PoleVaultPower.com

Hey guys,

So today I found out that the pole i've been using for the past month or so belongs to another school and they want it back by tomorrow
So my question is, what new pole is best for me from the ones I have in stock at my school:

Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 127
6-step: 69' 6"
PR: 10' 6"

Current Pole: 12' 4" 140

Available Poles: (ones that i think i could possibly use)
13' 150
12' 165
14' 140
14' 145
13' 6" 150
11' 6" 130
10' 6' 140
11' 140

Yankee, you forgot to tell us how high you're gripping. Also, it would have been a bit easier for us if you sorted your candidate poles in order of length and weight. This is the sorted order:

10-6 140
11-0 140
11-6 130
12-0 165
12-4 140
13-0 150
13-6 150
14-0 140
14-0 145

I've bolded the pole that you're losing (in the list above), and greyed it out (in the chart below). Here's the relative flex #s of your candidate poles (highlighted in yellow).


You didn't say how much you're bending the 12-4 140 now, but no matter what pole you decide to use, it's going to bend a little more or a little less than what you're used to. With a PR of 10-6, I'm going to assume that you're not bending it much yet, so you're not too fussy.

Please let us know your grip and how much you're bending the pole (or how much you want to bend your new pole). The less bend you have now, the easier it will be to transition to a new pole.

In the chart above, the leftmost column shows the relative flex #.

So depending on your grip, you'd probably want to use the 11-6 130 (for more bend), or the 12-0 165 (for less bend).

I doubt that you're gripping on the last 4 inches of the 12-4 140, so the 13-0 150 is probably too long for you (and too heavy).

Likewise, the 10-6 140 will be too light for you (and probably too short).

If the 11-0 140 isn't too short for you, you could use that instead of the 11-6 130. They will have about the same flex.

If you want to refer to the entire chart, you can find it here http://www.skyjumpers.com/articles/relitive_resistance_chart.html.

Kirk

That sucks, you guys sure have a big gap there. I would use the 11'6 130 from a short run (3-4 lefts) in practice. I would try the 12'165 from 6-7 lefts, but it might be too big.

If you have a meet coming up, take this chart with you and try to borrow something in that range. If you can't borrow something, and you can't get on the 12'165, you'll probably jump best on the 11'6 130 from a short run. It's probably about the same as the 11'140, you could try both and see if one feels any bigger than the other.

Not the greatest situation

Thanks for the input so far, and yea I know it stinks, but I do a lot of pole run ups with heavier poles so a move to a heavier pole might not affect me as much during approach.

I held the 12' 4" 140 at 11'8" (The Highest allowed for high school at 6" under the top)
I bend the pole quite a bit, but not an overbend. Hard to explain that, i'll see if i can find atleast a picture somewhere to help out.

Becca, thats a good idea to bring the sheet to my next meet and see if i can borrow a pole. This week is supposed to be beautiful so I would be able to get some practice in with the new pole that i choose

Any other advice?

Here are the only two pictures I managed to find in one of my friend's albums

This is a warmup jump (full run-sp, swing to sit):


This is the end of my clearance at my opening height, 9'


hope this helps a little!

Pacer's don't come in 12'-4" length's are you sure that is what you have?

I'm positive thats the pole.

Anyways, today my coach made a few phone calls and the closest thing he managed to find was a 12' 150. I took some full run ups with it and it felt a little stiffer than my other pole but I was able to swing up a couple times. I feel like it'll take me about a week to adjust to it but that its better that it doesn't bend as much.

My swing did feel much better, I put a bungie up pretty high at 13' today and just tried to get my legs over it cause I keep shooting out instead of shooting up, this definitely helped me out and my last three jumps of the day my legs got over all three times!

I think the ideal pole for me to move to would be a 13' 140 so that I would have room to move up and it wouldn't overbend. Am I right on this?

Yes, the 13-0 140 sounds about right, and it's midway between the 12-4 140 and the 13-0 150. It's 10 lbs heavier than your old one, and since you're still learning quite quickly (and since your PR is still fairly low), a 10-lb increase should be just fine.

The higher you vault, the more important it is to move up slowly (e.g. 5 lbs at a time). But at your PR level, it doesn't matter nearly as much. It's better to get something a little too heavy now, but still only 10 lbs away from your next pole in the series (the 13-0 150). That pole might work well for you early next season - depending on how quickly you progress (and how hard you train between now and then).

I wonder about the 12-0 150 that your coach found for you tho. Don't you have to hold that at 11-6 instead of your usual 11-8? Could that be why it's not bending quite as much? It's roughly the same flex as your old one. I would guess that in your situation, you'd want all the grip you can handle - as long as you're landing well into the pit (which I assume you are).

So yeh, 13-0 140 would be good. But there's lots of other factors too, so only you and your coach can make the best final decision. For example, what's the budget? (i.e. How many poles can your school afford?) How fast are you growing and getting stronger? How quickly are you running, and will you be getting a lot faster soon? This school year is all but over, so what will you need early next season? Will you be vaulting thru the summer? These are all variables that you need to figure out with your coach. Usually, the coach will make his decisions based on ensuring a wide variety of poles for all the vaulters ... rather than buying poles to suit a single vaulter (no matter how good you are now or might become).

Kirk

Thanks for the insight on finding a pole, I never thought of it like that. I do think that something is needed to brdge the gap from the 11' 140s to the 13' 140s

And you're right I am holding two inches lower on the 12 150 than the other one, can that really have that much of an affect?

I'm landing pretty much in the center of or on the right side of the PLZ when I swing correctly and shoot up instead of out. When things don't go right I end up landing pretty far back in the PLZ, but I assume thats because of the flaws in my technique. Thanks again for all the help!