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to me, i cant see how pull-ups (or added upperody strength) would hurt your vault. maybe added weight might hurt vault, but it seems strength is always a benefit. my logic is to do what you can with what you have to improve your vault. and if im not mistaken, pullups dont work tris, but primarily lats, as well as rhomboids, terres major and minor, traps, biceps, brachioradialis, brachialis, and rear delts. also, military press i think is good for those who aren't strong enough to do hand stand pushups, but i think hand stand pushups are so great, especially if you can do them without support or balance because they are great for improving not only strength in shoulders (good for top-end of vault) but balance, coordination, and the feeling of inversion. i think you're on the right track with the setups you have. any exercise that emulates aspects of the vault are great, especially ones that develop both coordination, strength, and body awareness, much of which can be done on bars, ropes, etc. have fun with your workin out!

Pull-ups are like bench press. They're good for developing strength, but they are not sport specific. It's good to do them, but I would not say it is the most crucial thing to work on.

If you are lucky enough to have a bar you can do pullups on, I would do pullups, but I would work on leg lifts, bubkas, and windshield wipers until my hands were about to rip.

PVJunkie wrote:Neither exercise is "good" for the vault. They are good for your upper body strength. Which might be good for your vault and then again it might not. Handstand push-ups are a deltoid exercise completely interchangable w/military press. Pull ups............well lats, tris, traps and depending on forward or reverse hand position............lets just say its good for your upper body strength. Remember the guy asking this question has a persoanl best of 8'6" and needs to vault.............LOTS..............before worrying about lifting. A high bar, a rope and some sand bags........... give me those 3 things as a coach and I could get rid of the wt room AND develop some basic vault skills.

well think about it: explosive military press = PLANT

okay. i believe the question was merely asking for lifts. thats why a bunch of us mentioned them. yes i agree that an 8'6 vaulter needs to live out on the runway, but thats not what he was asking.

also, as to pull ups not being important, if im not mistaken, bells training video stresses them very much. so i will keep doing lots of em. as for them being a bench type excercise, i dont see a lot of meatheads walking in the club and going right to the pull up bar. they bench curl and then leave.

hahaha that is so true. every time i go to the gym there are these guys with mostrous chests, shoulders, and arms with legs the size of my forearm who cant do pullups for beans. oh, good times...lol

pull ups are the exact opposite of bench..........push ups = bench........pull ups = lat pulls (mostly).

The best ans to the orig ques.............get out of the wt room and VAULT or get on a rope or a high bar and learn to swing.........If more young vaulters would learn to swing before learning to bend the pole 15' jumps would be nothing at the HS level.

On a side note................There ARE many very good coaches on this board with Yrs of experience at all levels. If given a chance they WILL post........the problem is none of us wants to have to defend our philospy to high school and college vaulters. This is why most of us do not post techincal advice. Its great to give advice lets just keep it all in perspective.

PVJunkie wrote:pull ups are the exact opposite of bench..........push ups = bench........pull ups = lat pulls (mostly).

The best ans to the orig ques.............get out of the wt room and VAULT or get on a rope or a high bar and learn to swing.........If more young vaulters would learn to swing before learning to bend the pole 15' jumps would be nothing at the HS level.

On a side note................There ARE many very good coaches on this board with Yrs of experience at all levels. If given a chance they WILL post........the problem is none of us wants to have to defend our philospy to high school and college vaulters. This is why most of us do not post techincal advice. Its great to give advice lets just keep it all in perspective.

I agree with you. I was waiting for you to chime in on the other post.

uh, yeah....me too.....what he said.....

ashcraftpv wrote:uh, yeah....me too.....what he said.....

I can always count on ASH (a midwesterner at heart) for an in depth, eductated (its the best you can get from Purdue), well thought out response..........................J you are one hell of an athlete and coach, ok well 1 outta 2 aint bad.....................

Heh, I guess I didn't phrase my question well enough. I DO vault, as often as I can, and I'd much rather be on the runway than in the weight room. I was asking what you could do OUTSIDE of the pit, because there is only one indoor pit at our school which we get to practice on twice a week.

PVjunkie, that is so true about swing. It makes me glad that I have a coach that is really good at teaching the vault, let alone knows what he's doing. I see so many people doing what I call the pole vault "high jump flop" over the bar, basically swinging up to horizontal and trying to lob themselves over the bar. Because I used to do distance running last year I didn't get much PV practice in (can't PV if you can't spring well, and I had the biggest stride ever), so I've been stuck straight poling for about a year (ending today) . I just learned the bend officially today (I've always been able to do it properly on smaller poles but this is the first time I've had balls to top the 12' 120), and I expect my pr to jump 2 feet as soon as I can combine a good swing with the bend.

Also, while we are on the topic of swinging, are there any good swing drills you can do that don't require a high ceiling?

If you are lucky enough to have a bar you can do pullups on, I would do pullups, but I would work on leg lifts, bubkas, and windshield wipers until my hands were about to rip.

What are these windshield wipers? Sounds like fun . I have a pullup bar but the ceiling is too low to do bubkas .

im sure its posted here somewhere, but i couldnt find it- but how exactly do you do Bubkas?? i have 3 bars in my house ranging form 4-10 feet high, but i need some ideas of what i can do on em.

PVJunkie wrote:On a side note................There ARE many very good coaches on this board with Yrs of experience at all levels. If given a chance they WILL post........the problem is none of us wants to have to defend our philospy to high school and college vaulters. This is why most of us do not post techincal advice. Its great to give advice lets just keep it all in perspective.

Well said