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Hi.

During my vault i have a great takeoff going up with both arms extended but i always seem to break my left arm to swing and then my left arm ends up by my hip when im supposed to invert. This is obviously causing the pole to unbend quicker but i cannot see to figure out how to hold that pressure while swinging. Are there any drills for this? I do bubkas and rope swings and all that. Will that inversion/swing with a suspended pole work?

Thank you!

Hey gabsterpv!

I am guessing you are a right handed vaulter and by "left arm" you mean your bottom arm?

Posting a video of a few of your vaults will help determine what the issue might be. You mention that you have a good take off and both arms are extended? Do they continue to stay extended and drive upward after you leave the runway? Just trying to determine when you arm is flexing in.

Let youtube be your friend for finding drills...with a quick search, you might be able to answer your own questions. If you post some of your vaults, I will be happy to review and suggest drills that I believe would help you.

Best of luck in your upcoming season!

gabsterpv wrote: This is obviously causing the pole to unbend quicker but i cannot seem to figure out how to hold that pressure while swinging.

Unfortunately, I think you've made a very common assumption. You're assuming that when you stretch both arms up as high as they can go ON takeoff, you should continue to apply pressure with your bottom arm AFTER takeoff.

You say "obviously", but it's not obvious to me at all that it's lack of pressure that's causing your pole to unbend too early.

Watch vids of Isi, and watch vids of Feafanova. Here's one I grabbed randomly off youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TWAbc5TdpM

Instead of PRESSING with her bottom arm, she just lets her chest drive through, whilst keeping a good forwards lean off her takeoff.

THAT'S the way to do it. Don't continue to apply pressure. Instead, drive your chest forwards, with good body lean. You'll be surprised how easy it is to swing this way.

Since you're a girl, I will also add an observation. Male vaulters should follow the same technique (assuming they're trying to follow the Petrov Model), but they often don't. There's a higher % of male vaulters that will use their muscles rather than their gymnastic swinging ability (like a highbar specialist) to swing to an inversion (i.e. you'll see more successful tuck/shooter males than females). This is simply because males are stronger than females.

Females must learn to apply proper gymnastic swinging technique to invert, because they're (generally) not strong enough to tuck/shoot. And that's actually an advantage - not a disadvantage - because they have no choice but to learn proper swinging technique.

Kirk