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a friend of mine is jumping on a 140 pole and he weighs 155, i keep telling him to switch poles but he refuses to. He bends the pole a bit, holding about 2 feet from the top....how dangerous/stupid is that?

if he's holding two feet down, it shouldn't be a problem. but if he were to hold at the top...that would be a different story.

If he is not bending it very much, it is not dangerous, but it is against the high school rules.

Sounds like he needs a shorter pole.

PVPirate26 wrote:if he's holding two feet down, it shouldn't be a problem. but if he were to hold at the top...that would be a different story.

Actually it could be dangerous holding 2 feet down as it applies 155lbs of pressure on a shorter pole and the posible concentration of force could now be low on the pole where the pole has not as much glass.
ANd yes holdng higher is a risk as what happens we get that feeling that it bending well and our confidence now takes over and confidence bends poles more by 5-10 lbs..
A pole is designed work within the grip area, at that weight rating. Holding lower applies load to areas of the pole that are stiffer and the results will be you are fighting the pole to get upside down. You might be able to flag clear a lower height than your handgrip but for pole vaulting over your grip honor the designated grip area.
Bruce

I am pole vaulting with a 130 pole, but I weigh 150. But it makes me feel Fat to move to a 150 pole. What do I do.

dont_touch_my_pole wrote:I am pole vaulting with a 130 pole, but I weigh 150. But it makes me feel Fat to move to a 150 pole. What do I do.

moving to a bigger pole would be a good thing to do, especially since you might be weighed in at a meet. don't worry about your weight, muscle weighs more than fat anyway .

PVPirate26 wrote:

dont_touch_my_pole wrote:I am pole vaulting with a 130 pole, but I weigh 150. But it makes me feel Fat to move to a 150 pole. What do I do.

moving to a bigger pole would be a good thing to do, especially since you might be weighed in at a meet. don't worry about your weight, muscle weighs more than fat anyway .

Try saying that to the scale!!!!!

I know but u have to see the girls on our Pole vaulting teams. They really only weight like 98 pounds. Then look at me weighting in at 150. Thats huge for a girl. And our pole vaulting coach is a cute guy.

the girls on my team are also different sizes, one girl jumps on a 120, another jumps on a 110, i jump on a 135, and yet another girl jumps on a 150. i've seen a lot of good vaulters who weighed closer to 150 than 98.

One of our Girls is around the 145 mark easy and she is just pure muscle!

A pole is designed work within the grip area, at that weight rating.

What kinda grip area are u talking about. I usualy grip 12'6" on a 13'6" or 14" pole. They are above my weight if i were to hold at the top.

sry i hit submit in stead of preview.... Is holding this far down bad, as far as i know it just bends a little different because im gripping closer to the sail piece.