Gymnastics; is it worth it and why?

[guthrie]

A girl I vault with was a gymnast prior to learning the pole vault. (she did 20+ hours of training in the gym a week!) She is an amazing vaulter, and I've always heard that gymnastics is beneficial to pole vaulting, but I dont know if it would be worth it at my level. I'd say I'm an ok pole vaulter, but not amazing or great by any standards. How would it help and how long would I have to do gymnastics before I'de see improvement in my vaults? I know it helps with muscle control and thats why i think its probably good, but I dont know if its worth doing (for me.)
Thanks,
Catherine

[Rhino]

Of course it's worth doing! Not necessarily the competitive gymnastics, though. Work on movements that correlate to the vault.

[vault3rb0y]

Anything where you have to control your body will help in the vault i think. Ive been diving, snowboarding, and doing gymnastics for some years now, and if anything at all it builds your confidence that you can do something even if it looks scarey at first.

[baggettpv]

We have a dvd coming out soon on things that help to develop the skills in the Pole Vault. Simulation drills are a very good way of developing the skills in the event.

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC

[powerplant42]

Another thing I think is being skipped over is flexibility. If you're flexible enough, then you can get an enormous pre-stretch after take-off, leading to a very powerful swing. I am sure there is a long list of elite vaulters who used gymnastics to further themselves in vaulting. (Rhino has a point on competetive, but if your school's got a gymnastics team, hey, it wouldn't be a bad idea...)

When is it coming out? How much will it cost? Where can someone get it?

[vault3rb0y]

Definitely stretching and gymnastics are something i think high schoolers like me forget to do. If a 6'10-6'11 man (grande) can do giants on a high bar i think us high schoolers should be able to do some stuff too .

[txpolevaulter_k25]

i enrolled in some gymnastics this summer, i am done now due to football, but i just went twice a week and did the same stuff the gymnasts were doing, and they wanted me to be on the team, but i didn't have time, i think it is very beneficial, that is if you have time and money to spend

[stavhoppare]

Dave Nielsen at Idaho State U. has a great video on gymnastics training for the PV. Work on the high bar is great to do and is well illustrated on the video.

PV is simply gymnastics on a stick....whether rigid or flexible. Developing strength routines and PV specific routines on high bar and rings is great for the PV.

Many female gymnasts have good technique once on the pole, but they often run like gymnasts, not sprinters. Also, gymnasts are not used to jumping from one foot so it is imperative for PV coaches to work early on sprint mechanics and jumping drills from one foot.

[golfdane]

Gymnastics develops a spatial awareness, that is beneficial in both polevaulting and highjump. Some of my most talented youngsters in terms of picking up new ideas, also has a background in doing some form of gymnastics (usually trampoline is very often the toy of choice).
Someone who is able to do controlled backflips has the explosive power, as well as the spatial awareness that enables him or her to "sense" the environment in a split second. They are able to control their body even when stressed by heights or rapid movement.

There are plenty of exercises done on gymnastics equipment, that are beneficial to vaulting, so there are no excuses not to do it.

In this, I define spatial awareness as the ability to act in a rapidly changing 3D environment (and vaulting is just that).