PoleVaultPower.com

Hi there, here's a vid from my short run day yesterday, 7/3/12. Would like some feedback on my takeoff and swing and what I could do to improve it. My focus of this session was not allowing my bottom hand to to collapse into my face at takeoff, finish my takeoff, and try to connect on a soft pole.

Run; 6 steps, 37'0"
Pole; 12'0" 150 Spirit
Grip; 11'6"
Weight: 145.5lbs
Height; 5'4"

THANKS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=micUKEcc ... ature=plcp

Really good jumps! Everything is solid until the trail leg hits the chord... Then it looks like there's a bit of a tuck going on. Is that the sense you get?

Thanks!

Watching it again I see that... could it be because of the soft pole rolling over so quickly?

After watching again it looks like it's really only a big problem on one or maybe two of the jumps, but it seems it's either that or a flat-spin off the pole... the latter is always my problem with these.

I think time's got a lot to do with it, definitely... or rather that the feeling is that you have to go UP, and the time to go UP comes really quickly in comparison to a longer pole or a stiffer pole.

I'd put some mats in the back and try to go as far as you can, so that you can harness all the power from your swing.

One of my biggest issues at takeoff has always been dropping my knee after I leave the ground. This was probably the first time I've been able to keep it driven through my takeoff and swing.

My thinking was that... since it's a soft pole and will roll over very fast, if I can finish my takeoff and swing to cover the pole quick enough, that it would help the speed of my swing as long as I wasn't going straight to my back from takeoff. I'll give that a try today at practice, then backing it up to 10 steps (5L) since I have a meet coming up Saturday.

I did see the knee dropping on one of them... the rest did look good though.

Yeah I would say that soft poles and short runs are best done for length rather than height because of the time... Stiff poling for height from a short run is beneficial though.

I'll be looking for film of your practice and meet!

Big delay after take off, especially for such a low grip and short run. You are over exaggerating holding the trail leg back which delays the inversion. Good luck!

vaultman18 wrote:Big delay after take off, especially for such a low grip and short run. You are over exaggerating holding the trail leg back which delays the inversion. Good luck!

My buddy pointed that out to me at practice yesterday. I recorded some jumps, just haven't gotten time to check them out yet. I should have video from a meet tomorrow night.

Thanks

Here's a couple jumps from 10 steps (5 Lefts) yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rsvTC1j ... ature=plcp

Still the delay between takeoff and swing I noticed, slightly under at takeoff as well.

Yes the delay is still there and likely will be unless you make changes in training and apply them over a descent amount of time. I am not sure what your ultimate pole vault goal is or how long you intend to jump and if it is just for fun. If you want to jump as high as you are physically capable of then I would start the training necessary to eliminate the delay. Just my two cents.

vaultman18 wrote:Yes the delay is still there and likely will be unless you make changes in training and apply them over a descent amount of time. I am not sure what your ultimate pole vault goal is or how long you intend to jump and if it is just for fun. If you want to jump as high as you are physically capable of then I would start the training necessary to eliminate the delay. Just my two cents.

I plan on jumping for as long as I possibly can. My current best is 4.00m and I feel capable of jumping 4.25m. Now the question is.... what's the best way to go about eliminating that delay? Typically when jumping I'd takeoff and go right to my back, but once I started delaying it at practice this week it sort of stuck and translated to my longer run. So it's not like the delay has been a part of my jump for a long time.

While working on fixing this, would it be wise to simply think of the plantar flexion of my takeoff foot and keeping the trail leg long off the ground? Without exaggerating that I feel it might benefit.

PM me if you want specific training advice.