole, so i think moving to a lower pole such as a 150 would be better. Only id have to lose weight. What to you guys think i should do?

[treykristianPV]

Well, having a strong left arm (right arm if you're left handed) takes awhile to get down. I would recommend doing some smaller pole workouts and focus on keeping the bottom arm strong. Also, something that helped me when I was learning to keep my arm out I would do the Jagodin drill (also know as doing a press, or attempting a vault with no swing) and just focusing on keeping that bottom arm out.
I wouldn't recommend dropping to a 150 for your vaults, try doing other drills to get use to your left arm being out and then apply it to your vaults.

[grandevaulter]

Altius would say, " what is technically desirable is not always physically possible". Young jumpers with low grips are challenged with trying to get their hands high particularly their bottom arm. You will start out closer to the pole at the height that you are jumping. I have described this as swinging on a rope. As you gradually[b][/b] improve your grip height you will create more space to raise your bottom arm and use the pole more like a high bar.

Posting a good quality video of your jumps would help you to get responses on this board.

[Cat lady]

How long is the pole and where are you holding, that is, distance from the top of the pole?
How tall are you?