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THE ELUSIVE BAR OR(HOW TO GET OVER THE BAR)
The elusive bar just sits there and drives vaulters crazy as it moves higher and higher pushing the vaulter to run faster, be stronger, use more finesse!
Several tricks can be used to get your center of mass over the bar and maybe even under the bar!

SIMPLE TOOL TO CLEAR THE BAR:
1. When you push off there is this tendency to drag the crossbar off with the elbows. A simple turning of the thumbs down after release of the pole rotates the arms and the elbows turn upward and away from the bar.

USE A LITTLE PHYSICS
2. If you are using a pole rated over your weight you may be able to clear higher than the pole can throw you. Staying close to the pole during the pull-turn phase you can ride the return energy.
It is like this where is the center of mass of a donut? The hole; so if you strive to clear the bar (looking like a donut with a bite out of it) and the hips go over the bar the parabolic path of the center of mass being a point in the center of your peak (or located below the bar) could travel under the bar while the body goes over. Thus you have vaulted higher than the path of the center of mass!

TO LOOK OR NOT TO LOOK
3. Looking at the bar keeps you in the bucket and you cannot swing back. Throwing the head back causes other problems, however if you allow the shoulders to roll back as you pull this portion of a well-executed vault should provide a little weightlessness so you can pull and turn with very little effort.

SIMPLE GRIP CHANGES THAT WORK
(You must be on a pole rated over your weight to accomplish this task)
4. Fine tuning the vault at the bar;
a. If you peak and you just cannot get over the bar, you may need more penetration. You can fine-tune the pole with an increase of the grip by 1 inch to give you that edge.
b. If you blow through the crossbar and you do not have a stiffer pole, you can move the grip down one fist and drive the box this will give you at least a 4 lbs stiffer pole that might make the difference.
c. If you are over bending your pole and you do not have a stiffer one, immediately move the hand grip down one and one half fist, you will be surprised how this will get you through the meet and you might even get a PERSONAL RECORD.
Anyone have tricks of the trade that work they wish to share?

If you are penetrating too much on your largest pole, shorten your approach run by 1 left. Conversely, if you need more penetration lengthen your run by 1 left. This works if you are using a normal run length(strides) that is roughly the height in feet you are jumping. ie. 12 feet= 12 stride run(6 lefts).

what if ur bodys over the bar, but u keep falling on it after u turn, and it gets caught under ur arms? i havin that problem.

AdrianVaulting, great on getting your turn down. I got stuck on that one for a while my self, just on too small of poles, taking off badly.

My personal advice for getting over the bar is really simple.

1 Ignore the bar, as it does little to think about(for most people I know, not everyone)
2 Raise your Intensity, Hit your form, go for max height. If your cant get over the bar doing what you know, then you either simply arent jumping that high, or your not working on what you need to get height.
3 The Golden rule. Get to the bar then go over it, the Silver Rule being make the pit then worry about making the height. I see all to many people jump feet under their potential because they start worrying about how their going to get over the bar before they even get into the air. This is a large part of the reason a lot of those I see personally who cant make the pit when the bar goes higher.
I might be wrong, but until your coming down INTO and OVER TOP OF the pit jumping over very good heights, I see no reason to even consider there is a bar their.

mcminkz05 wrote:what if ur bodys over the bar, but u keep falling on it after u turn, and it gets caught under ur arms? i havin that problem.

I do that all the time! It is sooooo frustrating!!!

yeah, thats my main problem right now.... its keepin me at 10' or so, when i cud b jumpin 11-12'

yeah, i also think im having a problem of looking at the bar, as essx mentined in the post, and its keeping me from rocking back and inverting..hard to fix though.

mcminkz05, when your at pratice, try spending a whole day just jumping bars. Put it up at all kinds of heights including way to high and way too low. Just try to get some time over bars tring to relax and make it feel like an every day jump. Also you could put a bar on the bottom rungs of your standards and a bungee on the top, at least a foot or two higher, and concentrate on the bungee instead.