Weight Room

[VaultMarq26]

WHAT.....you must be kidding.....avoid the weight room.....i challenge you to fine college or elite vaulters that don;t weight train.....Lifting only 2-3 times per much is a good way to get hurt.....powerplant, that is one of the more asinine things I have herd you say.....I don't try to bust your chops too often, but you can't be giving advice like that. I realize that high school vaulters don't get the opportunity to strength train very often, but you make it sound like strength training is detremental.....I agree with your full range of motion comment, but strength training is essential to becoming a higher level athlete.

PP42 did not tell an elite or college vaulter to avoid the weight room, he told a HS freshman (and therefore probably 14- or 15-year-old) beginner vaulter with a 9'9" PR to avoid the weight room. Put another way, would you tell this same vaulter to use a 17-foot pole, as elite vaulters do?

Yankee, in addition to your swing, do some strength work as altius suggested. You may wish to try some of the high bar strength exercises on this page:
http://www.polevaultpower.com/media/video/skillsanddrills/

I would also throw in lots of bodyweight exercises including pullups, pushups, dips, front and back levers, 360 degree pulls ("skin the cat") and variants.

I should have realized that he was talking to a beginning vaulter....i retract my critizism of powerplant, but I do have to say this.....this post was not made in the high school board....it was under pole vault training....so if other people are like me and don't quite read all the details sometimes, they may not realize who the post was ment for....I took it as all vaulters in general should avoid weights, as did vaultpurple it appears.....sorry about the confusion

[yankee814]

Yankee, in addition to your swing, do some strength work as altius suggested. You may wish to try some of the high bar strength exercises on this page:
http://www.polevaultpower.com/media/video/skillsanddrills/

I would also throw in lots of bodyweight exercises including pullups, pushups, dips, front and back levers, 360 degree pulls ("skin the cat") and variants.

Thanks for that website! I used a bunch of them today with one of my friends on the girl's gymnastics team, I really felt it!
I also added pull ups and a "deck of cards" pushups to the day.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[vault3rb0y]

This is the training forum, its not fair to tell a vaulter "dont hit the weight room, just check out the beginner technique forum and work on that".

However It's important to set your priorities in the vault, and decide what kind of training is going to help you the most at that time in your athletic cycle and even career. In almost all vaulters, this is the technical side of the vaulting. Dont hit the weightroom or run your legs to the point that you dont have the energy to work the technical aspects of the vault. That should be your #1 aspect if you have yet to master technical aspects of the vault (which you, me, and 98% of vaulters on here have not). Having said that, try out some of these ideas to specifically help your vault while staying fresh for your actual vaulting:

Bubkas (rings, then rope, then high bar)

Pull overs

Step ups/ lunges with weight over your head (back stabilization)

overhead press

upright rows (to chin)

Not that other lifts will not specifically help your vault, but these will specifically target muscles and muscle memory that you use in the vault.


Now if you take time off from vaulting, say, in the summer, your priorities may move to getting faster and stronger without worrying on being fresh for vaulting. In this case, other lifts such as squats and incline press might be considered.

[altius]

"its not fair to tell a vaulter "dont hit the weight room, just check out the beginner technique forum and work on that".

If that is the best advice for someone jumping 9'9" - it is the responsibility of every experienced coach on this board to make that statement as emphatically as possible - because the objective here is to give folk information that will help them become better vaulters! My view - after discussing this issue with lots of youngsters at clinics in the US over the past four years - is that vaulters are often sent to the weight room because the head coach knows something about weight training but little or nothing about the vault. However I would add that the importance of weight training - for every level of athlete - has long been overemphasised in the US, compared to the critical importance of developing efficient technique. I fully understand the importance of being a good "athlete" - if you want to vault high - but developing an efficient technique is the key and must be the priority from day one.

[VaultMarq26]

How bout this.....work on your technique, then go to the weight room....it is possible to do both in the same day.....I agree that beginner vaulters will jump higher more quickly with technique work, but if they can do both, they should.

[powerplant42]

There is a real possiblity (especially at the high school level) of burning out if you're not careful... But sadly, most coaches (including my own coaches) will MAKE everyone RUN, THEN go LIFT... This is borderline dangerous, and in my opinion, quite unproductive (because everyone tends to be tired already).

[vcpvcoach]

I'm a certified weight trainer and a vault coach. Every track athlete should be in the weight room. Why wouldn't you want to be stronger and faster? Heck, my daughter is starting her track season in middle school and after this season she will start a weight program to make legs stronger.

In the fall or preseason, you only need to lift three days a week. During the season, two days a week. All you need is about 45 mins.

The six core lifts are:
Bench press
Towel bench press
Hex bar dead lift (All leg lifts will make you faster)
Parallel Squat
Box Squat
Clean (Think about the pull and turn as the pole releases for this lift)

But, here's the best part. To start, you need to learn to do the lifts correctly with low weights. We have a graduation program in which you need to reach minimum weights in all lifts.

We add 6-8 alternate lift per session. Some are:
Military press
Lat pull
Incline press

Altius, I know that you are from down under and that the weather is not a problem when you train but here in the upper Mid-West, we have crappy weather this time of the year. Some schools are lucky to have a field house. I'm not so lucky. Heck, I can't even get gym floor time because of baseball, volleyball, soccer, etc. We don't even have gymnastics equip. Right now, we are getting 3-5 inches of snow. So, all my vaulters lift, run when they can, vault and do tons of drills when the weather is good, and go to a private gym to work on swing. Shoot, our girls have a dual meet on Wednesday that will be canceled because of snow.

For anyone interested the weight lifting system we use if called Bigger, Faster, Stronger. Go to www.biggerfasterstronger.com for more info.

[KirkB]

... But sadly, most coaches (including my own coaches) will MAKE everyone RUN, THEN go LIFT... This is borderline dangerous, and in my opinion, quite unproductive (because everyone tends to be tired already).

I see nothing sad, dangerous, or unproductive about this order of training within a workout.

Most coaches (if we're making generalizations) know what they're doing, and know that running warms the athlete's body up, so it's SAFER to lift after running. At a minimum, you've got to at least run a couple laps and stretch. And that's the absolute MINIMUM!

But VaultMarq was talking about a combined weights/technique workout day. In that context, the LIFTING will tire you out, so your TECHNIQUE training will be less productive. I would NEVER lift first, then work on technique after that in the same day.

Kirk

[powerplant42]

Altius, I know that you are from down under and that the weather is not a problem when you train but here in the upper Mid-West, we have crappy weather this time of the year. Some schools are lucky to have a field house. I'm not so lucky. Heck, I can't even get gym floor time because of baseball, volleyball, soccer, etc. We don't even have gymnastics equip. Right now, we are getting 3-5 inches of snow. So, all my vaulters lift, run when they can, vault and do tons of drills when the weather is good, and go to a private gym to work on swing. Shoot, our girls have a dual meet on Wednesday that will be canceled because of snow.

Unfortunate... And you have to make the best of your situation. In that case, the weight room is a viable option more often. And the BFS system is pretty good, I've been there, done that!

KB, all you have to do is chat with a few high school vaulters on here about needing to practice, and you'll probably find a pretty consistent pattern... Most of them will be FORCED to put the pole down, leave the track, and go work on their bench press. To me, that is sad... It's not as bad for runners (and other field events), because they don't need as much technical training. Remember the 10,000 hour (or repetition) rule? If half of one's practice HAS to be in the weight room, how much longer will it take to get the 10,000 in!? Again, to me, this is a sad situation that poor high school vaulters (who usually don't have the knowledge to know that they should NOT be in the weight room very often) get TRAPPED in, especially with more stubborn coaches.

[altius]

"Altius, I know that you are from down under and that the weather is not a problem when you train".

On the basis of that statement I would suggest that you have never been down under as we have major problems with weather in all of our cities - even it in some cases the problem is with temperatures above 45 degrees! ! And just for information - we dont have a single indoor training facility for the vault in Australia -unless you count a runway down the side of an indoor swimming pool in Perth. I coached in Kentucky for six years so I know a little about weather in the US. Having coached Div 1 All Americans in the Long Jump, Discus and Shot there, I also fully understand the importance of speed and power in track and field - but in the vault, technique must be built first last and always - even if it is through simple walking plant drills and exercises to learn how to carry the pole correctly - both major weaknesses with the young athletes I see in the USA. However my point stands - the weight room is often used as a cop out for ignorance of the vault.

[xjoeyx]

or you can do what i did and start dating a gymanst who can let you in to use the highbar whenever you want

[powerplant42]

E re nata, but technique must take major precedence over strength (EVEN MORE FOR YOUNG VAULTERS)! Where's that Bartonietz quote?

And xjoeyx's comment brings up the point that it is possible to do both at the same time through gymnastics, especially with the high bar.