Arm bruise

[vault3rb0y]

I think on short poles and runs its ok, but from a longer run with more pole to work with, you should be able to keep the pressure on it a little more. It may rub against your wrist slightly, but not enough to make you bleed.

[VaultMarq26]

I bet there is a difference between poles too. On pacer fx poles I do it all the time, but on Carbon's I have yet to do it.

[theczar]

it would make sence to me that Carbons would do it more because they are faster, and would probably recoil quicker than most people are used to. I get more bruises when I switch from Pacer FXs to Carbons because of that change in reaction time.

[nitro]

it would make sence to me that Carbons would do it more

its also harder to get fully inverted since they do recoil quicker

[robillard]

i sometimes get a bruise on my left ribs. its weird. i normaly get it worse wen i vault without a shrit on but i figure its cause my thumb grazes my side as i invert.
anyways on the bruised arm thing, a lot of people get it from a weak bottom arm. instead of pushing it upwards and keeping the pole away they collapse it in and get next to the pole. this takes pressure off the pole and hurts your jump. youll get a better swing and bend and invert a lot better if you keep the pole away more at the begining. you shouldnt focus on gettin close to the pole at the top. it should happen naturally as a side effect of a good swing and covering the pole and driving your hips up properly. just my thoughts.

[VaultMarq26]

I guess when you think of the straight physics of it, the argument is rather simple......the force going into your arm causing the bruise is force that is not being used to pop you off the top of the pole......I don't know how much it really affects the vault, but it must.

[baggettpv]

The swing will end in a 1/4 turn as the pole is nearing, but not at, a total unbending. I think if you are getting pain in the vault then you are doing something wrong. Training should be painful arggggggg

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC

[rainbowgirl28]

i sometimes get a bruise on my left ribs. its weird. i normaly get it worse wen i vault without a shrit on but i figure its cause my thumb grazes my side as i invert.

I get that when I straight pole.

[theczar]

i sometimes get a bruise on my left ribs. its weird. i normaly get it worse wen i vault without a shrit on but i figure its cause my thumb grazes my side as i invert.

I get that when I straight pole.

me 2...not always tho

[Spencer Chang, MD]

Bruising the forearm is a bad thing as Rick Baggett suggests. A lot of vaulters try to invert, stay in that position until the pole staightens and then make an attempt at turning at that point. That's when the pole kicks into the forearm causing the bruise.

If you catch the ride correctly, you will dynamically rotate as you invert, thereby moving your forearm away from the pole while the pole is still bent. By doing so, the vaulter continues to move upward as opposed to falling off the pole while turning.

People used to look at Bubka and think if he improved his top end of his vault, perhaps he would have vaulter higher. He often looked like he was out of control getting flung at awkward angles.

Instead what he did was planned, revolutionary, and he was very good at it. What he did was that he dynamically continued to move his arms and used his torso rotating around the pole as the pole recoiled upwards. In effect, he was flinging himself upwards similar to what a gymnast would do in a free-hip circle to a handstand. Any gymnast knows that in order to do this dynamically, the arms need to be straight.

What Bubka was doing was using this extra fling to get more height in the vault. Sometimes he underrotated the fling, sometimes he overrotated. If you get a hold of his footage at the World Championships when he made his famous jump, look at the previous vaults leading up to the 6.01 m. He slightly underrotated until he hit that final jump where it was perfectly timed. But look at how much height he had as a result of timing that spin perfectly.

Imagine trying to throw the hammer with bend arms. Obviously, it wouldn't go as far. Try to throw an implement upward, mimicking the motions of the pole vault by turning 180 degrees through the throw. Try it with bent arms keeping the pole close to the body. Now try it with the arms straight, using longer levers and the swing and momentum extended through the use of the body/torso and legs. You'll be able to throw the implement way higher with straighter arms and a dynamic swing motion.

A continuous motion through the vault take-off is key to adding energy into the system and being more dynamic at push-off. Imagine going into a spin for the discus, and right before releasing the discus, you stopped the spin completely, then followed through with only the arm. That's what you're doing when you hit your forearm on the pole.

You must rotate as you get upside down, and follow through with the arms and torso. We're talking about a dynamic spin as you invert that will fling you up when timed perfectly.

Look at some of the top vaulters in the world from a head-on footage of their vault. Specifically, look at Bubka and Isinbayeva. Notice that the left arm does not bend much more than 90 degrees at any time during the inversion. The forearm stays away from the pole.

Think about it.

[baggettpv]

Very nicely said Doctor Spencer....Like the Europeans and Australians have been saying, you must keep adding energy into the system. Thats means to continually be active off the support of the pole (Petrov, 1997 or so). Come to my clinic in June (Allen is coming back too) and we will go over all this in detail.

willamettestriders.com


Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC

[Mecham]

Instead what he did was planned, revolutionary, and he was very good at it. What he did was that he dynamically continued to move his arms and used his torso rotating around the pole as the pole recoiled upwards. In effect, he was flinging himself upwards similar to what a gymnast would do in a free-hip circle to a handstand. Any gymnast knows that in order to do this dynamically, the arms need to be straight.

A great description. Working with gymnasts and gymnast coaches can be such a great tool for the vault. They know what they are talking about