20 feet

[PVG8R]

what was the pole that bubka was on when he cleared 20?

[spike gibeault]

what was the pole that bubka was on when he cleared 20?

http://www.polevaultpower.com/6mclub.php

5.20m pole 10.6 flex holding at 5.18

[Lax PV]

No doubt, he was a stud.

You don't have to be a freak of strength to be a freak athlete. I've heard many numbers kicked around, some more valid than others depending on the sources. He's focus on the track/during competition was his difinitive advantage in my opinion.

Will someone do it again? yes. The athletisim is out there, and as more and more people are jumping 600, it should lend people to believe that someone is going is going to have a 'career' day. It would be exciting if it were soon...

[vault3rb0y]

So are we saying that 130% of your body weight is all someone should focus on in bench press, and that being stronger wont really help much more? Because im 160 Ibs and i can decline bench 250, probably regular bench 230-240, and i see no reason to stop trying in increase me weights on ALL my lifts.

I have heard that some of the top american vaulters right now cannot lift very much in bench, like 230-ish, but are BEASTS in power clean. This is kind of meant for the training forum, but i would assume the explosion lifts are more important than bench press. You can be a 135 kid, and if you are explosive you can power clean 300 Ibs, so i cant imagine what bubka could do lol, id say 360+.

[altius]

It is a question of priorities 3po - if you have unlimited time you can do everything -including building unwanted muscle mass in the wrong places. However if you want to be an athlete - and especially if training time is limited and therefore valuable - then you are looking for power not just strength - that is why the clean and snatch are such valuable exercises. Clearly you have not looked at the pages in BTB2 that I recommended above or else you would have a feel for the dynamic nature of Bubkas training.

Suggest that if you are going to keep commenting here - you should do some study first -and you are not the only one that applies to.

I sometimes think that Sysiphus (Lonestars avatar) had it easy, I feel the task I face of educating you is like having to push the bloody thing up the hill with my nose -and then seeing it roll right back over the top of me.

[vault3rb0y]

I appreciate you educating me, but i feel im learning so much so fast from my personal training and coaching, and from this site, that a book in the mix would put me over the top (or syke me out)! I already have a habit of overthinking the vault, and i've been able to keep it secluded to this site so far this season. I plan on reading it, but not till this season is up. I need no more knowledge in my head about MY jumping and training right now than "run dynamically, hit a long tall free take off, swing and pull" when vaulting, and "go fast, go hard, go quality" with my training right now.

Bubka is very explosive indeed, and im sure he trained somewhat differently than me. But i dont need to be second guessing my coach, or trying to find ways to improve my vault at this point in the season. Now this summer, yeah i will sit down with my coaches and evaluate what to change and work on for the coming year, and thats when i will buy the book (and probably finish it in 48 hours!!) and talk about bubkas training methods and what the best methods for ME would be. If i dont trust in the workouts im doing right now, i might as well do nothing this season.

[PVG8R]

what was the pole that bubka was on when he cleared 20?

http://www.polevaultpower.com/6mclub.php

5.20m pole 10.6 flex holding at 5.18

thanks! And awesome link!

[altius]

"But i dont need to be second guessing my coach, or trying to find ways to improve my vault at this point in the season."

Absolutely correct - in fact unless you are already pretty close to this model it may not be worth ever trying to move to it - it would probably take two years - at least , if like many US athletes you take off a long way under.

However I was suggesting that you read the book so that you can fast forward your learning process as a potential coach - which it would seem one day you could be. It may take a long time to put together a coherent picture of the vault if you rely on pvp because of the highly diverse nature of the ideas presented here.

[vaultwest]

I was the vault coach at Oregon the first time Bubka jumped at Pre in 1994 or 95. He came a few days early and trained at Hayward field. I was very fortunate to watch some of his training sessions.

This is what I observed first hand. It was fun to check out his poles and the 5.20 (17 foot) 10.8, 11.0, 11.2, 11.4, 11.7 12.8 flexes poles that were in his competiton bag were incredible/scary poles to actually hold. But in his vault practice during the week he actually vaulted with a bag of poles that were 5.20 length but 14.6, 14.2, 13.4 flex, very interesting to see him jump at a bungee set at 20 feet with these much lighter poles. nothing super human there just a guy working on specific technical aspects of his vault that unfortunately I had trouble figuring out since all the talk was Russian or Ukraninan.

One work out he went into the weight room and I watched him do three lifts. The first was a step up then overhead press with 135 lbs. Working on his plant mechanics and explosiveness. The next was a bounding toe raise type exercise with 135 lbs on his back working on full foot flexion ( toes up) in the air phase. and finally some ab work. Absolutely nothing very impressive at all.

What I noticed most was that in his warm-ups, here was the worlds greatest vaulter doing simple walking and jogging plant drills with and without a pole that no American vaulter past high school would be caught dead doing.

Kind of got me thinking and I realized that as in all things one of Bubkas secrets to his incredible success was his attention to performing the simplest movements of the vault as well as he could and not losing touch with the basics, instead of looking for some remote magical new exciting secret to propel him to his great heights.

Alan is completely right the myths about Bubka's incredible athletic feats are just that myths and not what allowed him to be the greatest ever.

[vault3rb0y]

Very true Altius. Its a dream in the making, but since i feel i have more talents in the classroom, hopefully i can be a better coach than i can an athlete. I take what you say you heart, and without a doubt when the time comes (probably this summer with the transition from HS to college) i will be reading all the great things you have contributed to the PV world.

On a side note, that free takeoff has been THE key to PR'ing in 3 of my last 4 meets, and seems to get closer and closer to being truly free everyday. Everything else in my training has been minor tweaking, the free take off and swinging as soon as the pole hits the back is the focus. If i understand the petrov model, i feel i have been in transition into it for 2 years since working with my coach.

[swtvault]

Vaulwest, thanks for the account of Bubkas training. I guess when Alan says " He did simple things extraordinarily well," he is truly speaking from the book of the master.

[BethelPV]

Hey Vaultwest... can you better explain the bounding lift you were talking about, it doesn't seem to add up in my head...