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VaultMarq26 wrote:I have always started 2 height below my PR...so about a foot below.....that way you get one easy height.....one height that is relativly easy but you can't just go through the motions, a jump at your PR (or a couple inches below it depending on what height the starting was) where you need to put it all together, then you have only had 4 or 5 jumps before attempting a new height.

At the highest level it is probably 4-5 jumps, where 4th or 5th is for your PR, WR or other records.

At the level where only 3-4 jumpers remain there is not enough time to recover for 8-9 jumps, even with 4-6 min between. You have to use tricks with officials to increase the time.

Let’s say you open at 5.70 – 5.85 – WIN – Record. If you take 3 jumps on 5.70 it would be very hard to get the record and difficult to win in real competitions.

The idea that a vaulter should use several attempts to adjust to the conditions and other variables is detrimental for winning in modern competitions. A vaulter should perform at the highest level from the first jump and the reason a vaulter that wishes to clear 6m in the competition would start at 5.70 is simple. 30cm or a foot is enough slack to adjust the run up on the first height, then a Win on the second or a third height and the record on the fourth. Imagine the progression with 5.50. Sure one can win but what about 6m? What about 6.15m with 5.50 opening? See the picture!

my last 2 PRs were on my 8th jump

ok, how many warmup jumps? I average 4 but at different length approaches, increasing to my long run by the 4th jump. I understand not to take too many if you're coming in opening height but what if you have an hour wait.

i would take about 8 or so.. 2 from a shorter approach (12 steps) and the rest from 16 steps

It might just be me, but I usually find it easier to just take 1 warmup jump... 2 run throughs total. 1st to catch my step, then the 2nd one take a jump getting my knee drive and hips up.

You should track the number of jumps you take in competition for a while to see what works best for you. Note the number of warm-up jumps, run-throughs and competition jumps you take and after a few weeks you should get a good estimate of what you can do. I have done this with the vaulters I am currently coaching and they have learned to live by it. They know the exact number of jumps to take in warm-up, if they need a run-through and based on clearance or miss they can approximate the height they should clear. The general number of jumps they take is 7-9 and then 3 jumps at the final height they fail to clear.

An example would be one of my vaulters always takes 2 full jumps in warm-up and one run-through to get his steps. He can take 9 jumps successfully and 3 after fatigue. He generally opens at 4.60 (3 heights shy of his PR - 4.96) with 6 quality jumps remaining. If he makes all jumps on his first attempt he will make 5.10 (using our predetermined crossbar progression). For each jump he misses, the best outcome decreases.

I started using this chart this year and it has become a major part of our competition preparation.