PoleVaultPower.com

okay so i am currently vaulting 12-6 on a 13 175 spirit pole and i cant even vault on it any more because i keep blowing through it with the standards all the way back when i land in the pit i land about a foot and a half from the back.

my grip is about 12-4 on the pole
i weight 168 and my height is 5-10
and i'm currently running a 6 lefts but i still blow through when i run a 5 lefts

we are very limited on poles and i am trying to get on a 14 180 spirit with the same grip or a hand higher but for the life of me i dont get the penetration i need and always end up stalled directly over the box(i have been able to get on it before but that was only with the help of a glorious tail wind )

i'm hoping for some/any tips to help me make the transition and or some other poles that would be better (we are very limited with poles at the weight i need , but surprisingly we seem to have quite a few longer poles in the 145-155 range )

The 13'-175 is equivalent to a 14'-155 gripped at the same height. Goin to a 14'-180 from a 155 is a huge jump in pole stiffness, hence your penetration problem. You need to find a 13'6 - 170 or 175.

Check out this chart, it's really important that you understand how much stiffer a pole gets when you move up in length: http://www.skyjumpers.com/articles/pvpr ... table.html

Oldcoach wrote: Goin to a 14'-180 from a 155 is a huge jump in pole stiffness, hence your penetration problem.

well actually i was trying to go to a 14'-180 from a 13'-175 but still following the chart you posted it still seems like it was a bigger jump than i thought.

ideally a 13'6-175 would be great but our school is so limited that they literally do not have any poles at my weight that i could vault on , i ended up having to personally buy one for myself

and thank you for the help

Twist, not to belabor the issue, but Oldcoach's point was that a 13 175, when gripped at any particular height (e.g., 12'6"), is equivalent to the stiffness of a 14 155 gripped at that same height (i.e., 12'6"). So a 14 180 represents about a 25 lb increase over your existing pole, when comparing stiffness at a particular grip height.

A 13'6" 175 would roughly be a 10 lb step-up, a 170 would be only 5. (I'd highly recommend you try before you buy, as interbrand differences can be large, and even within a brand the stiffness for the exact same length/weight can vary up to 5 lbs.)