The Slow Motion Plant

The plant is a critical element of the vault. Obviously, you have to get the pole tip from up into the air to down into the box. Unfortunately, too many people miss how that happens. How the pole moves there is critical. Your proficiency in doing it right will affect your ability to jump, your grip height, the speed and direction of your swing, the location of your takeoff foot, and the movement of the pole... it affects everything!

Lets start with a critical fundamental drill. The Slow Motion 3-step Plant.  This drill is critical not because we vault in slow motion, but because this is where you learn what is right and start to train your body to use the right motions. In the vault, everything goes so quickly that you cannot manually control each element - you don't have time! Most of you have noticed that if you are lucky you can think, and control, only 1-3 cues if they are spaced out throughout the vault, but not much more. Since you don't have time to control everything, you want to rely on muscle memory... habits! The slow motion plant is where you start to build those habits... at a speed where you can control everything.

Watch the drill below, then I will break it down. This is the slow motion drill... in slow motion. So you should have time to be able to see the different elements.

I'm sure you noticed something bizarre... the ear muffs. That is a tweak to the original drill. I will talk about that more later, but first let's focus on the fundamentals of the drill. Here is the break down:

Starting Position: Stand upright, lift up the pole like you would at the beginning of your approach, then lower the tip until it is at eye level.

Steps: There are 3 steps:  Left-Right-Left for the Right handed vaulter, Right-Left-Right for the Lefty. Here is the funny part... take BIG enormous steps like shown in the video. No, we don't take steps like this in the approach, but for this drill these steps are an important part. Remember that this drill is slow motion - the big enormous steps give you the time and proper rhythm (in slow motion) to practice a smooth planting motion.

Plant: There are three "checkpoints" to the plant and they correspond to the steps.
1st Step: Flip the pole.
2nd Step: Top hand is at eye level, in front (not behind you!)
3rd Step (Takeoff): Both arms are completely extended and both are pushing up to the sky. Your head is up, not looking down towards the ground.

To do this right, you must do "hands before feet". As you see in the video, the flip will come just before your first step hits, you will pass through eye level just before your second step hits, and you will be fully extended before your final step touches.

Now go back and watch the above video a few more times, identifying all the cues. Watch it once and study the steps, then again and study the checkpoints, and then again and see the flow.

Try it out... Go get a pole, a broom, or a stick and follow the cues and mimic the video above. Once you feel  you have the above cues mastered to the best of your ability, send me a video... I will help you perfect it, and we can discuss the common mistakes. It is important to get it right and then practice it. There is a saying that says "Practice makes Perfect" but really, practice just makes permanent. So you want to be sure you are practicing the right movements.

Vertical Edge Vaulters... does it help to see what I have been teaching you?