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Tim, I've moved this topic into this new thread, as I think there's many things that we can share with the vaulting community that we learned in our careers.

Tim McMichael wrote:... Bryde has the level of awareness that I consider mastery of the vault. It took me decades to get to the point where I was aware and in control of everything that was going on in my jump. At that point my only limitation was the shape I was in. I had no problem at all with starting within a few inches of my P.R. and it was this consistency that got me into meets that I really had no business being in. The development of this level of awareness is essential to achieving maximum potential. There has to be some way of teaching this. ...

By our own admissions, we've had some physical shortcomings. Whoops - sorry for the short joke - NOT!

But seriously, I was slow and you were short. What we lacked in physical stature or speed, we made up for in other ways, such as "perfecting" our technique, and learning how our bodies could be leveraged based on our distinct body types and skill sets. Yes, I would like to team up with you find a way to put this "awareness" into a can, and $ell it to the ma$$e$. But a more practical thought is to just try our best to share our knowledge of our beloved craft on this forum free of charge. You've been doing this for a few years now, and I've also recently volunteered for this role.

Despite its title, I think this thread should not only be about clarifying the similarities and differences between our techniques, but it should also be about the "mental game" of pole vaulting, which I sense we both agree is just as important (if not MORE important) than the physical game.

Tim McMichael wrote:... My vault incorporated many of the things that Bryde describes. The only significant differences were my attack angle and the tuck. I got my trail leg back freakishly far by driving my lead knee, chest, and head forward as far as possible. I had a really low takeoff angle that I feel was possible because of the stiffness of the poles I was on. I have described this on many other posts, but I'll repeat it. 138 pounds of body weight on a 190 6.4 flex will lift you off the ground at takeoff no matter what. I stayed behind the pole as far as possible and caught up with the chord of the pole as late as possible to keep my center of gravity low and behind the pole, which caused it to roll into the pit and gave me the penetration I needed as my trail leg whipped through. This necessitated a tuck to catch up with the timing of the pole.

Did you forget that I did a free takeoff and you loaded your pole prior to takeoff? Viva la difference!

Tim, I have further questions, but I'll leave them for later.

I think that we "discovered" our distinct techniques by traveling different roads, in different eras. I copied some things from Isaakson and Roberts, but I also invented and/or self-discovered some things on my own and with my coach. I imagine that you did a similar thing. Your path seemed to follow that of Joe Dial, and (from what seems to be inferred), his dad, who was your coach (?) and Joe's coach? Maybe I misunderstood that. I don't know much about Joe Dial, but I did watch a vid of his last week. I wanted to understand what you meant by a "drive vault".

At any rate, it's interesting to me that we found common technique problems, and solved many of them in similar ways, yet others quite differently. I think of us as "explorers", charting new waters. Some pundits will say that Petrov already charted those waters, which is not true in either your case or my case.

My career ended 11 years after Bubka's started. In your case, you had the advantage of copying either Bubka's technique or Dial's technique, and I think you chose Dials for somewhat obvious reasons. I doubt that you had as much access to Bubka's model as Dial's. We also PURPOSELY modified our techniques to mitigate our physical shortcomings, so even if technical information about elite vaulters might have been readily available, it didn't necessarily fit our physiques. Tell me about this.

I should add here that your career was also PRIOR to the internet age. Neither one of us had the luxury of free - almost unlimited - access to some the best PV coaches and athletes in the world, and slo-mo video analysis available at your fingertips. (We used Super-8 film, which we couldn't watch in slo-mo, or the film would melt. I guess you used VHS.) So that's what I mean when I suggest that we were "explorers". Not traveling blind, but also not having any well-documented charts or models to follow.

Kirk

You are absolutely right about no documentation. I trained alone for the best years of my career, which meant there was no one to hold the camera. I developed what I was doing on feel alone. I got to the point where I could see my jump in my mind's eye as I went through it more accurately than a video could ever show. This is because the kinesthetic feel of the vault determined my visual perception. I could feel and see the entire vault happening in front of me timing wise. It was like seeing my body moving in the future and just following it up.

Many of my innovations came to me in something like the form of dreams or visions. As I visualized my vault I became instinctively aware of adjustments that would transfer more energy. Because of this my jump became a unique thing that was an extension of my own personality and motivation. I don't think this inner aspect of the vault is emphasized or even touched upon enough, and honestly, it is more important than any cold, clinical analysis of proper form. This is one of the reasons I would never try to change to another technical model. It is also why successful athletes who do are often met with disaster. There are other considerations involved. Just because another model may be physically superior does not mean that it will be better for a given athlete. I would have lost the precision that put me in the world class ranks. I was, for instance, the best in the world at holding the bar on. Joe Dial would dispute this, but I promise, I was better. A dubious honor, but it was within the rules, and I needed every advantage I could get. Because I knew exactly where I would be over the bar a long time before I got there, and I could see my jump in my mind unfolding in front of me, it was nothing to get my left hand in a balanced place on the bar and put it back where it belonged. I often left it up there without a quiver or bounce, just as it was before the jump began.

I still maintain that I would not have jumped higher doing anything other than what I did. How in the world could a person my size even hope to compete with athletes who have to jump off of the ground to get the jump started?

I know what is coming. The coaches who feel that discussion of anything other than the Petrov model is a disservice to the sport will chime in. And they will say that we are hurting the sport by doing so. But this thread is more about how two limited athletes maximized their potential by developing a precise understanding of their own vaults and the differences between those jumps. No matter what model an athlete uses, this kind of awareness must be developed to jump as high as possible. Most vaulters, especially beginners and intermediates, hit the box, black out, and find themselves over the bar without any awareness at all of what happened in between. This is a far cry from feeling and manipulating every particle of position, timing, and energy in the jump. At one point, for instance, on a twenty step run, I could deliberately get two inches under in order to stiffen a pole when I was stuck in between and needed a shade lower flex to make a given bar. This kind of thing is possible, and all we have to do is watch Tiger Woods play with a wedge or go to the mastery of martial arts which is a tradition far more ancient than anything we do with fiberglass.

Tim McMichael wrote:... I developed what I was doing on feel alone. I got to the point where I could see my jump in my mind's eye as I went through it more accurately than a video could ever show. This is because the kinesthetic feel of the vault determined my visual perception. I could feel and see the entire vault happening in front of me timing wise. It was like seeing my body moving in the future and just following it up.

I was a little more down to earth than you about this. I had no magical qualities, or "sixth sense". I just made sure that every training jump counted. I focused on one flaw at a time. I usually did "iterative improvement". Actually, my process was more one of learning a technique in the gym, perfecting it there, then taking it out to the stadium or the pavilion to try it on a short run vault. Once that worked OK, then I tried it on my long run vault. There's no secret to this, it's just rote learning. Repetitive in the gym, until your "muscle memory" has it down pat. This is the best utilization of your training time. To expect to learn a new technique in an actual vault (unless it's just a minor imperfection) is a bit futile, IMHO.

Tim McMichael wrote:... Many of my innovations came to me in something like the form of dreams or visions.

Mine all came while "playing around" in the gym. But speaking of dreams, I only dreamed about my best vaults. That's why I'm able to explain them in such detail, 36 years later. the dreams were the outcome of the actual vault, as well as the memory of watching the Super-8 film of it. So I dreamed about how it felt, as well as how I saw this "person" in my dream, clearing the bar. In my dreams, I sometimes cleared phenomenal heights. Crazy heights, like over a barn roof, for instance. I also dreamed of flying, as in soaring thru the air without any visible means of propulsion. It wasn't just over bars, it was more like flying like a bird, but without any wings. I don't know what my dreams were trying to tell me, but they say there's always a logical explanation for a dream.

But if you ask me to describe what went wrong during any of my vaulting accidents, I honestly don't remember. I just remember landing half-way into the box. I don't even remember if they were short run or long run vaults. I only remembered my good vaults. However, I do remember the time when I cleared the bar and the pit at the same time, to win the meet. That one left me scarred for life, but maybe it was because it was the winning jump of the meet that I remember it!

Tim McMichael wrote:... I was, for instance, the best in the world at holding the bar on.

Hmm ... I never tried that. Actually, I usually either cleared the bar by a mile, or totally bailed. I didn't get much practice at perfecting my bar clearance technique. Hey Tim, maybe if you just jumped a little higher, you wouldn't have to resort to holding the bar. Seriously, I consider that "negative thinking". If you know you're going to clear it, and you do everything in the bottom parts of your vault to make it happen, then there's nothing left to do at the top. I know what you're saying about salvaging a vault, but in my experience, you're already sunk if you're planning on squeaking over the bar.

Tim McMichael wrote:... I still maintain that I would not have jumped higher doing anything other than what I did. How in the world could a person my size even hope to compete with athletes who have to jump off of the ground to get the jump started?

How tall are you? Once I know, I'd like to compare you to Isaakson. Have you ever watched him? Not sure what you mean by the second sentence. Isaakson had a very good free takeoff. It was his way of adding height to his takeoff. I forget his LJ and HJ PRs, but they were good. How does that compare to you?

Tim McMichael wrote:... this thread is more about how two limited athletes maximized their potential by developing a precise understanding of their own vaults and the differences between those jumps. No matter what model an athlete uses, this kind of awareness must be developed to jump as high as possible.

Another way to say this is that what we lacked in physical stature or ability, we made up for in other ways. I have always maintained that someone with my technique and some decent runway speed would break the WR. However, I keep forgetting that I did have these other attributes that you need in order to be a good pole vaulter. You need to really understand your own body. You need to really understand the mechanics of the event. You don't have to be a physics whiz, but you need to understand the basics, and the principles of cause and effect, and experimentation. Most of all, you need to have a true HUNGER to excel, and to feed that hunger by training insane hours every day, week, month, year. It takes more than just speed and grip to jump high. It's a very complicated mental game. Hartwig and Mack have mastered their craft not by perfect technique, but by all the other attributes that it takes to win.

OK, I'm off my podium now.

Kirk

I was a little more down to earth than you about this. I had no magical qualities, or "sixth sense". I just made sure that every training jump counted. I focused on one flaw at a time. I usually did "iterative improvement". Actually, my process was more one of learning a technique in the gym, perfecting it there, then taking it out to the stadium or the pavilion to try it on a short run vault. Once that worked OK, then I tried it on my long run vault. There's no secret to this, it's just rote learning. Repetitive in the gym, until your "muscle memory" has it down pat. This is the best utilization of your training time. To expect to learn a new technique in an actual vault (unless it's just a minor imperfection) is a bit futile, IMHO.

No magic or sixth sense. I believe this is the kind of thing anyone can develop with enough repetitions and awareness. I could, however, make major changes in a vault by simply feeling and seeing what I wanted to do first. There were limitations to this. I was never able to do a Huffman roll, though I did try; but I could for instance, double or single leg swing, use a strong or weak left arm, that kind of thing. I'm sure there are others who can do this too. I tried a number of things to go higher, but none of them worked. I lacked the conceptual framework for the Petrov model, so I was unable to give that any fair attempt. Altus and others insist I could have gone higher with that model, but in my opinion there is no way to know. Also, when I talk about control and precision, I should also say that it was not like that all the time. Sometimes it would last for several meets in a row, or even a whole season. But there were also stretches when I was absolutely lost, usually when I was sick or hurt.

Hey Tim, maybe if you just jumped a little higher, you wouldn't have to resort to holding the bar. Seriously, I consider that "negative thinking". If you know you're going to clear it, and you do everything in the bottom parts of your vault to make it happen, then there's nothing left to do at the top. I know what you're saying about salvaging a vault, but in my experience, you're already sunk if you're planning on squeaking over the bar.

One of the things I tried to do to help with consistency was to make every bar by the smallest comfortable margin. This allowed my top end to be wider at lower heights. I wanted to be able to have the standards as much as 6" off on my opening height and still make the bar. The only reason I had to hold a bar on was if I was coming down on it. I got started holding bars because there was a stretch when I was just learning to line up the top of my jump when I seemed to be able to clear 18' with everything but my teeth. It started as a purely defensive measure to keep from needing a dental plan to continue my career. As far as being the best at it, it is also important to note that there were only about four or five of us who could do it at all. Volz invented it; Duplantis was pretty good; and then there was Joe and I. Some of the French guys were decent as well. All of our PRs, however, came on clean clearances. You have to be above a bar to hold it on. If you are going to flat-out miss it, you can't trap it against the standards; it is off the pegs before you can get a hand on it. It didn't help us jump higher, just more consistently. If the standards were in the right place we turned our thumbs in to hollow out the angle of our arms and just sailed over.

Tim McMichael wrote:... I still maintain that I would not have jumped higher doing anything other than what I did. How in the world could a person my size even hope to compete with athletes who have to jump off of the ground to get the jump started?

How tall are you? Once I know, I'd like to compare you to Isaakson. Have you ever watched him? Not sure what you mean by the second sentence. Isaakson had a very good free takeoff. It was his way of adding height to his takeoff. I forget his LJ and HJ PRs, but they were good. How does that compare to you?

I am 5' 8" and weighed under 140 in my prime. My max long jump was 20'4" I never tried to high jump, but I could jump over a hurdle flat footed; that is about it. I love Issakson's jump. It looked like it was on rails with the clearance being the inevitable result of the approach and takeoff. Awesome. I wore out the only video I had of his jump. Mr. Dial modeled my jump as an improvement on Buckingham, so that was the general shape of what developed, a much more violent attack with two distinct phases of the jump. Issackson's jump was all one piece and flowed up over the bar.

When I talk about not jumping off of the ground at takeoff, I really mean it. I have had several discussions about this aspect of my jump with a number of people, and no one really believes that this is what was happening. Pretty much everyone says that I must be mistaken and that I was jumping off the ground without knowing it. I am certain that this was not the case. Dean Dial looked at the vault as the process of storing energy into a system and then getting it back out. He knew that I would never be athletic enough to take a high angle, so he helped me cut poles down till their design matched up with my vault, and then he taught me to drive straight through the box. He wanted me to compress the pole down to its maximum bend as quickly as possible and then roll it into the pit while reaching a position from which I could execute a powerful extension, turn, and push. In his words, "Drive it to Wichita and frog up on it!" Which meant take everything straight through the takeoff for as long as possible and then tuck to catch the pole. Since I could not win the grip height game, he taught me to beat people with the length of my push off. Joe did the same thing, but with a higher angle of attack. He was much more gifted athlete than I was, so his jump developed differently, but with the same general principles in place. In fact, one of the few things Joe and his father argued about was grip height and attack angle. Dean wanted lower grips and a lower angle, and Joe wanted to go to higher grips and a higher angle because he felt that he had to to compete with Bubka. I didn't have that option, so I stayed with what Dean taught me. As I have said on numerous other posts. Joe still holds the world record push off: 19' 6" with a 15' 9" grip, a 4 foot 5 inch push. He was 5' 9" and 155 lbs at his best. We have often speculated about what would happen if a 6' 4" athlete were to reproduce our technique exactly. It would mean a 17' grip and 20' 9" vault. Not bad for something almost diametrically opposed to conventional wisdom.

One caveat: for any developing vaulter reading this. It is really not a good idea to try it. Unless you are on poles at least 40 pounds over your weight in 5 meter sticks or 50 to 60 pounds over in 15' poles (or something equivalent for women or younger athletes) don't give this a second thought. Obviously, the lead up to a jump like this takes a long developmental period when getting on big sticks is the only focus, and even then there is no guarantee you will be able to catch them. Almost everyone would be better off staying with a model that allows for progressive, incremental improvements and early success. It is much, much, easier to transition to Petrov's model. Old Mr. Dial is no longer with us; I won't teach it except under very special circumstances and only if I have years to work with. Joe is busy at ORU with his own jumpers, and that is it as far as anyone left who could reproduce what we did. There are also issues regarding every aspect of this jump from the position of the hands to the method of bar clearance and everything in between that have to be right for it to work. Everything I have written about this technique on this forum is not enough to learn it.

Tim McMichael wrote:... I trained alone for the best years of my career, which meant there was no one to hold the camera. I developed what I was doing on feel alone.

Tim McMichael wrote:... Everything I have written about this technique on this forum is not enough to learn it.

And yet you and Joe learned it on your own, with Mr. Dial as coach, and then during your "best years", you continued to perfect your technique.

Tim, yours is an amazing story, and should be proof enough to any of you aspiring young vaulters with a burning desire to master the pole vault that elite pole vaulters aren't born, they're made.

If you want to make yourself into a good pole vaulter, here's some pointers (just random thoughts, in no particular order) ...

1. Don't let any physical shortcomings discourage you. Just do your best. Ultimately, it's you against your PR.

2. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and there's more than one way to succeed in pole vaulting. Technique is only one variable. Others are training methods, mental attitude, and learning every "trick of the trade" that you possibly can.

3. Sometimes a vaulter's life can be a lonely one. You may not have any other vaulters or coaches to train with. If you don't live in a big city, this is quite common. You have to figure things out yourself. That should not stop you from pursuing your dreams. You may even need to be innovative to build or find the training devices that you need. Even if you live in a big city, you need gym equipment close to home. Figure out the need, then find the best solution. Wishful thinking doesn't help. You need to take action.

4. Each vaulter travels a slightly different path. He learns from coaches, books, fellow athletes, and self-discovery. The self-discovery part may be more important than all the rest. But if you lack that part - if you lack innovation - then where's your competitive edge? If you vault exactly like the athlete that's an inch taller or a step faster, you can't possibly win consistently.

5. Soak up all the knowledge you can, from all of your training buddies, coaches, competitors, internet forums (PVP), books (BTB2), etc. Don't follow any advice blindly - you have to understand "why" first. Instead, consider all the options, experiment with them, weigh the pros and cons, and do what you think feels like the best option. I'm referring to training methods as well as technique here.

6. Realize that it's your career, so YOU make all the final decisions. Listen to your coach, but it's your life you're living, so don't just go thru the motions of doing what your coach tells you to do. You coach is an advisor. You're the decision maker.

7. Share your knowledge with your coach, teammates, and competitors. It's infectious. You always get back more than you receive.

8. Walk into every competition with a "can do" attitude. Decide whether you're going to PR or whether you're going to win, or whether you can do both. Then just do it. Don't expect to win and PR in every meet. You have to make choices. Sometimes you need someone to NH in order to win. The odds are that this will happen more than you think. Count on it, and plan your jumps accordingly. A win is a win.

9. Treat bad weather as your secret weapon. If it's windy or rainy, here's your chance to beat better athletes that cringe at the weather and head for shelter. A win is a win. And no matter how unimportant the meet is, use it as a learning experience. If you learn to win in the rain, then when you get to a big competition and it pours, suddenly you're the favorite, and you know it. The self-confidence makes you unbeatable. Rain and wind can be your friend. Use weather to your advantage.

10. Sometimes a bronze is as good as a win. Just set your goal, visualize success, then live it. Just ask Jan Johnson what the difference is between a bronze and 4th place. It's huge. For you, this might be at the district or the state meet. Just set your goal, visualize success, then live it.

Tim, without you actually listing these attributes of what it takes to become a good vaulter despite physical limitations, I'm guessing that you would agree with most of these; you have "been there, done that"; and you can add many, many more pointers to the list.

Kirk

That is one of the best posts ever. That is how it's done. I have come across so many athletes who are upset if everything is not perfect and who rely solely on coaches and facilities to achieve success. They feel that all they have to do is show up and vault with no ownership of their own effort and commitment. They also tend to hop from one coach to the next, never satisfied because there is no magical improvement.

Here is an example of one of the small things that I consider the difference between someone who will and an someone who won't fulfill their potential: In my experience, most athletes like to lift with music blasting from a stereo system in the weight room. I can't stand it. I would much rather lift in absolute silence, especially for big lifts. I need all my concentration. Getting under 100 lb dumbbells is a huge risk, especially alone. This made the fact that I was lifting by myself a positive and not a negative. This was also true of the times I was jumping completely alone, especially in the indoor facility. It was scary, but it forced me to be very focused, and it helped develop my commitment to every jump. Sometimes I had someone to train with, sometimes I didn't, but the point is that it didn't matter. I don’t want to leave the wrong impression, I was no superman, and I wasn’t always alone, but when I was, it didn't make any difference.

Here is another example. To get strong enough to vault as high as you can, you need three sets of dumbbells that are around your max, a high-bar, a medicine ball, and somewhere you can run 70 yards. I have done it with less than this, and I have been in multiple gyms in Europe where a monster vaulter such as Istvan Bagula had nothing more than that to train with. The 18'5" jump of mine on Youtube came during a season when I was working three part time jobs. By the time I finished work I was too exhausted to train. Everything at OU was locked up and empty by the time I felt able to go, so my training consisted of sprints on the track, plyometrics, and high bar work on a support bar that held up the lunch room pavilion. I was able to actually vault in practice about once every two weeks.

There is always that guy whose training consists of jumping the fence to get on a high school track and doing pushups every night. Hershel Walker comes to mind. Here is a quote from him:

"My parents didn't have a lot of money. My high school didn't have a lot of money to afford a lot of the expensive weights. You know all this stuff. They used that as an excuse. I started doing push-ups and sit-ups during commercials as I was watching TV. And started doing about, sometimes 2,000 push-ups, 3,000 sit-ups, 1500 pull-ups, 1000 dips, or different things like that. I started creating different hand positions for all that, then I learned that could work you out."


Athletes with less than perfect situations need to realize that they can still reach their dreams.

KirkB wrote:1. Don't let any physical shortcomings discourage you. Just do your best. Ultimately, it's you against your PR.

2. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and there's more than one way to succeed in pole vaulting. Technique is only one variable. Others are training methods, mental attitude, and learning every "trick of the trade" that you possibly can.

3. Sometimes a vaulter's life can be a lonely one. You may not have any other vaulters or coaches to train with. If you don't live in a big city, this is quite common. You have to figure things out yourself. That should not stop you from pursuing your dreams. You may even need to be innovative to build or find the training devices that you need. Even if you live in a big city, you need gym equipment close to home. Figure out the need, then find the best solution. Wishful thinking doesn't help. You need to take action.

4. Each vaulter travels a slightly different path. He learns from coaches, books, fellow athletes, and self-discovery. The self-discovery part may be more important than all the rest. But if you lack that part - if you lack innovation - then where's your competitive edge? If you vault exactly like the athlete that's an inch taller or a step faster, you can't possibly win consistently.

5. Soak up all the knowledge you can, from all of your training buddies, coaches, competitors, internet forums (PVP), books (BTB2), etc. Don't follow any advice blindly - you have to understand "why" first. Instead, consider all the options, experiment with them, weigh the pros and cons, and do what you think feels like the best option. I'm referring to training methods as well as technique here.

6. Realize that it's your career, so YOU make all the final decisions. Listen to your coach, but it's your life you're living, so don't just go thru the motions of doing what your coach tells you to do. You coach is an advisor. You're the decision maker.

7. Share your knowledge with your coach, teammates, and competitors. It's infectious. You always get back more than you receive.

8. Walk into every competition with a "can do" attitude. Decide whether you're going to PR or whether you're going to win, or whether you can do both. Then just do it. Don't expect to win and PR in every meet. You have to make choices. Sometimes you need someone to NH in order to win. The odds are that this will happen more than you think. Count on it, and plan your jumps accordingly. A win is a win.

9. Treat bad weather as your secret weapon. If it's windy or rainy, here's your chance to beat better athletes that cringe at the weather and head for shelter. A win is a win. And no matter how unimportant the meet is, use it as a learning experience. If you learn to win in the rain, then when you get to a big competition and it pours, suddenly you're the favorite, and you know it. The self-confidence makes you unbeatable. Rain and wind can be your friend. Use weather to your advantage.

10. Sometimes a bronze is as good as a win. Just set your goal, visualize success, then live it. Just ask Jan Johnson what the difference is between a bronze and 4th place. It's huge. For you, this might be at the district or the state meet. Just set your goal, visualize success, then live it.
Kirk

This is a pure wisdom - hands-on guide how to succeed in sport or professional carrer or anything else in life. Amen!

Tim McMichael wrote:Here is another example. To get strong enough to vault as high as you can, you need three sets of dumbbells that are around your max, a high-bar, a medicine ball, and somewhere you can run 70 yards. I have done it with less than this, and I have been in multiple gyms in Europe where a monster vaulter such as Istvan Bagula had nothing more than that to train with. The 18'5" jump of mine on Youtube came during a season when I was working three part time jobs. By the time I finished work I was too exhausted to train. Everything at OU was locked up and empty by the time I felt able to go, so my training consisted of sprints on the track, plyometrics, and high bar work on a support bar that held up the lunch room pavilion. I was able to actually vault in practice about once every two weeks.

My coach always told us that good practice could be done in bathroom. And he practiced what he preached. Many times when weather was bad, we had training session in 30ft long hall, using few hurdles, few dumbbells and 6 step stairways.

My coach always told us that good practice could be done in bathroom.

Awersome, I'm going to remember that one, and use it in my coaching.

Tim McMichael wrote:

My coach always told us that good practice could be done in bathroom.

Awersome, I'm going to remember that one, and use it in my coaching.

We used to have quick 10-15 min workout - usually some stretching during the travel, either by bus or by train. Once we had standing long jump competition in the plane