PoleVaultPower.com

since i was injured last year i have been doing nothing but squats sprints abs...repeat! and now im big and fast and bla and have a seargent jump of just under 80cm (2ft 6??) im 16 and 6ft 5. Now ive been vaulting and ive been jumping 15 foot off 8 strides (4 lefts) gripping 13ft8 non effective, and now im on my 16s (175/180) (gripping 14 ft 8 non effective) i seem to be not ownly blowing through but also the action of rolling the top hand over is too slow, so im taking up plymoetrics. all i need to now is what to do, and how long before it takes effect. cheerz rizla x

Before you do anything I would highly reccomend picking up a copy of Dr. Donald A. Chu's Jumping Into Plyometrics. You can probaby get it from a library or ask some of your coaches if they have it. The book goes over the science behind the exercises, how to begin a program safely, how to properly preform any plyometric exercise and provides descriptions for over 100 different exercises. Each exercise has a set of icons next to it indicating which sports they correspond to, which helps narrow down the choices. Look through these choices and find the one that improve sprinting and jumping ability, then impliment them into a program.

I'm not sure when HS starts up, but nouw is probably a good time to start a Plyo program. Get in 3 to 5 weeks then take off a week before track starts. I'd recommend doing a program once or twice a week, depending on what else you're doing, and keeping it short and simple.

If your doing two a week and you've got five weeks you could do something like 3 sets of 6 consecutive Broad Jumps and 2 sets of 10 consecutive Single Leg Bounds, each leg. That would be one workout . For the second workout do 3 sets of 8 consecutive Vertical Jumps and 3 sets of Alternate Leg Bounds for 30m.

After 3 weeks, change it up so on one you're doing consecutive Box Jumps and High Speed Alternate Leg Bounds and the other you're doing Bounds that go 2 lefts, 2 rights, 2 lefts, etc, and an exercise -I don't know the name, I call them Power Ups- you jump off a box with one leg, switch legs in air so you land with the other leg on the box and spring straight back up, repeating for 12 to 18 reps. You can also do some Plyo Push Ups and some Med Ball work.

Be sure you're fully warmed up like you would for any track or vault day. You can do this type of workout before a leg day, a Power Sprint day, or on it's own.

Also, any other sports you play will build quickness and plyo skills. Plyos are basically organized movements you do in tons of other sports, like soccer or basketball. Playing any of these sports and just playing aggressively will usually help you build a little quickness as well. You can probably build better quickness in plyos, just because its controlled, but other sports are more fun if you ask me .