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Throughout the summer i am unable to practice.. I do not have access to gym because they are too expensive. What are some workouts i can be doing at home to keep me in shape and get me into better shape? I have a pull up bar, but no weights. I have about an hour every morning i can use for sprinting/jogging. At night i have time to do other things like push ups, pull ups, crunches, etc. I was just wondering what effective home workouts would be for me to do throughout the summer. When school starts again i will be able to use the weight room their but i would also like to be in great shape when winter season rolls around. Any training tips? For speed, endurance, strength, and just becoming a better athlete?

I suspect that as a 10' vaulter you need to improve your technique at least as much as your athleticism. Get an old pole and do thirty minutes of six step plant drills -walking/jogging/running/sprinting/sprint to jump - 6 of each. Then 12 - 15 full run ups - 7/8 lefts - initially with no marker then into a towel. Simple stuff but probably better than much of what you are considering - all you need is a flat piece of ground if you cannot access a track.

Poles, even old poles are expensive. Also even if i could get my hands on one, i doubt i have room in my house to store one. Does this sound OK? just to keep me in shape until season starts? Every morning i will sprint high knees upstairs, about 15 times on a 5 step staircase. Do drills like high knees, but kicks, skips, etc. Planks, crunches, and pushups, body weight squats. IN the afternoon about 2 to 3 times a week i can go to the gym. Curls, rows, bubkas, tricep extensions, and some kind of warm up in the beginning. I have a pull up bar at home, so also i will be doing pull ups every day. I am trying to keep my calorie intake at 1200 or less everyday because i gain weight very easily and i want to be lighter for the upcoming season. Is there a way i can improve my run/approach without a pole? Any types of exercises or drills? i tend to over stride and do not have high knees, and sometimes slow down in the end.

Do you have a scale at home? If so, throw it away or burn it. If you are lifting 2-3 times a week and running every day along with all the high bar stuff I am willing to bet 1200 calories is not going to be anywhere near what you need. When it comes to sports weight does not matter, it is about how athletic you are in the body you have. Don't get me wrong, fat don't fly, but a scale and how much you weight does not tell you how much muscle you have. And for a girl, gaining weight from muscle is not a bad thing!

If you are only consuming 1200 calories a day and doing all that exercise, your body is going to get those calories from somewhere. And that is most likely going to be by metabolizing its own muscle and taking much needed nutrients out of your bones. Exercise induced anorexia is one of the biggest problems for female athletes. And you will find a lot that think they are perfectly healthy but have the bone structure of a 60 year old woman at age 18.

Do not count your calories. Eat healthy, eat through out the day, and if you are hungry eat. If you are exercising regularly and not eating ice cream because you are board or cheese burgers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you will not have to worry about your weight if you keep your training level high. Body fat is the only negative thing when it comes to women' pole vaulters, but by nature you are supposed to have a little more than men. But if you try to limit your caloric intake your body will start only storing what you eat as fat. So do not do that!


As far as training, if you can not find any kind of pole at all. What you are doing sounds fine. The biggest thing is just to stay active and healthy in the off season. At the high school level when you can not do drills it is about getting stronger and faster. And when you can find a high bar or anything you can hang from to do drills.

well i am going to start doing all of this and i do not have an athletic body. I am chubby i dont look at the scale i look at my body. I know i will be much better if i weigh less. I also looked online and most websites told me i should be consuming 1200 calories on days i don't workout and 1700 on days i do workout. I guess since i will be becoming more active i will raise my intake to 1700 because i want a healthy bone structure and a healthy muscle structure. Thanks!