The Bryde Bend (Jump to the Split)

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KirkB
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The Bryde Bend (Jump to the Split)

Unread postby KirkB » Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:52 pm

Early this month, I first started to realize the relationship between my 1971-72 technique and modern technique, and I commented on that. Here’s part of that post.

KirkB wrote:
In the Pole Vault Manifesto thread, agapit wrote:... We observed in the mid 80s all vaulters slowly change to a vertical pole carry introduced by Bubka ...

Kjell Isaakson used a high pole carry in 1971 - long before Bubka. I first saw him use it in the Portland Indoor.
Two days later, I promptly tried it myself, and raised my PR by one foot! There were other factors involved (I was due for a break-thru, and I improved other aspects of my technique), but the high pole carry was the icing on the cake for me, and I never looked back. And the free pole drop went hand in hand with the high pole carry. The high pole carry allows you to drop the pole "weightlessly" - as you've pointed out.
After reading this Pole Vault Manifesto thread, and the Repent/Doomed thread post-by-post, I'm actually quite surprised how little elite vault technique has progressed in the past 36 years … I'm not seeing much new, other than loading the pole on takeoff and tuck/shoot. Those techniques are foreign to me. And neither one is part of your model. …

The trail leg kickback is another area of confusion for me. I did that in 1971-72 and it really helped me A LOT! I was the first to do that (resulting in a long, exaggerated trail leg swing), and it put me 8" under the WR in 1971, despite a VERY SLOW RUN. I'm very surprised that this technique hasn't caught on - or has it?

I'm not clear whether you advocate that or not. Perhaps in the 6.05 model, but not in the 6.40 model? I think Alan Launder mentions it in the couple online pages of his B2B that I read yesteday? So does that mean that it's part of the Petrov model? And your model?

Kirk Bryde

That was the seed of the idea of documenting my technique on www.polevaultpower.com, and this thread is the wheat!

Following this post, I have about 18 more that explain my technique in detail – part by part, so bear with me. I might not have time to post everything today, as I have to leave soon for a weekend trip. But I’ll return and be back online early next week.
Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. There is no tuck! THERE IS NO DELAY!

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Post #1 – The Bryde Bend (Jump to the Split Position)

Unread postby KirkB » Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:53 pm

Post #1 – The Bryde Bend (Jump to the Split Position)
This paper describes the unique pole vaulting technique that I personally demonstrated in sanctioned track meets 1971-72, when I competed for the University of Washington (Seattle WA) and for Canada. I also provide a brief bio relative to my growth as an elite vaulter - to put my technique into perspective compared to other vaulters of my era.

The highlights of my unique technique were:
• a high pole carry;
• a normal high-knee run (fairly slow – but not by intent);
• a strong, quick, early takeoff with an exaggerated forwards lean;
• a hard-driving lead knee that did not drop;
• no push on the pole with the bottom hand;
• an extending and lifting of the trail leg BACKWARDS;
• a driving of the chest forwards;
• a stretching of the top arm above and behind the head;
• a long, fast one-legged swing; a BIG bend on the pole;
• a slight bending of the hips but no rockback;
• a low, early inversion;
• a low, early extension (resulting in a 34” handstand); and
• a normal fly-away.

To explain my technique as best as I can to current (2008) pole vault coaches and athletes, I will attempt to use some modern-day terminology. However, I feel compelled to explain how my vault “felt”, rather than to describe it as the subject of some biomechanical analysis – which would essentially be an out-of-body experience for me! Therefore, it’s necessary that I revert to my native vernacular, using terms such as “Jump to the Split Position”.

Some modern day terms, such as “loading the pole before takeoff”, “free takeoff”, and “pre-jump” were foreign to me prior to about 4 years ago – due to my absence from any involvement with the sport for the previous 3 decades. However, upon hearing these terms for the first time, I think they’re just different words for describing how my vault “felt” to me. For example, what I called “being under on takeoff” (not my intent) is now apparently called “loading the pole before takeoff” (apparently the intent of many modern vaulters), and what I call an “early takeoff” (my intent) is now called a “free takeoff”.

I will focus primarily on the parts of my vault that I feel were superior to my competitors – and possibly superior to many modern day vaulters. It is in these areas that I believe that I may have something interesting and valuable to add to the betterment of our sport.
Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. There is no tuck! THERE IS NO DELAY!

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Post #2 – My Bio

Unread postby KirkB » Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:56 pm

Post #2 – My Bio

Physical data:
Born Sep 7, 1949 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Weight in 1971-72: 173 lbs.
Height: 6-0.
Sprinting speed: 10.4s 100 yds (converts to 11.4s 100m)
Grip: 15-4.
Writes with: right hand
Throws with: right arm (e.g. javelin)
Kicks with: right leg (e.g. soccer penalty shots)
Long jumps with: right foot takeoff
Pole vaults with: left hand on top; right foot takeoff (normal left-handed vaulting)
Hand spread: 22” (no hand shift)

Personal records:
1965 3.50 / 10-6 (steel pole)
1966 3.65 / 12-0 (fiberglass pole)
1967 4.11 / 13-6
1968 4.34 / 14-3 (triple jump 43-7)
1969 (did not compete)
1970 4.57 / 15-0
1971 5.28 / 17-4
1972 5.34 / 17-6¼

Poles:
Catapole 550+
• Flex 7.25 – 180# - my 5.28 pole and my 1972 practice pole
• Flex 7.0
• Flex 6.875 - 185#?
• Flex 6.75 - my most frequently used competition pole in 1972
• Flex 6.625 - 190#?
• Flex 6.5
• Flex 6.25 - 195#? - my 5.34 pole

The flexes are precise; the #s are approximations.

Coaches:
Abbotsford Sr. Secondary (high school): Gerry Swan
University of Washington: Ken Shannon
Canadian Team: Don Steen

The name “Bryde’s Big Bend” or simply “The Bryde Bend” was given to my technique to describe what specatators saw, rather than describing my intent, or what I felt. I think it was a takeoff on the Brill Bend, which was a variant of the Fosbury Flop. Debbie Brill was a Canadian high jumper – also from the Vancouver area. She invented her unique jumping model during the same years as I developed my unique vaulting model. We both competed for Canada in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

In high school, I was an avid volleyball and basketball player, and I competed in track and field for only a couple months per year. I was a leaper in basketball. I could dunk a volleyball (but not a basketball). That is to say, I had exceptional – but not outstanding – jumping ability. To my detriment, I was also the slowest player on the team. Compared to other BC athletes, I was a reasonably good triple jumper (43-7), and a mediocre but competitive long jumper (~21’). My horizontal jump PRs were due to my jumping ability – not my sprinting ability. I mention these attributes, because they directly influenced the path that I took towards my elite pole vaulting technique.

In my first 2 years at UW, I had a series of ankle injuries that prevented me from competing in 1969, and that allowed me to complete in only 5 meets in 1970. My three most serious injuries were caused by stalling out and landing in the box. (I also had 2 serious injuries where I missed the pit, but luckily, I recovered from each of these within a few weeks.) The ankle injuries hampered my career, and still hamper me today. However, I put the pain out of my mind until 1972, when I retired after the Munich Olympics. In 1973, I had reconstructive surgery on my right ankle.

In 1971, I competed in 17 meets, and in 1972 I competed in 30 meets.
With that background, I will now try to describe my Bryde Bend technique – first the Readers Digest version, and then in detail …

Kirk Bryde
Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. There is no tuck! THERE IS NO DELAY!

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Post #3 – The Bryde Bend – Readers Digest Version

Unread postby KirkB » Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:00 pm

Post #3 – The Bryde Bend – Readers Digest Version (as described in my email to UW Coach Pat Licari in 2004)

About four years ago, when Brad Walker was a senior at UW, I communicated with his coach Pat Licari for several months by phone and email. We discussed pole vaulting technique/models, and we analyzed some of Brad’s videos together – as well as some videos from other world class vaulters. Brad was on the phone with us on one of these calls. Pat expressed a lot of interest in my technique, and has implemented some drills with his UW vaulters that emphasize the trail leg lift. One of these is the high bar swinging drill. The trail leg lift is not a technique that suited Brad’s specific style, so there is no claim whatsoever that any of my technique has rubbed off on Brad. I think he’s doing just fine on his own! :)

This year, I had the pleasure of meeting Pat and some of his UW vaulters in person at a track meet in Eugene, and we continued our friendly discussions of my technique, Brad’s technique, and Jarred O’Connor’s technique.

For the benefit of Pat and the other UW vaulters, here’s how I described the Bryde Bend to Pat by email (and also by phone) four years ago. The ellipses represent the omission of personal details that don’t pertain specifically to the Bryde Bend.

Here's the email ...

… keeping the lead knee up and not pushing with the bottom hand are essential to my technique. … the importance of driving the chest through as far as possible. A bottom hand push would be counter-productive to this.

My run and plant were pretty standard stuff, except I used a high pole carry, which Shannon and I copied after watching Kjell Isaakson at the 1971 Portland Indoor. The logs (i.e. heavy poles) we used in those days presented a real problem with the weight of the pole dragging you down as you ran. These days, the sailed poles aren’t as heavy, but I think I’d still use the high pole carry, although I haven’t noticed any current vaulters using it.

I literally gained a foot in grip height and a resultant foot or so in clearance within a week after I changed my pole carry in the indoor 1971 season, moving my grip from about 14-0 to 15-0 – then eventually to 15-4, and increasing my PR from 15-0 to 16-4. Basically, as I rocked back for my first step, I raised the pole and reached both arms out in front of me, literally balancing the weight of the pole straight up and down, but slightly forward as I picked up speed.

The plant consisted of literally dropping the pole into the box, timed so that I never had to apply any pressure to align the pole to the box (it was always straight above/ahead), and so that I never had to hold it at any point during the drop. By this method, it felt literally weightless during the entire run & plant phases. I didn’t invent this; I just copied Isaakson’s pole carry technique.

I planted the pole “through the shoulder”, which is actually an impossibility, but is how I thought about it. A curl-plant (beside the shoulder) would put me off balance, and a forward plant would be – well – too far forward. So “through the shoulder” really meant just in front of the shoulder, but so close that it felt “through” the shoulder. I did lots of stretching/flexibility excercises every day, on the ground (sitting inclined, reaching arms behind me, and applying pressure) and on the rings, high-bar, and chin-bar (skin the cat, then stay in stretched position). These exercises also helped to drive the chest through, whilst the top hand stretched back – not a natural position without good shoulder flexibility.

My takeoff was also not much different than most other vaulters, I think, except that I probably had a taller, more aggressive takeoff than average. I rationalized that all the speed gained down the runway (which I didn’t have much of) was only a setup to speed on takeoff, so I could gain a slight advantage by a strong takeoff.

… What really matters is velocity on TAKEOFF. Nothing else matters! Even your speed 2 strides out is only a setup for your TAKEOFF speed!

Shannon and I worked on striking the takeoff like a long-jumper, with acceleration – not braking. Despite my lack of speed, I was a fair long-jumper & triple-jumper in high-school – nothing spectacular but good enough to win most district meets, and to place in the BC High School Meet in triple jump. And I could dunk a volleyball (not a basketball – couldn’t grip it!), so at 6-0 I had pretty good spring, which I used in my takeoff – jumping forwards at maybe 20 degrees, not up.

The best takeoff drill, useful even in competition warm-ups, was to takeoff and forward roll into the pit. I combined this drill with checking my steps. Using my normal runway marks, I never had a problem in reaching the pit, although I wouldn’t recommend this to novice vaulters.

We often practised vaulting … with a 9-step run. My best was 15-9, with a 13-8 grip. With that low of a grip, and with that short of a run, pole carry wasn’t an issue. But 9-step vaulting forced me to emphasize a strong, aggressive takeoff. It was impossible to build up much speed in 9 steps, so the takeoff HAD to be quick! And short runs actually allowed us to get a lot more vaults in per day. I rarely practised full vaults with a long run, and when I did, I rarely went much higher than 16-6. I was very much a competition vaulter – I needed to get the juices flowing to vault well. And in competition, I found that I knew when I would make or break the height, based on how my takeoff felt, because my technique once I left the ground was quite consistent.

OK, we’re finally to the innovative part of my technique!

First, I’ll reference the definition of “follow-through” from the US Pole Vault Education Initiative’s “Pole Vault Vocabulary” webpage: http://www.pvei.com/index.php?pagename=art-vocab.php

FOLLOW-THROUGH – is a short phase during the vault, where the vaulter’s hips and chest follow through in a forward upward direction. The hips and chest should follow through in a linear fashion rather than having the hips rotate around the shoulders. As the hips and chest are following through, the arms and takeoff leg drag back and behind the vaulters body. The follow-through prevents an early swing-up action after takeoff.

This definition of this phase of the vault is actually very close to my technique, with one critical exception. Instead of passively letting the “takeoff leg drag back and behind”, I literally stretched my trail leg back and UP!

We referred to this as “jump-to-the-split-position”, because that’s literally what I did. I took off the ground like a long-jumper, but raised my lead knee forwards and my trail leg backwards into an exaggerated “split” position. Today, they refer to it as the “C” position, but make no mention of purposely raising the trail leg.

To my knowledge, no one else even attempted to pause in the C position in my era, let alone raise the trail leg. I don’t know what year the “follow-through” phase was defined, but I really think that as vaulters started going higher (18’+), this became more and more of a distinct phase. … When I did 9-step vaults, the rhythm of the vault was of course much quicker, and most vaulters that only did 15-9 with a full run would not even see the need for raising the trail leg before starting the swing. But I consciously did this, even though the entire rhythm was sped up. I don’t think I could have cleared 15-9 with 9 steps without a very aggressive swing, which came from the aggressive takeoff and raising the trail leg before whipping it downwards and forwards.

I mention the issue of the practicality of jumping 15-9 with my technique to show that it’s something that’s definitely applicable to women’s vaulting at even that low height and low grip, even though it’s less of an issue than when vaulting 17’+. …

By whipping, I’m referring to the action of starting the whip from your chest, then down your gut muscles to your hips. The slow part of the whip is your torso straightening out (transforming your torso from a “C” to an “I”), and then the fast part of the whip is snapping the trail leg (and upper arm – but mostly trail leg) until your entire body is straight (top hand, chest, hips, and trail leg aligned, lead knee still up). It’s easier to demonstrate on a chinning bar than to explain, but I hope you catch the essence of what I mean.

During the whip, you refrain from rowing with your arms, but you do use a forwards lever action to return your top arm from the C-position to the torso I-position. Once you’re past the pole, you can row all you want, but you don’t really need to, because you already have all the rotational momentum that you need to rock back. Muscle vaulters row – gymnastic vaulters (like me) swing. Swinging is much easier, and more efficient according to the laws of physics. (I learned this from watching the UW gymnasts on high bar and rings. The best gymnasts didn’t use their muscles – they used the leverage in their limbs, timed just right for each trick. A kip-hip-circle-shoot-to-a-handstand is the most applicable example of this.)

OK, that’s my innovative technique, but I haven’t yet told you WHY I wanted to do that. Some people thought I was just trying to bend the pole more. Well – I was, but WHY? Steel vaulters used to use a double-pendulum technique, where their top hand was the fulcrum of one pendulum, whilst the butt of the pole was the other fulcrum. Speed vaulters (the name I gave to vaulters that relied on their runway sprint speed to flip them upside down and over the bar) roughly followed this steel vaulting technique. My observation of them was first that I’d never beat them at their own game, and second, that they never had enough time to get upside down into a position where they could aggressively shoot skywards. They seemed happy with their “quick-bend” technique, but in my opinion they didn’t apply any extra energy into the pole after takeoff.

I wanted to be already upside down by the time the pole started recoiling. If I was upside down, then I could shoot skywards aggressively. I wanted to shoot past vertical – meaning that instead of shooting straight up, I could aim slightly AWAY from the bar, back towards the runway, and my forwards momentum added to this would shoot me vertically. I of course needed to have good forward momentum to achieve this, but in my best vaults, I did shoot past vertical. If I didn’t, I would have shot under the bar. And I did this in a continual, fluid motion, starting from just after I passed the pole.

I landed well into the pit (standards set at 24”) on my best vaults. In my accidents (1969-1970) where I landed on the edge of the box, I had actually already aborted a bad takeoff, so never got to the point of extending. I hadn’t even learned my new technique yet.

The “Big-Bend” was just what spectators saw, because I delayed the recoil longer than “quick-bend” vaulters. But for me, it was just the means to the end goal of getting upside down earlier in the vault. It’s easy to big-bend a soft pole, but that doesn’t do you much good. Soft bend = soft reflex. My best jumps were on 190# and 195# SKY-POLES, gripping at 15-4, and weighing 173. Definitely not a soft bend!

As I said earlier, after lifting my trail leg and keeping it straight, I whipped it down in a swinging action, starting at the chest, but finally hinging at the hips. This was no ordinary swing. I swung as hard and as fast as I could. Because I stayed tall, driving my chest forwards while raising my trail leg, I was through to the point at which my top hand, hips, and trail leg were all aligned well before I “passed the pole” (the imaginary line between the top hand and the pole butt).

I mentioned a couple pundits earlier, who say that the bar clearance can basically be computed by taking your takeoff speed and applying it to a mathematical formula.

Other biomechanics add that pole vaulting is a matter of velocity on takeoff + energy exerted after takeoff. This kinetic energy is transformed into potential energy in the pole, and gets released back to kinetic energy when the pole recoils.

Well, … they missed a slight detail. Once you leave the ground, there’s TWO distinct parts of the vault where you can gain more altitude – first adding potential energy into the pole during the swing – as I just described – and second whilst the pole is recoiling!

You now know the first part – finalized by the whipping action – much like a football place kicker, except way more vigorous. I could whip my trail leg more vigorously, because it was further back than most other vaulters, and because I did specific speed drills (on the chinning bar and the high bar) to improve my gut strength and speed for this. A side effect of this delayed whipping action was the “Big-Bend”.

The second part was the easy part. My trail leg speed not only drove more energy into the pole, but it also set me up to rotate faster to a rockback. This action initiated BEFORE passing the pole. As the pole “bounced” at maximum bend, I was dropping my shoulders and raising my hips. That put me in a good position to extend past vertical as vigorously as I wanted, in an upwards/backwards direction over the top of the pole.

Other vaulters often told me that it always looked like I was going to sink under the bar, but at the last split second I shot straight up! My trail leg didn’t tuck much at all. It didn’t have to, as I was already extending out of my rockback just as the pole was straightening.

I think you can appreciate the advantage of extending in unison with the pole recoil, so I won’t go into detail about it. To me, this felt exactly like the “clean” part of a “clean and jerk”, where you used your back and not your arms. Also quite similar to a kip-hip-circle-shoot-to-a-handstand on high bar.

Kirk Bryde

EDIT: I mentioned the hip-circle-to-a-handstand twice in this post, so here's a visual explanation of it ... from a Russian gymnastics manual that Pogo Stick published here http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=18899&p=135360#p135360 today ...
Hip-Circle-to-Handstand (Russian).JPG
Hip-Circle-to-Handstand (Russian).JPG (28.23 KiB) Viewed 19540 times
Last edited by KirkB on Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #4 – Newspaper Pic of the Start of my Extension

Unread postby KirkB » Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:07 pm

Post #4 – Newspaper Pic of the Start of my Extension

Image

This Pac-8 Conference Championships Meet was on May 22, 1971. My grip is 15-4 and my hand spread is 22” on this jump. If you zoom in on the right standard, you’ll see that there’s a blemish at the 17-4 mark, which I think verifies that this is indeed my 17-4 clearance that day. You can also use the scale on the right standard to compute my CoG location below the bar. Both arms are slightly flexed here, just as they would be on a highbar “shoot to a handstand”. I refrain from bending my top arm until after my body is fully extended. Then, the action is somewhat like throwing a javelin straight up (a very dangerous thing to try, by the way!). :)

I think my CoG is somewhere near my sternum in this pic, but because it’s hard to guess exactly where it is, I’ve arbitrarily taken the intersection of my shorts, jersey, and right elbow as a CoG reference point (a bit higher and a bit closer to the pit than my true CoG).

Wherever you pinpoint my CoG, it’s definitely below my hips very early in the vault. I’ve calculated my CoG to be 5’-1½” below the bar and 2’7½” behind the standards (set to 24”), but I leave a more detailed analysis to anyone that has the interest, tools and know-how. This raw data is useless, of course, unless you have the same body positions of other elite vaulters to compare it to.

2008-06-29 - I fixed my pic problems.

Kirk Bryde
Last edited by KirkB on Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Unread postby dj » Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:21 am

good morning

kirk ...this is extremely good stuff.. and is where i was fortunate enough to view and study the vault from..

many mid night discussions over the years have taken place with a group of us oldie vault coaches.. from there (Kjell Isaakson) up and to today... with the same technique that follows physics but the big improvent has been the poles and there bend qualities.. bubka's poles were the first poles that could bend 33 percent and not break.. and that he could hold the top of and actually bend the top over.. shortening the radius more but not effect the "return".

good.. good.. good.. stuff

hopefully we can meet one day and have one of those old time vaulkt chats

dj

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Unread postby dj » Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:43 pm

hye

interestingly enough dave roberts named ken shannon as one of his top 3 coaches in the world.. during a chat around dinner a few years ago...

dj

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Unread postby KirkB » Sun Jun 29, 2008 4:30 pm

DJ, thanks for your encouragement.

To keep this thread focussed on the Bryde Bend, I've replied to your points about pole technology on a new thread in the "Pole Vault - Equipment" forum here:

http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/vie ... 314#111314

I called it "Pole Technology and PV Technique Leap Frog Each Other".

I don't know if that quite hits your point or not, but the title should suffice.

I didn't know that Shannon coached Roberts at all, but he certainly coached Jeff Taylor. Roberts and Taylor competed against each other for many years after I retired. Maybe Shannon had some occasion to coach Roberts then. Or maybe Roberts just admired Shannon's coaching. I lost touch with all of them.

Roberts' plant and jump were the strongest parts of his vault, IMHO.

Any coach that can take a Canuck farmboy with no wheels and a high school 14-3 PR and turn him into a 17-6 vaulter has my vote for top coach in the world! :)

I'd like to meet you some day too! :yes:

Now I've got to figure out how to insert my pics, so that I can submit the rest of my Bryde Bend posts. Hang tough.

Kirk
Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. There is no tuck! THERE IS NO DELAY!

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Post #5 – Glossy Pic of the Start of my Extension

Unread postby KirkB » Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:48 pm

Post #5 – Glossy Pic of the Start of my Extension

Image

Here’s the same photo (courtesy of The Seattle Times) with better quality, but unfortunately cropped. It does not show the bar or the right upright. The shadow of the pole on this sunny day hides my left arm a bit, and it hides my right thigh. If you look at my right knuckles, then directly below them, you’ll see the shadow of my knuckles.

You can use that to understand the direction of the other shadows. Slightly obscured by the shadows, you should be able to see my right knee slightly above my left knee, and my right foot slightly above my left foot (the heel of my left shoe shows to the right of my right ankle). In other words, this pic shows that my lead left knee has mostly straightened by now, and I’m starting to straighten my hips to the reach the “I” position.

I never dropped my lead knee at all at the bottom – I only extended it at the top. This is why I know that my extension has already begun here – no rockback!

Kirk Bryde
Last edited by KirkB on Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Unread postby powerplant42 » Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:54 pm

Eww, you're a lefty! :D So maybe you could help me understand better/more simply how your technique differed from Bubka's? I'm really looking forward to exploring this thread more once I've got the time...
"I run and jump, and then it's arrrrrgh!" -Bubka

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Post #6 – Pic of Midway Thru my Extension

Unread postby KirkB » Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:10 pm

Post #6 – Pic of Midway Thru my Extension

Image

This photo is courtesy of the Washington Track & Field 2008 Media Guide. Pat Licari sent me the soft-copy about 4 years ago. I’m a little embarrassed that they still use this photo, with all the recent top-notch vaulters that they’ve had – Brad Walker, Kate Soma, Scott Roth, Jarred O’Connor, and more. They do, however, show Roth pushing off of the Seattle Space Needle on the back cover. I could never grip that high! :)

In this pic, I’m still shooting quite rapidly towards a full “I” position, and I still have quite a ways to go before the pole is fully recoiled. Compared to the previous pic, my left (top) arm is more fully extended now (i.e. I have not yet started to pull up with it – on the contrary, I’ve straightened it); my hips are still not quite fully extended; and my back isn’t fully straightened yet.

As soon as I get to the “I” (by straightening the back and hips in unison), then I’ll begin pulling with my top hand - “throwing the pole down”. I have stayed fairly square to the runway so far, and I have no need to twist yet. I think that a premature twisting action interferes with the fullness of your extension. I could be wrong, but I think the twist comes fairly naturally from my final arm action, without the need for my toes to lead my body (much) into it.

Kirk Bryde
Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. There is no tuck! THERE IS NO DELAY!

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KirkB
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Post #7 - The Bryde Bend in Detail

Unread postby KirkB » Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:12 pm

Post #7 - The Bryde Bend in Detail

My vault consisted of these major parts:

• Pre-Vault Preparation (Mental Preparation)
• Pole Grip and Carry
• Run
• Pole Drop
• Plant
• Jump to the Split Position - and Lift Trail Leg Back
• Single-Leg Swing
• Shoot (Extension)
• Fly-Away (Bar Clearance)

I call these “vault parts” so that they’re not confused with “vault phases”. These vault parts weren’t all in common usage in my era, and still aren’t. I realize that, but it’s the easiest way for me to explain my technique part-by-part. Obviously, as with any technique, there’s lots of overlap from one vault part to the next.

Kirk Bryde
Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. There is no tuck! THERE IS NO DELAY!


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