ADVANTAGE FOR FEMALE VAULTERS

[H.I.S.]

I hear a lot about how men can get away with imperfections in their jump due to their ability to "muscle through". This has been stated as a big advantage male vaulters have over female vaulters. However one advantage often overlook that women have over the men is their weight/pole rating ratio.

To my knowledge it is a desired standard to jump on a pole rated 20-30 lbs over your own weight. I've seen more girls reach this goal than men, but that may be due to the males desire to not bother with a stiffer pole because they are obsessed with pole length. This is based on my observations of high school vaulters. But anyways.

A female that is 130lbs jumping on a 150lb pole is 26% above their wieght.

A male that is 170lbs jumping on a 190 is 34% above their weight.

Both vaulters are on poles 20 lbs over their respected weights, but the female gets 8% more unbending energy from the pole.

I understand there are a number of variables that can have an impact on this topic or there are some male vaulters out there in the 130lbs range and so on and so fourth.

Just curious to see what everyone else thinks?

[KirkB]

A female that is 130lbs jumping on a 150lb pole is 26% above their wieght.

A male that is 170lbs jumping on a 190 is 34% above their weight.

Both vaulters are on poles 20 lbs over their respected weights, but the female gets 8% more unbending energy from the pole.

According to my math, the male example is jumping 12% over his weight, and the female example is jumping 15% over her weight.

190/170 = 1.12, and 150/130 = 1.15.

You question is a good one, but I think your math is wrong. Could you please clarify?

Kirk

[LHSvaulter]

A friend of mine, who happens to be an active user of pvp (Spike Gibeault), weighs around 110 pounds, and jumps on 145s and 150s

[H.I.S.]

A female that is 130lbs jumping on a 150lb pole is 26% above their wieght.

A male that is 170lbs jumping on a 190 is 34% above their weight.

Both vaulters are on poles 20 lbs over their respected weights, but the female gets 8% more unbending energy from the pole.

According to my math, the male example is jumping 12% over his weight, and the female example is jumping 15% over her weight.

190/170 = 1.12, and 150/130 = 1.15.

You question is a good one, but I think your math is wrong. Could you please clarify?

Kirk

I apologize, My math was incorrect, Thank you for finding my error and clarifying.

So based on your correction(thank you) one could more easily see how a female, or lighter vaulter, would have some sort of advantage. A pole is made to strongly return the weight it is rated at, that is why you want to vault on poles rated as far above your weight as possible, if a pole is rated 150 and is only pulling up 130, the force is be all that more powerful. And if most vaulters tend to go 20-30 lbs above their weight, well those numbers become much more powerful as the ratio gets smaller.

The higher percentage over your weight you are jumping, the more return you will get out of your pole. Maybe a new equation could be utilized where vaulters are no longer using 20-30 lbs over their weight as rule before moving to a longer pole, but instead go by a percentage chart based on your weight.

I've heard, and do not know if this is true, Bubka weighed about 175lbs and used a 220lbs pole.

This is a percentage of approx. 25% above he body weight if my math isn't wrong again.

[AVC Coach]

It's important to understand that the simple recoil of the pole is not the reason a good jumper will jump high.

[fx]

HIS: I have made this argument before, and I think one response I got was that the way flexes are rated is not linear, so the logic does not work.

[powerplant42]

Yeah, I'd actually be REALLY interested to see the equation that dictates that it is PERCENTAGE of weight to the weight rating that actually ULTIMATELY matters. I remember that thread, but I'll let somebody else do the looking if we want to reexamine the issue.

[H.I.S.]

It's important to understand that the simple recoil of the pole is not the reason a good jumper will jump high.

It's not the only reason, but to say the way a pole recoils doesn't help is crazy, the way a pole unbends has changed dramatically from bamboo, metal, fiberclass, and carbon and don't forget to take into account position of the sail piece either.

[powerplant42]

AVC isn't saying this, he's just saying that just because you can get on a pole way above your weight and can bend the crap out of it doesn't mean you'll vault high at all.

[H.I.S.]

Absolutely, I've seen guys bend the heebee jeebees out of 15 ft poles 30 lbs over their weight and not make 9 ft because they had all the speed and power in the world and not a bit of form to work with. The coach couldn;t figure it out because he was bending such a long pole so much, the vaulter went to a summer camp with a well seasoned and established coach in our county and came back the next year with a 14 ft pole and started easily making 14'6 jumps.

[VaultPurple]

Absolutely, I've seen guys bend the heebee jeebees out of 15 ft poles 30 lbs over their weight and not make 9 ft because they had all the speed and power in the world and not a bit of form to work with

Im taking this as a serious over-exageration, due to the fact that if u could hold 15' and land on the matt, all u would have to do is pick ur feet up and be over atleast 11"


But i really dont think this has anything to do with guy vs. girl vaulters. Or anything about being catapulted over the bar by ur pole. I was at a camp this summer where they really exagerated you are not being catapulted by ur pole, a bent pole is just an unlimited series of straigt poles that you have once you bend ur pole. Once you start jumping over your body weight the pole just begins to unbend faster (yes i know that is how a catapult works but it is beyond the point). This is why the petrov method is so efficient, it was derived from early straight polers who had not catapults and were still jumping 2'+ over their hand grips. If you treat your pole like a high bar and swing up to it then you can jump high, the key is that when you swing and go upside down it is key that it is at the right molment and the pole is about to unbend. So if you are using a pole equal to ur body weight and you are a fast runner with a quick swing, then this pole may be too 'slow" for you. So as you progress to a more powerful swing, the heavier pole you use.

From the same principle. I am 135lb and used a 170' pole, my team mate was 155' and used a 165lb pole, I had a really fast swing and he had a really slow swing, i jumped almost 2' over my hand grip, he jumped around 6" under his. However he was 6'3 and used a 15' pole so he was able to obtain a higher PR, but if he would not have concentrated on pole length like the original poster said was commen of guys, and concentrated on swing power, then he would have been a 16' vaulter easily.

[H.I.S.]

Absolutely, I've seen guys bend the heebee jeebees out of 15 ft poles 30 lbs over their weight and not make 9 ft because they had all the speed and power in the world and not a bit of form to work with

Im taking this as a serious over-exageration, due to the fact that if u could hold 15' and land on the matt, all u would have to do is pick ur feet up and be over atleast 11"quote]

absolutely not an over-exageration. He was over 12 ft easily, but every single time he fell right on top of the crossbar. There wasn't any doubt to how high the athlete was but, w/o form he basically dropped off the top of his pole and flopped to the mats like a fish and anytime he tried to kick his feet over the cross bar he brought the pole back with him knocking off he cross bar,