Top of the vault? Just do it?

[scubastevesgirly]

So...I'm having trouble with the 2nd 'part' of the vault. I have a beautiful plant and take off, but the inversion is not there...so neither is the rest of it. We haven't worked on anything besides takeoff in practice.
All we do in practice is one/two-arm low hold warmups, then full runs. I can invert on warmups. We're not doing enough drills, etc., i think.

So, when it comes to meet time, they just tell me to do it. I've done it a couple times in the past 3 years, but I don't know why or how, but I need to be able to do it!!!
ANY SUGGESTIONS???

oh, and here's the info I'm supposed to provide, i think...
Female, 21, 4th year, college senior @ohio wesleyan university, on top of a 13'130, weigh ~135...I think that's it

[superpipe]

These are drill videos from Jan Johnson's Skyjumper's page. The straight pole swing-up drill ( pop-up ) is one of the best to learn to get upside down. See the first video on this webpage:

http://www.skyjumpers.com/pages/Swinging_Drills.html

The key is to swing your trail leg past the pole until it's parallel with the ground. Keep your trail leg straight the whole time. If you're fighting to get your trail leg past the pole, here are two tips:

1. Focus on keeping the trail leg long and back ( really creating the "C" with your top arm and trail leg ) during take-off
2. Wait 2 seconds before you initiate the swing. It's much less than 2 seconds, but telling youself 2 seconds will make you wait and finish the drive with a great "C" position and get a powerful swing-up with little effort.

One of the biggest reasons vaulters cannot get fully inverted is because they try and swing-up much too early. You have to finish the drive phase first.

[VaultLove]

That's good advice

These are drill videos from Jan Johnson's Skyjumper's page. The straight pole swing-up drill ( pop-up ) is one of the best to learn to get upside down. See the first video on this webpage:

http://www.skyjumpers.com/pages/Swinging_Drills.html

The key is to swing your trail leg past the pole until it's parallel with the ground. Keep your trail leg straight the whole time. If you're fighting to get your trail leg past the pole, here are two tips:

1. Focus on keeping the trail leg long and back ( really creating the "C" with your top arm and trail leg ) during take-off
2. Wait 2 seconds before you initiate the swing. It's much less than 2 seconds, but telling youself 2 seconds will make you wait and finish the drive with a great "C" position and get a powerful swing-up with little effort.

One of the biggest reasons vaulters cannot get fully inverted is because they try and swing-up much too early. You have to finish the drive phase first.

[ashcraftpv]

The key is to swing your trail leg past the pole until it's parallel with the ground. Keep your trail leg straight the whole time.

why would you want to swing to parallel? The idea is to swing all the way to vertical so you're doing as little work as possible to get into the right position

2. Wait 2 seconds before you initiate the swing. It's much less than 2 seconds, but telling youself 2 seconds will make you wait and finish the drive with a great "C" position and get a powerful swing-up with little effort.

One of the biggest reasons vaulters cannot get fully inverted is because they try and swing-up much too early. You have to finish the drive phase first.

This is mostly incorrect. You should never "wait" to swing. What you should concentrate on is making sure that you completely finish the take-off to be in the correct position to swing. Doing this sets you up for a more powerful swing with less work. Just simply think about fully extending when taking off, like you are shooting a lay up in basketball or trying to jump up as high as you can off of one foot.

and can we all please stop using the term "drive phase"

[scubastevesgirly]

I think I do try to start too early. At our first meet in Dec, I ended up barely on the pit and once on the ground b/c I pulled trying to clear the bar too early and couldn't finish the earlier stuff.

Coach says I should wait until I recognize my left arm is straight (enough time to finish that part?) then release it...he says that should help me swing up...

Personally, I think females are at quite a disadvantage because our center of gravity is quite a bit lower than guys'

[achtungpv]

You have to finish the drive phase first.

There is no drive unless your goal is to kick the pit or break a pole.

[superpipe]

The key is to swing your trail leg past the pole until it's parallel with the ground. Keep your trail leg straight the whole time.

why would you want to swing to parallel? The idea is to swing all the way to vertical so you're doing as little work as possible to get into the right position

2. Wait 2 seconds before you initiate the swing. It's much less than 2 seconds, but telling youself 2 seconds will make you wait and finish the drive with a great "C" position and get a powerful swing-up with little effort.

One of the biggest reasons vaulters cannot get fully inverted is because they try and swing-up much too early. You have to finish the drive phase first.

This is mostly incorrect. You should never "wait" to swing. What you should concentrate on is making sure that you completely finish the take-off to be in the correct position to swing. Doing this sets you up for a more powerful swing with less work. Just simply think about fully extending when taking off, like you are shooting a lay up in basketball or trying to jump up as high as you can off of one foot.

and can we all please stop using the term "drive phase"

Dude,

Before you rip me, make sure you read the thread better.

She asked for help on how to get inverted. One of the main purposes of drills is to exaggerate the correct form. By swinging past vertical to parallel in the "drill" you learn how to fully invert. Plus, the pop-up drill does not include the extension/pull phase.

Another thing. The point of tips are to give someone a different thought process to accomplish the same goal.

What's wrong with "drive phase"? It's breaking down "Take-Off" into smaller pieces to help explain technique.

[superpipe]

You have to finish the drive phase first.

There is no drive unless your goal is to kick the pit or break a pole.

What are you talking about? "Drive Phase" simply describes the agressive jumpping movement made at take-off. Different people have different ways of explaining things.

You guys are harsh

[ashcraftpv]

Dude,

Before you rip me, make sure you read the thread better.

before you rip me, you should possibly read my post better

She asked for help on how to get inverted. One of the main purposes of drills is to exaggerate the correct form. By swinging past vertical to parallel in the "drill" you learn how to fully invert. Plus, the pop-up drill does not include the extension/pull phase.

exaggerating correct form is fine, but you need to make sure you explain yourself clearly and completely. When you say swing to parallel, it sound like you're not telling her to past vertical, but to only swing to the horizontal position. One part of good coaching is not just telling someone what to do, but also explaining why it will make their vault better. Telling someone to just "wait 2 seconds, then swing" can introduce many bad habits.

Another thing. The point of tips are to give someone a different thought process to accomplish the same goal.

exactly. which is why you shouldn't get so defensive when someone disagrees with you...

What's wrong with "drive phase"? It's breaking down "Take-Off" into smaller pieces to help explain technique.

because too many people interpret that as "take off, then push the pole into the mats, then swing" which is completely not what you need to do in order to achieve proper technique.

[EIUvltr]

have a beautiful plant and take off, but the inversion is not there

I realize people are just assuming this is true, but usually if you have a perfect plant and take off, the rest of the vault is almost involuntary. If you are having trouble in the swing and invert parts of the vault, it is probably due to a problem in the plant and takeoff. Maybe you don't have a high enough takeoff angle. Sometimes when I feel like I can't do anything on top of the vault I realize that I'm just running straight into my plant and not taking a penultimate step and/or jumping at takeoff. I'm not telling you to actually think about your penultimate step, but maybe you should go over to the long jump pit and practice your jumping form then get back on the pole vault runway and hope the muscle memory has taken hold. This is the best advice I can think of without a visual aid to go off of.

[Barto]

So...I'm having trouble with the 2nd 'part' of the vault. I have a beautiful plant and take off, but the inversion is not there...so neither is the rest of it.

I'm not trying to be harsh, but I am willing to bet that your plant and takeoff are not "beautiful." If they were, your hips would swing above your head without your being able to stop them. If you are 135 lbs gripping at the top of a 13' 130 and the pole is not in 3000 pieces then there is lots of room for improvement in your takeoff.

[superpipe]

Dude,

Before you rip me, make sure you read the thread better.

before you rip me, you should possibly read my post better

She asked for help on how to get inverted. One of the main purposes of drills is to exaggerate the correct form. By swinging past vertical to parallel in the "drill" you learn how to fully invert. Plus, the pop-up drill does not include the extension/pull phase.

exaggerating correct form is fine, but you need to make sure you explain yourself clearly and completely. When you say swing to parallel, it sound like you're not telling her to past vertical, but to only swing to the horizontal position. One part of good coaching is not just telling someone what to do, but also explaining why it will make their vault better. Telling someone to just "wait 2 seconds, then swing" can introduce many bad habits.

Another thing. The point of tips are to give someone a different thought process to accomplish the same goal.

exactly. which is why you shouldn't get so defensive when someone disagrees with you...

What's wrong with "drive phase"? It's breaking down "Take-Off" into smaller pieces to help explain technique.

because too many people interpret that as "take off, then push the pole into the mats, then swing" which is completely not what you need to do in order to achieve proper technique.

Sorry to side track this thread with arguing, but I'll make one last comment. Sorry for being defensive, but I thought my explaination was pretty clear. I included a perfect video of what I was trying to explain. If you watch the video, it's clear, parallel to the ground is after your feet pass the pole vertically.

2. Wait 2 seconds before you initiate the swing. It's much less than 2 seconds, but telling youself 2 seconds will make you wait and finish the drive with a great "C" position and get a powerful swing-up with little effort.

One of the biggest reasons vaulters cannot get fully inverted is because they try and swing-up much too early. You have to finish the drive phase first.

I also explained my "wait 2 seconds" statement as not being actually 2 seconds and the goal to be actually finishing the "take-off" before you swing.

Not sure how else I could have better explained it.