PoleVaultPower.com

Alright...first topic in a while. First let's go back and remember how my season ended:

I was a senior in high school, last year, at (5'7, 130lbs), I vaulted 14' in the indoor season. Well, for the outdoor season, i quit my high school team, and vaulted with a private vault club (heights unlimited). With them, and Coach Al Berardi, I increased my PR to 14'9, only competing twice. During indoor, I competed on a 14' 160, gripping around 13'. From indoor to outdoor, I fixed some "bottom arm issues", and got onto a 15' 150, gripping around 14'. WITH UGLY VAULTS, i cleared 14'9, by about 12 inches. So i'm fairly confident, that if I can apply what I need to, to the vault, I can pop WELL OVER 16', this season. In fact, my goal is 5.20.

After my last meet, on June 6th, I took a month off, and started doing a decathlete's workout, similar to tray hardee's. In addition to the "base-training", I've spent months visualizing what I feel to be the most efficient style of vaulting, so i'll no of no other way to clear bars. Last week, I started doing some light sprint-workouts and gymnastics training, to get back into pole vaulting shape. I've been doing my back-strenthening exercises, all summer, so I should never have to worry about any more back-pain, from taking off under (not that I aim to, but stuff happens )

So my sprint workout is simple. Just to get me back in shape, for practices, which start the 21st. Basically I warm-up, stretch and then do set's of these: jog 200m, get down and do 25 push-ups, jog 125m, sprint 25m, jog 25m, sprint 25m. And repeat that for as long as i can. That all adds to 400m, so I'll usually do 4 of those.

As far as my gymnastics workout, I do a circuit-type workout of various drills.
They include:

-Static Bubka's from a High-Bar (more for strength and proper form)
-Swinging Bubka's on Rings (focusing on chest-drive and a powerful down-swing) HOPE YOU LIKE THE SWING KIRK
-Various Rope Drills (focusing on imitating the vault, best I can)
-"Roll-Back's"...you'll see. (mostly used to get me to stop breaking at the hips, and stay long)

AND, I'll throw in some pole runs (poles are locked up, so I have to pretend), focusing on fast feet and popping off the ground, at take-off. I'm still working on it, for I feel that I still carry too far, but I'm not 100% on that, so let me know what you think. I CAN TOUCH RIM!!!

LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27qgjQo7PmI

Let me know guys. -6P

Hey you can use a broom or something for the pole runs.


What do your college coaches say you should be doing right now? I would worry more about fitting anything you are doing now with their plans for your year.

Best advice I can give you is to steal a pole so that you can do full pole runs - 10/15 every week, without that everything else you do is redundant.

altius wrote:Best advice I can give you is to steal a pole so that you can do full pole runs - 10/15 every week, without that everything else you do is redundant.

Or buy an old used crappy pole and fit a really durable tip to it. As long as you aren't jumping on it, even a lightly defective pole will suffice (a shortened pole or one with a cracked top or bottom (just saw it off)).

You don't want bad habits coming from simulating take-off without a pole.

true, thanks for the tips. I'll work on finding something to use (there's huge bamboo tress on campus, so maybe i'll snag one of those haha) -6P

Your coach is not stupid for wanting you to push two feet off your top hand before moving you up in grip. He is emphasizing technique and safety. Also you said so yourself your jumps at 14'9 you did not have very good form. It's best to learn perfect form with a low grip and then gradually move up, If you always grip and rip you will never learn to jump properly and there for have a very hard time of reaching your goal of 520 this year. when doing a proper warm up you should jog at least 800 meters and do several drills emphasizing sprinting technique so you get a full active warm up. See Neo vault a complete warm up.

kcvault wrote:Your coach is not stupid for wanting you to push two feet off your top hand before moving you up in grip. He is emphasizing technique and safety. Also you said so yourself your jumps at 14'9 you did not have very good form. It's best to learn perfect form with a low grip and then gradually move up, If you always grip and rip you will never learn to jump properly and there for have a very hard time of reaching your goal of 520 this year. when doing a proper warm up you should jog at least 800 meters and do several drills emphasizing sprinting technique so you get a full active warm up. See Neo vault a complete warm up.

well, here's the thing, i agree with you about the grip, however, it's hard to do much, with a 13' grip. however, my best, unofficial push-off, was 26", (14'3, gripping 12'9). So on that respect, it's a control thing, however, when jumping 14'9, gripping, 14', i feel that was a mental thing, my last chance at qualifying for nationals. This year, i'll be instilling everything a good vault contains, and nothing else. If i can apply what i do on the rings, high-bar and rope, to the vault, great things will happen. I'm very very confident that this will be an excellent season. -6P

6P, thanks for your edit. All PV coaches deserve respect.

I'll be looking at your vid soon ... and commenting on your ring drills.

Kirk

An excellent point Kirk. I would like to add that when starting your college career you should keep an open mind regarding your coach, and be very respectful. More often times than not the disagreements I had with my coaches were more in regards to nomenclature than anything else. We'd both be thinking the same thing, but would say it very differently. The same thing occasionally happens on this board as well, and it usually steers the conversation away from productivity for a short time. My point, and this may be a bit out on a limb, is that I'd rather have a great report with my coach, and trust him on things that contradict me current views, especially the smaller things, than to be constantly arguing with him. If you develop trust with one another you may find that he'll listen to your ideas as well (and maybe you could give him BtB2 for his birthday )

Edited** and I'll pick him up a copy of B2B2. All I'm saying on that

6P, in your 3-lefts and 4-lefts takeoff drills ... try to simulate the right position of your arms. I may be a little picky on this, but why not try to put the bottom arm in the right position? It's all about visualization of what you'll be doing with a pole in your hands. Better yet ... put a stubby pole in your hands, and you'll have the right grip. Maybe even a full-length pole ... as others have discussed above.

Nice that you can touch the rim ... but ... be sure that you don't "crouch and spring" like that in a real vault. Try to touch the rim with the same kind of takeoff that you use in a real vault. Remember that to touch the rim, you're not only going to crouch, but you're going to have a flat-footed takeoff too. You shouldn't have a flat-footed takeoff. Discussed in other threads in the past year, but ALWAYS be thinking about and trying to simulate REAL PV technique when you do drills. Visualization.

Highbar drill ... still don't like your reverse grip ... both palms should be facing forwards ... still not a good swing, breaking at the hips ... whoever said that breaking at the hips in this drill was bad? I don't see any backswing before the downswing ... how can you call that a Reverse C when you hardly hyperextend at all ... sorry for the criticism but I'm just trying to give you pointers ... tough love ...

Rings drill ... I like your hyperextension better here ... it's a true Reverse C ... and I agree that you're doing everything that your "titles" say you're doing ... much better than on the highbar ... why can't you do the same on the highbar? ... notice how you're gripping the rings ... in a natural grip ... can't see it closely but I'll bet you that it's closer to a "palms forwards" grip than to a "reverse grip" like you use on the highbar ... I know this argument is over a year old ... but I rest my case. Altho I really like your ring swings, please notice that it's still not ONE SMOOTH MOTION ... instead you SNAP ... and then you pause ... and then you MUSCLE UP to an invert. Done right, this should become one smooth motion ... the snap should blend into the upswing and invert ... you'll get that with more time and more practice ... but from what I recall from a year ago, I see some great improvement here!

Swinging rope drill ... not bad ... not bad at all ... BUT ... you may not realize it, but you're hunching your top shoulder ... you should be stretching it out, and relying on squeezing the top hand onto the rope ... with your shoulder and arm FULLY ENLONGATED ... to simulate the vault a bit better. Maybe one-armed giants on the highbar will stretch out those muscles ... JOKING!!! Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if you're hunching like this when you're vaulting now ... hunching ... and not fully enlongating your shoulder and arm ... you need to fix that. So NOT JOKING now ... just swing on the rings or highbar (both legs down) ... just to stretch out your arms but still hold on tight ... that will give you the confidence that you can swing ELONGATED on the rope. Did you also notice that you're not getting any SNAP in that drill? Done right, you should be able to snap to an invert ... in one smooth motion ... like on highbar and rings ... altho it's admittedly more difficult ... but work on it!

Floor drills ... you've got the right idea, but your timing seems a bit off ... and you're not using your back muscles enough to EXTEND. Done right, you'll rock back a lot further before you begin to extend ... that way your extension will be more powerful ... you should even be able to extend right up to a handstand. That little "pull" that you're doing with your arms is unecessary ... it's not an essential part of the drill ... and in fact is a little too premature if you're visualizing a 16+ vault. The way I did that drill, I used the nap of my neck (near your collar) as the fulcrum point to extend from. That last extension to a handstand proves that you can do it ... now just practice THAT a bit more ... going from rock back to extension to handstand in ONE SMOOTH MOTION. I understand that this is just a simple drill ... but challenge yourself to excel in it ... by SHOOTING to a handstand so hard and so quickly that it becomes effortless ... you'll discover what I mean by doing it right. Your goal should be to get your feet as high as possible ... SHOOTING to a handstand ... the MAIN idea of this drill is to get your body moving in the right direction ... UP ... no matter how you do it ... it's the feel of adjusting mid-shoot that you should be striving for ... so you shoot your legs straight UP.

Overall ... very good improvement in the past year!

Discuss these points with your new college coach ... and good luck in your college career! Nice to see you're fulfilling your dream!

Kirk

KirkB wrote:6P, in your 3-lefts and 4-lefts takeoff drills ... try to simulate the right position of your arms. I may be a little picky on this, but why not try to put the bottom arm in the right position? It's all about visualization of what you'll be doing with a pole in your hands. Better yet ... put a stubby pole in your hands, and you'll have the right grip. Maybe even a full-length pole ... as others have discussed above.

yup yup, practices start monday, so i'll have access to poles, from now on. Remember, they're all locked up and i don't have any stubby's. perhaps i'll break a pole this year, and i'll have one.

Nice that you can touch the rim ... but ... be sure that you don't "crouch and spring" like that in a real vault. Try to touch the rim with the same kind of takeoff that you use in a real vault. Remember that to touch the rim, you're not only going to crouch, but you're going to have a flat-footed takeoff too. You shouldn't have a flat-footed takeoff. Discussed in other threads in the past year, but ALWAYS be thinking about and trying to simulate REAL PV technique when you do drills. Visualization.

yea, i noticed that i was flat-footed, opposed to staying on the balls of my feet, and using the natural lever that high jumpers and long jumpers use, with that nice LONG-SHORT step. i'll work on that.

Highbar drill ... still don't like your reverse grip ... both palms should be facing forwards ... still not a good swing, breaking at the hips ... whoever said that breaking at the hips in this drill was bad? I don't see any backswing before the downswing ... how can you call that a Reverse C when you hardly hyperextend at all ... sorry for the criticism but I'm just trying to give you pointers ... tough love ...

because, when the pole turns to my left, during a real vault, i ended up swinging to inversion, with opposite. I'm still not sure why people on this site fight me on this, i've read all the posts, but it's more sport-specific to do it with the switched-grip, since a vaulter ends up in that position, anyway. ABOUT THE BREAKING AT THE HIPS, reemember Adam Sarafian? he's from NJ and went 17'4 in high school, he's a little guy, like me and on of my favorite vautlers, but one thing he did, was he broke at the hips too much, after swinging to the cord. The longer you can stay, the long of a pendulum you are and the more energy you can put into the pole. Break at the hips too much, is almost the same as tucking and shooting, since how much smaller you're making yourself. And these are STATIC, meaning i wasn't working on a powerful swing, I was doing this SLOWLY, to try and work my abs. Plus, this high-bar is kinda wobbly, so I'm afraid if I swung, it might topple over. But that's not the point of the drill, anyway.

Rings drill ... I like your hyperextension better here ... it's a true Reverse C ... and I agree that you're doing everything that your "titles" say you're doing ... much better than on the highbar ... why can't you do the same on the highbar? ... notice how you're gripping the rings ... in a natural grip ... can't see it closely but I'll bet you that it's closer to a "palms forwards" grip than to a "reverse grip" like you use on the highbar ... I know this argument is over a year old ... but I rest my case. Altho I really like your ring swings, please notice that it's still not ONE SMOOTH MOTION ... instead you SNAP ... and then you pause ... and then you MUSCLE UP to an invert. Done right, this should become one smooth motion ... the snap should blend into the upswing and invert ... you'll get that with more time and more practice ... but from what I recall from a year ago, I see some great improvement here!

Trust me, I'm swinging to inversion. I'm making sure, when i do these that I'm not really inverting by any means, besides my swing. I'll admit that it's not a constant speed, which of course, i'm still working on, but where do you see an actual "pause"? perhaps on one of them, but certainly not all of them.

Swinging rope drill ... not bad ... not bad at all ... BUT ... you may not realize it, but you're hunching your top shoulder ... you should be stretching it out, and relying on squeezing the top hand onto the rope ... with your shoulder and arm FULLY ENLONGATED ... to simulate the vault a bit better. Maybe one-armed giants on the highbar will stretch out those muscles ... JOKING!!! Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if you're hunching like this when you're vaulting now ... hunching ... and not fully enlongating your shoulder and arm ... you need to fix that. So NOT JOKING now ... just swing on the rings or highbar (both legs down) ... just to stretch out your arms but still hold on tight ... that will give you the confidence that you can swing ELONGATED on the rope. Did you also notice that you're not getting any SNAP in that drill? Done right, you should be able to snap to an invert ... in one smooth motion ... like on highbar and rings ... altho it's admittedly more difficult ... but work on it!

I totally agree with you, on every part of this. I noticed that after i filmed and reviewed it, what was going on, so i'll definitely work on these and post new video within the next month.

Floor drills ... you've got the right idea, but your timing seems a bit off ... and you're not using your back muscles enough to EXTEND. Done right, you'll rock back a lot further before you begin to extend ... that way your extension will be more powerful ... you should even be able to extend right up to a handstand. That little "pull" that you're doing with your arms is unecessary ... it's not an essential part of the drill ... and in fact is a little too premature if you're visualizing a 16+ vault. The way I did that drill, I used the nap of my neck (near your collar) as the fulcrum point to extend from. That last extension to a handstand proves that you can do it ... now just practice THAT a bit more ... going from rock back to extension to handstand in ONE SMOOTH MOTION. I understand that this is just a simple drill ... but challenge yourself to excel in it ... by SHOOTING to a handstand so hard and so quickly that it becomes effortless ... you'll discover what I mean by doing it right. Your goal should be to get your feet as high as possible ... SHOOTING to a handstand ... the MAIN idea of this drill is to get your body moving in the right direction ... UP ... no matter how you do it ... it's the feel of adjusting mid-shoot that you should be striving for ... so you shoot your legs straight UP.

yea, theses definitely weren't as clean as i'd like them to be. so i'll be working on them and post new ones, in my next video.

Overall ... very good improvement in the past year!

Discuss these points with your new college coach ... and good luck in your college career! Nice to see you're fulfilling your dream!

Kirk

Thanks Kirk, you're only going to see improvements from now on, so expect good things and I'll keep everyone posted on my progress. -6P