best way to stop looking at the bar

[bzugar]

My coaches and i have noticed something and that is that when i get my hands to my legs and should straighten out, i "peak" or look at the bungee or bar. I've been trying to not do this and ive had a few jumps were i dont and those usually are the ones that i clear the bar by a good amount. is there any way that i can think about to stop doing this.


its visible in my most recent post in the video section

[SCPVPA]

This is a very common habit of young vaulters and is one that sounds simple but it's so hard to break. I always tell my athletes to watch their vault by looking through your bottom hand at takeoff and following it to your top hand once you move you arms and create space. Once your swing gets to the top of the pole keep watching your feet through your top hand.

Just my two cents. Good luck.

[KirkB]

I broke myself of the habit of looking at the bar by doing thousands and thousands of highbar reps of the swinging action. The more you focus on swinging "properly" on the highbar (and subsequently on the pole), and develop your sense of positioning and timing, the less you will worry about where your eyes are looking during the vault.

Eyesight is extremely important through the runup, plant, and takeoff, but once you leave the ground, it's not very important at all, up until you're about to clear the bar. This is especially true the higher you raise your PR.

One reason for this is because as you swing and your body inverts, you lose sight of the horizon and other visual reference points (like the box, the pit, and the bar). Another reason is that the actions between takeoff and bar clearance occur so quickly that your eyes cannot communicate the information quickly enough to your brain to be of any use (even if you're always within sight of the box, pit, or bar - which you're not).

I'm not suggesting that you close your eyes while you swing on the pole (altho you might experiment with this on the highbar - it shouldn't make much difference). I'm merely saying that it's not very important what your eyes are doing as you swing, so you just shouldn't focus on it. Instead, think more about how each body part "felt" in relation to the rest of your body. Visualize this in your "mind's eye", rather than in your two physical eyes.

This sense of positioning, timing, and balance is the key. No two jumps are exactly the same, so you need to adjust your body positioning mid-flight, based on the individual "feel" of each jump - just as you adjust it on the highbar. You will find that in doing so, there's not enough time for your eyes to serve as the primary sense for your brain to tell you where you are in the air. Tactile feel (or "touch", another of the 5 human senses) is a much better way to keep track of your body position than your eyesight. This also includes your "sense of balance" (equilibrioception) and a "sense of positioning of body parts" (proprioception/kinesthesia).

So that's some of the theory, but the simple answer is to practice, practice, practice. Hopefully, some of this theory will give you enough understanding and appreciation (trust) of your own body mechanisms to motivate you to practice, practice, practice.

Kirk

[bzugar]

thank you for that, now i have something to help me with this, instead of just 'dont look at the bar'