grandevaulter wrote:PVstudent wrote:I will try to discover if there is a rationale for the ankle dorsiflexion idea? If anyone else can provide it I would love to find out? It does not make much sense from either an anatomical or mechanical perspective to me.
When Altius was here he talked to us about flexing the foot at the end of the whip kick and up. Play this youtube of Petrov ahead to 16:00 and he explains in broken English how the flexed foot works in a giant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMWe_VKlsc8
I know how the Canali approach works. This is why I questioned the action of dorsi - flexion ( pulling the foot towards the shin). The exercise shown at 16.00 in the video has its objective the active engagement of the hamstring muscles in the kinetic chain of muscle action producing active plantar flexion (movement of the foot away from the shin "stretch the ankle and curl the toes"). The exercise purpose was to increase the mobility and dynamic strength of the ankle plantar and dorsi-flexor muscle groups and increase the active motion range at the ankle joint.
The demonstrator (Reno 2005) and the demonstrators in the video shown from 16.00 to the end of the video in performing clear hip circles, kip actions and giants do so with ankles in the plantar flexed end range of motion (ie. foot shin angle is greater than 90 degrees that is to say
(" turned away from the shins not towards the shins!").
Canali, and Petrov for that matter, so far as I am aware do not advocate dorsi-flexing the feet towards the shins, remember that I have visited and even lived (Longest continuous period of residence was 3 months and shortest 3 weeks having visited on a number of different occasions from 1999 to 2004) in the training centre at Formia with athletes being coached by Petrov.
The key point is that the hamstring muscles have to be engaged dynamically so that the pole recoil and body shape trunk-pelvis and shoulder-trunk muscle complexes co-ordinate to achieve the transfer of pole recoil to the vaulter. This is achieved in the powerful change of shape from the chest leading into the stretch (reverse C) and swing into the front side "Chest In curved shape - front dish" (dynamic C through chest and trunk-abdominal-pelvic linkage chain).
The machine used in the giant circles stopped the recoil transfer to the vaulter if the body shaping and effort timing and co-ordination was not sequenced correctly. I note that Canali's video does not advocate "dorsi-flexing the ankles" in swinging to "cover the pole" in the culminating phase of inversion.
I concur with this viewpoint because it makes anatomical and biomechanical sense and correctly, in my opinion, adapts the empirical knowledge from gymnastic training to swinging on the pole.
Altius (R.I.P) and I had endless discussions on the matter and our views do differ on this point.
So with respect to you and Altius I do not believe that the video supports or advocates turning the feet towards the shins (ankle-dorsiflexion).
My experiences in Formia with Petrov, Advanced Coaching Qualifications in gymnastics and practical experiences in coaching pole vault do not lead me to accept that dorsi-flexion of the feet at the ankle joint contributes in any practically significant way to inversion and covering the pole.
However, if someone can provide a convincing rationale I am open to being convinced as to the efficacy of the dorsi-flexing theory. So far no rationale has been offered.