Cause & Effect - Improving the Swing

Vaulters are always excited to see film of themselves jumping.It is great to see what you are doing. It is also commonly quite painful... Film doesn't lie. The more educated you get about how you should look, the more painful it can be to see all the things you are doing wrong.

Before we get to my main point, let me cover this one. Never get too frustrated about all the things that need to be "fixed" in your vault. The way I see it, the more things there are that you can do better, the more opportunity you have to jump higher. As much as we want to see ourselves vaulting perfectly... it would be MUCH worse if you did everything perfectly and were still only jumping nine feet. So remember... flaws are opportunities.

Now, on to what I wanted to talk about. When you watch your film, you are bound to see things that aren't right. Young vaulters, whether watching film, or out at practice and jumping, like to focus on the "top" part of the vault - the swing, the pull through, the turn, the fly away. For good reason, that is the fun stuff! Flying through the air is why we all pole vault!

The swing is something that most people can "see" in a vault... even beginners and even parents, once they look. How far inverted are you getting? Are you swinging just to perpendicular or are you continuing to swing all the way upside down? Check out your film and see where your swing is.

Does it look like this?

If it needs improvement, then you would work on your swing, right? WRONG. Sometimes there is work to be done on your swing. Often, though, the poor swing is the result of things you did earlier in the vault. Your swing (and thus everything else in the vault) can be limited by your takeoff, core strength, arms, plant mechanics, head position, approach, and pole drop. You could be doing something in your first step that is limiting your swing. Finding the cause is critical to opening up your potential.

The last post was a Film Review of Jason Colwick and his incredible swing. We talked about his swing by learning about what he did before his swing with his arms... realignment. And we talked about realignment by talking about what he did before that - making space and going elastic. If you missed it, check it out here.

The next few technical posts are going to help you get a fabulous swing... by working on doing things well before the swing. We will look at being hollow at take off and an effective pole drop. 

Don't skip past these things, wanting to get on to the exciting stuff. Mastering thee more "boring" and "basic" elements will make  your vault much more exciting, and the proof will be found in the PRs!