PoleVaultPower.com

My dad wants me to start, and I'm interested, but am not fully sure of what it is. Has anyone done anything like this? Has it helped?

http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtop ... 2712#82712 might be of a little help

Also, just googling plyometrics will give you a better idea of what they are.

If you are interested in seeing some excellent video of plyometric training, go to YouTube and do a search for "sihunt". This person/organization is in the UK. Start with "Depth jump 1" where you learn to land properly. Then as you watch other videos, be amazed at one of the athletes that does the demos. You could be convinced he has some kangaroo blood in him .

- master

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't plyometrics generally more important than other workouts like lifting? It trains you to be more explosive, giving you a more powerful take off, which enables you to get on bigger poles.

Doing plyo's just for the sake of doing is a bad idea. First you need to understand why you do them and how you should do them. I think Mike Stone has done some extensive studies on plyometrics you should try and find some of his artiicles. For training purpose you would want to start very easy possibly double leg hops or standing long jumps. You certainly don't want to start jumping on and off boxes. I don't know your training background but most people think they can do more than they actually can and end up injured. You can get plyometric effects from other activities like basketball or volleyball.
Plyo's do not replace squats or lifting they are designed to use with lifting.

I have conducted some research on plyometrics actually... things of that nature regarding the vertical ground reaction forces and stuff. I would argue that plyometrics are an integral part of any elite athlete's training. HOWEVER, in order to complete plyometrics correctly, there is a certain level of strength that is required. That being said, obviously certain plyo exercises are going to be more difficult than others, but low level plyometric exercises, in my opinion anyway, can be completed by just about anyone.

For example, many old school texts and resources will contend that one should be able to squat double his/her body weight. Most people lifting for athletics (not power lifting..) probably cannot do this suffieciantly with a full range of motion. But to me, 200% of body weight is a bit excessive (but that is a whole different topic to be discussed elsewhere). My point is, even if you are just doing tuck jumps in place, plyos will help create more explosion by training your nervous system to act accordingly.

Make sure, whatever plyo exercises you decide to do, that the contact time on the ground is minimized. An excellent example is a world class TJ... the time spent on the ground in between phases is not long... that is not a coincidence.


That being said, I am going to try and apply the findings, and train only using plyos (both upper and lower body) with the weight room being the lighter days (i.e. lifting at maybe 75% of what I would normally lift at, and concentrate more on bar speed). Kind of being myown little lab rat... I will try and let people know what comes of it..

I have a question on the issue of using plyos correctly. im vaulting in college right now and one day a week every week of the year both in and out of season we do plyos. but they are the exact same plyos every week and its now been three years now since i started. my thought is that, just as you would not do the same weight work out for an extended period of time because your body adapts and does not grow as it could, you would not want to do the same plyo work out for three years in a row. I brought this up to my coach(grad assistant) and we started doing the same work out but did part of the workout up hill, which is a start but still kinda just seems like the same old thing? any ideas?

Plyo intensity is measured by the number of foot contacts. If you are doing the same exercises but more foot contacts, then you are increasing in intensity. Here is a list of plyos from the highest to lowest intensity in terms of ground reaction force and joint reaction forces.

single leg jumps
depth jumps(higher the depth=more intense)
jump and reach for the sky
Pike and tuck jumps
Dumb Bell Jumps (jumps with weight)
squat jumps
split squat dumps
line ankle hops

I don't know for sure if going up a hill will increase the intensity, but it likely will. The only thing you would have to worry about is that if you can't jump as high, the intensity, in the terms I defined earlier, would be less.

260stickjumper wrote:I have a question on the issue of using plyos correctly. im vaulting in college right now and one day a week every week of the year both in and out of season we do plyos. but they are the exact same plyos every week and its now been three years now since i started. my thought is that, just as you would not do the same weight work out for an extended period of time because your body adapts and does not grow as it could, you would not want to do the same plyo work out for three years in a row. I brought this up to my coach(grad assistant) and we started doing the same work out but did part of the workout up hill, which is a start but still kinda just seems like the same old thing? any ideas?

It sounds like he should study up on periodization.