Strength Training in the Weight Room - A Must

[powerplant42]

...Or do pole runs.

[KirkB]

... if you have time to play basketball for 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, you can spend 45 min in a weight room twice a week.

Unfortunately, our HS basketball coach never allowed us to lift weights during BB season ... he said it would throw off our shot. I actually tried it for a brief time (in Jr High), and know that he was right.

Kirk

[tsorenson]

Everyone has some good points here. I think we all agree that weight lifting is helpful to vaulting, but as Kirk stated it is not going to teach a young vaulter how to pole vault. You can take the fastest, strongest, most explosive athlete in your school and if they don't know how to execute the complex series of motions in the vault, then they will not vault very high. The practical use of limited practice time is the real issue at hand here. The fact is, it takes years to learn the vault, and gymnastics are more helpful than weight lifting to this end. However...

The ideal situation is if HS vaulters can take a "weight training" class in school, where they can perform key lifts on a regular schedule, gaining strength without sacrificing limited practice time which can be spent on training for technique. This is what I did in HS, I never wasted practice time with lifting, but always got my lifting done at other times. Many schools also have "open weight room" times in the morning or afternoon (we even had ours open in the summer). If they do not offer this at your school, you could consider buying a weight set for your home. Motivated athletes can and will find a way to strength train outside of track practice. Even simple exercises at home can show great strength gains...sometimes I do lunges around the house with one of my kids on my shoulders, or do front/back/side planks with all three boys climbing on me (these are getting harder as they get bigger!!) The point is, us coaches should challenge our athletes to get creative at home and go toss some hay bales or do whatever it takes to get stronger.

College is different, you have a lot more time on your hands, usually train year-round, and can get it all done. There is definitely no excuse for a collegiate vaulter not weight lifting, unless they have a tendency to put on way too much muscle, which can be avoided by specific types of lifts and limited reps.

I do feel strongly that weights are not necessary for young athletes to get strong...creative body weight exercises work just fine, as long as you are dedicated to increasing your workload and intensity over time. My friend in HS threw the shot put 59'8", was built like He-Man, and never touched a weight in his life...but religiously did tons of body weight exercises, plyometrics, and technique practice.

Tom

[EIUvltr]

Everyone has some good points here. I think we all agree that weight lifting is helpful to vaulting, but as Kirk stated it is not going to teach a young vaulter how to pole vault. You can take the fastest, strongest, most explosive athlete in your school and if they don't know how to execute the complex series of motions in the vault, then they will not vault very high. The practical use of limited practice time is the real issue at hand here. The fact is, it takes years to learn the vault, and gymnastics are more helpful than weight lifting to this end.

I'm not so sure I agree with this. Someone who is naturally fast and has good jumping ability can vault very high while having pretty crappy form. Ive seen it a million times, they are called "naturals" and I hate them

[golfdane]

Everyone has some good points here. I think we all agree that weight lifting is helpful to vaulting, but as Kirk stated it is not going to teach a young vaulter how to pole vault. You can take the fastest, strongest, most explosive athlete in your school and if they don't know how to execute the complex series of motions in the vault, then they will not vault very high. The practical use of limited practice time is the real issue at hand here. The fact is, it takes years to learn the vault, and gymnastics are more helpful than weight lifting to this end.

I'm not so sure I agree with this. Someone who is naturally fast and has good jumping ability can vault very high while having pretty crappy. Ive seen it a million times, they are called "naturals" and I hate them

It's not only a matter of genes (genes will give you fast muscle fibers). However, most "naturals" are so because of increased body awareness or spatial intelligence. They adopt new movement patterns faster, mainly because they have used their body a lot playing through their young years. In Denmark, it's referred to as the Body ABC. They can usually somersault (not sure that is the right term, if your are rolling on the floor), both forwards and backwards. This gives them a huge advantage later, since this early stimulation of the nervous system makes it easy to learn and adapt new movement patterns later in life.
Intelligence is not a hinderance (understanding the exercise itself), as long as it doesn't lead to "paralysis by analysis". It won't make you a world class athlete on it's own.

Gymnastics as applied in pole vaulting is applied strength training, as well as nerve stimulation and developing spatial awareness, but it won't replace strength training past the age of 15-16 years old.

[EIUvltr]

I don't pretend to know how Bubka really trained when he was young ( high school age and before ), but I'm sure his training incorporated leg strengthening and overall body strengthening to a great extent. "Beginner to Bubka" points out a sample of Bubka's weekly workout, which absolutely included weight training

.

Bubka was also trained from a much younger age and came into adolescence in far better shape than 110% of high school athletes today. What one of the best athletes ever did at the age of 15 should not be considered optimal for all 15 year olds.

[Pogo Stick]

I don't pretend to know how Bubka really trained when he was young ( high school age and before ), but I'm sure his training incorporated leg strengthening and overall body strengthening to a great extent. "Beginner to Bubka" points out a sample of Bubka's weekly workout, which absolutely included weight training

.

Bubka was also trained from a much younger age and came into adolescence in far better shape than 110% of high school athletes today. What one of the best athletes ever did at the age of 15 should not be considered optimal for all 15 year olds.

I do agree, but hockey here in Canada is sport no 1. Kids starts at even younger age (2-3 years kids learn skating which is not trivial task). At age 6 they have teams, practices and games (plus skating lessons and hockey schools and camps). At age 10 (when Bubka started vaulting) they are in much better shape (hockey specific) than other kids in any other sport. It is similar with soccer outside USA and Canada. Hockey in Canada is an example organized sport and system as in USSR at time when Bubka started. And Canada produce lot of excellent hockey players. I know it is not possible to do the same with T&F, but this is not an excuse to put 15 years old kids out of shape on such drills. I am not offering solution, just stating the facts.

[vault3rb0y]

Why not throw out the extremes and agree on the mediums. the SAID principle would say that the best way to train for the vault is to vault- Vault over, and over again, and let your body adapt to that demand. However, I think very few of us would say that no other training should be done. You must incorporate other training aspects to be effective. Equally, No one here is advocating that we do no vaulting and simply lift/run until the first meet. So some principles to agree on:

1.) An effective training regimen for the Pole Vault involves the actual act of pole vaulting
2.) Supplemental training which MAY include but is not limited drills, running, lifting, and gymnastics must be encorporated for maximal results in large-scale time constraints (ie. college and professional vaulting)

Now, in regards to younger vaulters specifically, we can say that each vaulter will possess naturally a certain ability in the pole vault. In order to maximize the vaulters progress, you must have an end point in time in mind. For most HS vaulters, i will suggest that a training schedule should be made for the course of a year. So in the constraint of one year, vaulters with exceedingly great athletic ability should maximize the effectiveness of their vault days (so schedule your workouts around being fresh to vault and accomplish a lot during vault days, but don't disregard the power of lifting/running to INCREASE their technical ability as well. The more jumps they can take in a day, the better they will get in that day). This takes priority because if a vaulter can physically vault 16', obviously for the course of one year a coach would be better served working on them technically rather than physically. This does NOT mean that they do NO supplemental running/lifting, only that the running/lifting should not take priority over, or hinder the progress of quality vault days. On the same token, if a vaulter has (hypothetical) gymnastic background and great kinesthetic awareness, but *squats/benches/cleans/runs* far below a quality matching their gymnastic ability, a training cycle with priority on *lifting/running* with only short approach/drills for technical work, followed by a careful transition into vaulting as training peaks, would be most beneficial and conducive to vaulting high that year.

*Note* please realize that there are a multitude of different weight-room philosophies. Benching 3 times a week will not make you vault higher. I would advocate that a gymnastic upper-body workout, and a sprinter's/jumper's lower body workout is ideal, with olympic lifts for overall body strengthening.

Then the next year, assess where the vaulter is at, and plan their training accordingly. However, I don't think throwing away any of the essential aspects of the training should even be debated. When you quote Bubka about not lifting- take it in context. His physical ability WAY outweighed his technical at that point, and I would venture to say he did plenty of gymnastic work to supplement a lifting regimen. He was also on a timeless plan for his career, he had the support for him to grow into the best vaulter well into his 20's. He won all he did because of his technique but also because 16-19 leaves 3 years of serious lifting/etc. He is the exception that proves the rule. And he DID focus on strength as his technical abilities began to approach his physical prowess. The fact that they had to use weight control in his training tells you he was probably naturally strong enough to vault 18'+. So i would propose another principle


3.) The effectiveness of an athlete's training regimen must be time-oriented and seek to place priority on those training principles a vaulter is weakest in, while still maximizing their growth is ALL aspects, given that the weakest aspect is focused on.

In other words, if you have 10 years of funding and support to vault, then maybe place your focus on vaulting throughout the season and don't worry about the physical until you have to. But if you are like most High School kids who want to maximize their vaulting on a 1 year plan, you need to place more equal emphasis on lifting/running to have any shot at reaching your potential.