Tim Mac in College vs Olympic Champ

[ADTF Academy]

Tim Mac's jumping has been brought up many times. Likewise I meet him when he first got done with college.

At that time I recall he was frustrated with how things were going in his jumping and was to the point of almost putting his pole up. This was in the summer of 1998.


I am wondering if anyone has any video of Tim Mac from college. I wonder how much he changed from his college days (1998 and before) to jumping over 6m.

Does anyone have any video or could get ahold of him and get some. I think it would be very interesting to see what differences he made in his vault.

[VTechVaulter]

i stay in pretty regular contact with Tim, ill drop him a line and see what his thoughts on the matter are

[dj]

good morning

i think he ran better.. swung better and with more confidence..

in 1995 his "6 stride mark" was 53-8 and the takeoff tighter.. 12-6???

in 2004 he was about 54-8 and 13-8 when jumping well...

the poles were matched to his run and plant force...
opinion: many times (90%) vaulters use poles to stiff.. even bubka's poles late in his career looked to strong..

i said it before somewhere but it only took tim .49 seconds from takeoff to maximum bend (back flat to the runway) and to penetrate half the distance from the takeoff point to the bar... this is a major point and was/is a result of... correct speed and technique with the correct pole flex and the confidence to swing as fast as you can.............
if the pole had been stiffer he would not penetrate... as happened when he tried nick's 5.20 pole on one of his 604m jumps..

it is very difficult to maximize the height above grip if the pole is not moving............

6 stride mark............ 54-8
takeoff......................13-8
grip...........................16-4
to maximum bend.......49sec
total time for jump......1.45sec
standards...................65/70
bar............................5.90m

if anyone tried to match these numbers without the same run and plant it would not happen..........

dj

[bel142]

What were his PRs back then verses now?

[dj]

good morning

6 stride"MID"... 53-8
Takeoff.......... 12-6
grip............... 15-9 to 16-0
PR.................18-4



dj

[dj]

ps

that was august 1995.... just out of college

dj

[jftvaulter]

I was training in Knoxville with Mack right after his college days up to the
'04 trials. One conversation I held with him that really sticks out in my mind was that of his takeoff. He spoke of the World Champs in Edmonton, Canada back in '01... and how rediculous he'd felt putting his takeoff mark around 12' 6" and then looking over to watch Markov placing his marks 13'6" to 14'.

http://www.carreroart.com.au/polevault/2100f.htm

Of course if you know Mack, he joked about it saying, "Shoot, I'm screwed." And he was correct. Markov jumped the highest "non Bubka" jump in the history of the sport that evening.

But one of his main focuses was how to move his takoff back far enough to allow for the grip required for his 6.00+ jumps.

We know that those factors can start with the first step of the run, they include the drop, posture, mindset, stride...etc. But I think Mack was proficient at saying "Ok, how do I get my takeoff back to 13'6" - lets adjust this and this and this" until he'd positioned himself to do so.

The week before he left for trials in '04 I spoke with him on the phone. He was extremely optimistic because he had successfully cleared 19+ feet in three seperate competitions within a week (has that ever been done before then?) I vividly remember him talking about how his step was finally moving out because of his drop/arms. I kept wanting to talk about the fact he'd cleared 19 feet three times in 7 days (meets not practice) right before trials and he kept speaking of his takeoff and grip.

The great Dave Johnston is correct in his assessment of Mack's run. Of course it is the greatest factor contributing to his success. DJ has his Ph. D in this field his observations of Mack are probably dead on the little notebook sitting in Mack's training bag from the Olympics.

Another thing that was so remarkable about his evolution to a 6 meter vaulter was his subborness. He was done with jumping 5.70 (a great jump by most vaulter's standards) and stuck to his mission to CHANGE. I think that's another one of his great qualities. He never became complacent. We can all make changes to our run/technique, but the real battle is sticking with the process that will give us our the product we're looking for. When I say he stuck with it, I mean it was a 10 year evolution that came together the week before he left for trials.

Don't believe me? Ask Mack yourself, he'll tell you the exact same thing.

[dj]

hey

go to this site and click on tim..

http://www.polevaulteducation.org/CSpecial.html

i think the comments confirm what jt is saying... and i think tim has/is working on a couple of things to bring his step out a little more and allow him to continue to jump the way he jumps but with a little more energy at the takeoff and/or more energy transfer at the takeoff... which will either give him more "pop" from the pole or a higer grip.. or both...

an extended..active plant is the key with Both arms going up...

look at the cal hs girl tori anthony's clip...in the high school section, that is how you extend at the plant... DO IT and you will jump high..

dj

[baggettpv]

It's not how fast you put your feet down but how fast you bring your feet up. Jumping from a run is best be explaind by Randy Huntington. remember him?

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC

[ADTF Academy]

To add to what Baggett said,

The harder you drive your foot down the quicker it gets to the ground and in return the less distance your body covers. Stride Length is measured in how far your body travels. If you slam your foot down your speed will be reduced. However, we are not saying to reach your foot to gain distance, but simply allow gravity to bring it down it does a great job.


I enjoy hearing others mention its about getting your foot off the ground. The faster your ground contact times the faster you will run. Show me one fast athlete that spends a great deal of time on the ground and I will show you the rest that dont. Want to get faster work on ways of getting your foot off the ground as quick as you can. {top end speed mechanics.}

[VTechVaulter]

To add to what Baggett said,

The harder you drive your foot down the quicker it gets to the ground and in return the less distance your body covers. Stride Length is measured in how far your body travels. If you slam your foot down your speed will be reduced. However, we are not saying to reach your foot to gain distance, but simply allow gravity to bring it down it does a great job.


I enjoy hearing others mention its about getting your foot off the ground. The faster your ground contact times the faster you will run. Show me one fast athlete that spends a great deal of time on the ground and I will show you the rest that dont. Want to get faster work on ways of getting your foot off the ground as quick as you can. {top end speed mechanics.}

while ths is correct, also keep in mind that especially in your opening steps, you must make sure to push through the ground. if your just picking your feet up and down real fast but dont push the ground, you wont go anywhere

[ADTF Academy]

To add to what Baggett said,

The harder you drive your foot down the quicker it gets to the ground and in return the less distance your body covers. Stride Length is measured in how far your body travels. If you slam your foot down your speed will be reduced. However, we are not saying to reach your foot to gain distance, but simply allow gravity to bring it down it does a great job.


I enjoy hearing others mention its about getting your foot off the ground. The faster your ground contact times the faster you will run. Show me one fast athlete that spends a great deal of time on the ground and I will show you the rest that dont. Want to get faster work on ways of getting your foot off the ground as quick as you can. {top end speed mechanics.}

while ths is correct, also keep in mind that especially in your opening steps, you must make sure to push through the ground. if your just picking your feet up and down real fast but dont push the ground, you wont go anywhere

Once again didn't say anything about down real fast. You drive your foot down it gets heavy and is harder to pull it back off the ground. Ground contacts time goes up speed goes down. Secondly, if you move your COM slightly forward and lift your heels from the ground you tell me if you will stand still or will you start to move forward. Will pushing mechanics get you moving, YES! However, if you accidently push back your chest will go excessively down and forward and the pole tip will move forward causing over rotation and poor running mechanics.

ahh well speeds of mid 8 m/s will be fine.