Danger: High Explosives :-P

[Psycho]

I know everyone talks about explosiveness, which is good for pole vaulting (makes a lot of sense), and I just wanted to clear up some of the things in the weight room. I've heard about people getting seriously messed up from lifting the wrong way, and I do it right.

Just a bit of backround, I'm in 10th grade, been vaulting since indoor season last year, and get 8' 6" PR. Not that great, which is why I came here to try and learn how to get better (I practice in the shadow of 3 14" 6' vaulters).

In the weight room, I try to do 3 sets x 10 reps of bench (85lbs, I'm 5'7" 120lbs), the Bear (I'll explain in a minute), chinups (3 sets till exhaustion), curls, 10 reps clean (75 lbs), and 3 sets x 10 reps squat (155 lbs) as well as some vertical presses.

I would like to do more explosive work, what kinds of workouts do you do?

The Bear as it is called is probably the only real explosive lift I do (other than clean but for some reason I just can't do the average 95 lbs). Basically its a pad that rests on your shoulders, and is connected to a weight rack. You can do normal squats on it, but I do jumps, basically squat and jump. I do this with 180 lbs (I don't think its actually that heavy because of the levers)

Also, where can I find a list of good gymnastics/plyometrics exercises? Gymnastics would help out my vault a lot, there was this girl at camp last year that did gymnastics, it was her first year and she got 10 feet like it was nobody's business.

Sorry for the length, and thanks in advance.

[VTechVaulter]

I dunno, some people may disagree but here one of my personal favorites

Snatches
Cleans
Incline bench (more vault specific than simply benching)
Shoulder Press
Squats
Deadlifts
Pull ups are a must

and of course, plyos are always good
hurdle hops, box jumps, anything that keeps you changine directions and elevations quickly.

[Carolina21]

All the above mentioned lifts are great, some other things you might want to try are bounds. Bounding can really help explosiveness, but it must be done in moderation because it is really hard on the ole legs. Alternate legs bounds, single leg bounds, high skips, all will help with explosiveness. My main lifts/plyos are cleans, snatch, bench, pull ups, box jumps, and hurdle hops. Of course another great way to get faster/more explosive is simply to run. I dun't know if you have ever had a chance to go to earl bells, they have a machine called the leg loader that's also very effective. Basically, its a weighted platform that has bungee's on it. These bungee's are attached to the base of the platform and also to a belt you wear. They in a sense pull you and accelerate you toward the ground, and you can do various squats, squat jumps, high kness, etc with the machine. Its nice because it makes you muscles react faster than they are used to since its pulling you down faster than gravity normally would. Faster reactions=faster running=higher vaulting. You could probably rig up your own at home with some heavey duty bungee and a weight belt with some attachments and this and that, or if you have a spare $400 or so bucks, buy your own. Also take all of this in stride you are still pretty young and you need to ease into serious training. The weight room is great its helps eliminate injuries and can make you strong but too much too soon can be bad. If I had my high school days to do over I would have simply ran more. Sprinted more, even some long sprints like the 400 so I had a better base to build from. Also really work on mechanics and technique, learn how to run, study great sprinters, watch Bubka's run, watch carl lewis sprint, and mo green, etc, this alone will add power you already have but may be losing due to poor running form. and above all the most important thing in high school is to have a good time, you don't want to burn out. Train hard but make sure you are having fun doing it, there is plenty of time for hard training, just wait until college....

[mcminkz05]

in addition to those, military press is a good explosive lift if you do it right, i do a ton of those, good for pv.

[jhesch]

I think some good lifts are ones that mimick the vault in order to develop muscles needed for different ohases of the vault. i like bodyweight exercises like pushups, handstand pushups (though i cant do these, i wish i could. not only do they help develop incredible shoulder stength, they force you to learn balance and get you used to upside down body positioning) cleans are also great because of the similar motion off the top of the pole, as are upright rows. most core weight exercises are good, like bench, incline, rows, lat pull downs, squats and lunges (my personal fav is straight arm bar lunges. i use approx. 1/3 to 1/2 my body weight, hold bar straight above my head, and do slow concentrated lunges. they are killer on not only your legs, but your shoulders and torso. they also force you to keep good form-or else you fall over- adding to balance and body control)
If you're looking at maximum benefit from lifting, I would suggest focusing on muscles needed for vaulting (i.e. core muscles, back, shoulders, legs) and not wasting too much time on "auxiliary" muscle groups, i.e. traps, biceps, etc. its good to get a solid lifting base for all muscles, but I know football players who do only the lifts necessary, with high weight, and low reps. As a result, they gain relatively little weight and mass with maximum strength gains, therefore greatly increasing speed and explosiveness by having a high strength ratio to low body weight ratio.
I started another thread called somethin like weight lifting / weight gain, you should look at it. i got some great advice. here's the URl. continue researching and good luck with your vaulting
http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1639

[qtpie57]

i do gymnastics once a week with my pv team and it seems to really be helping... even when we just go and mess around on the rings and trampoline and stuff like that we get a good work out. if you try to get in a gymanstics gym, it would probably help

[PVJunkie]

Get out of the wt room and go vault............LOTS...............you need reps on a pole, that WILL develop your strengh, oh yea with a coach to guide you, hopfully one w/some knowledge of the event. Lifting is one of the least improtant things in your development rt now.

VTechVaulter - "Pull ups are a must "

could you explain that one..............Every good coach I know teachs HANG do NOT pull.

[gUnitSoldier]

i agree pvjunkie, last year i spent all my time in the weight room and none in the pit and i didnt improve at all. i havent completely phased out the gym but i spend more of my time in the pit and i have seen great gains. lift like a nut for football, not pole vault.

[VTechVaulter]

im not sayin to pull off take off, but once your vertical on the pole... pull away. when i can find someplace with a high enough ceiling, i also do pull ups upside down, and do upside down rope climbing. But pull ups are def important, im sure most coaches would agree with me.

however, i def agree in that h.s. is a better time to just learn some fundamentals. I dont agree that you should cut out lifting completely, but you dont have to be a bear to jump well.

and as to the post above for the guy doing handstand pushups, awesome excercise, if you cant do the push up part on your own, do your handstands against a wall, just keep doin them til you get strong enough to move away from the wall

[OAKPV2004]

Dude, Pull ups are probably the best thing that you could do for the pole vault. At least it works for me really well, and I find that the strength carries over good to the top end of a vault. It won't help your speed or anything like that. Also, Theres PLENTY of things you can do on a pull up bar that can help gain strength to pole vault. Probably more than in the weight room except for squats.

[Psycho]

Thanks a lot, it seems I already do a lot of things you guys talked about it. Thats good that I'm on the right track. I do a lot of situps and chinups every day, I also have a piece of wood rod in my basement I use to practice swinging, and I also have a rope swing in my back yard, but its winter right now. I gotta get to be able to do those handstand pushups, I've been doing a lot of vertical presses.

[PVJunkie]

Neither exercise is "good" for the vault. They are good for your upper body strength. Which might be good for your vault and then again it might not. Handstand push-ups are a deltoid exercise completely interchangable w/military press. Pull ups............well lats, tris, traps and depending on forward or reverse hand position............lets just say its good for your upper body strength. Remember the guy asking this question has a persoanl best of 8'6" and needs to vault.............LOTS..............before worrying about lifting. A high bar, a rope and some sand bags........... give me those 3 things as a coach and I could get rid of the wt room AND develop some basic vault skills.