part time vaulting...

[patybobady]

Hello, I have seen some helpful posts on here but was just trying to get a better feel for how to deal with being apart time vaulter (vaulting once a week or once every 2 weeks). Sprinting a few times a week and lifting is what I am doing. And jumping about once a week if I am lucky. Does anyone have advice or ideas because when I do jump it seems:

#1 I am less confident and do not get my hands up as tall early enough

#2 I am overstriding the last step and forcing myself to be under from 6" on good days to almost 2' on bad days

This thus makes vaulting harder and I just squish the pole being 1' under and if I am not being as tall (not that often, especially compared to how often I am under). I am just looking for some help to become a better vaulter when not doing it 'full time', so when I do jump it is not a disaster. Its been ok so far but I am looking to get better and this is a tad frustrating.

Thanks,

Patrick

[souleman]

Patrick, I was actually hoping that someone would have chimed in before me. I wouldn't say that I'm going to be your best source for info. That being said, I am dealing with pretty much the same issues you are. Bubba Sparks has been "e" coaching me from Texas and he has a couple of things that he wants me to do when I start vaulting again. Most of my problems start "right at the start". I am going to use DJ's mid chart and hand hold heights that are listed many places throughout the forum and also on Bubbas' site. www.bubbapv.com . What I'm going to do is a deal Bubba calls "facing your demons". I'll start at an 8 foot height. I'm going to build a measuring rope that can be adjusted for stride length based on a 6 step mid mark. According to DJ's chart I should not take off, holding at 9'10" on the pole any closer than 6'8" from the box. I will lay down somthing at that 33' mid and at the 6'8" mark and start jumping at 8'. Bubba says that the same mistakes that are going to be made at higher heights will be made at 8'. I can't move the crossbar up until I make the height. Once I make it at those restrictions (in other words if I step on a mark it's a miss) I'll move the height of the crossbar up and adjust those "marks" accordingly and play the game again until I make that height. The advantage of this as I can see it is it's going to force me to quit taking off under as I have always done because.....well.....that's just how us old geezers learned to jump. Another advantage is to hit the marks I will have to be running faster thus insuring me that I will get into the pit. Another advantage is the confidence angle. If I know before I take off that the run is going to be "on" I will have a better chance of doing the rest of the things right. I just re-read your post and I'll bet you that if you did this "facing your demons" game that a lot of your concerns will be taken care of. Oh, and one more thing, if you're close to my age (53) WATCH AND LISTEN TO YOUR BOD! I'm sitting here with a hole in my gut from a hernia op a week and a half ago just bitin' at the bit to get back doing something "vaulty". I hope this helps and if anybody has any better ideas for Patrick please chime in. Later................Mike

[patybobady]

Thanks for the post. I worked with the mid chart at the end of the h.s. track season and it did help (although i do not use it every time I jump now) with the midmark, etc. I am just a young lad and am about three decades behind you...so I should have no excuse, although now my body and knees hurt a lot more now. It was just I jumped so often in college and it was a routine, and now the routine is broken since I teach and am in the 'real world' and can not vault, lift and run as much as possible. Its hard to just: A) let it go and realize it and B) jump whenever I can and make it productive.

I will use continue to use the midmark chart and get each step taped down and work with that consisency and being 'on'. Thanks off to go running/sprinting.

Patrick

p.s. I hear you with the hernia. I had one in the end of summer my senior year and got it fixed after XC, wrestling and most of track. Took about 10 days off...But I survived.

[vaultwest]

Patrick
I think Souleman's comments are very good. I would add doing as many drills as you can, can make a huge difference if you can't vault too often, and of course as you get older you will find that vaulting more than once or twice a week is not an option as your body just won't handle it. but for now I would work on gymnastic type vault drills and pole runs, sliding box, grass vaults and long jump sand pit jumps, etc. If you can sprint you can get a lot of approach work done at the same time. Hope that helps
Vault On

[Russ]

I'm 48. If I try to jump more than twice in a week, I get injured, period.

I try to work out 5 days (not 5 days in a row, mind you) a week and take 2 days off. Usually I try to jump one day, and I do a mixture of running (including distance and sprint training), biking (mostly stationary bike), Nordic Track, weight lifting, and rope drills the other 4 days. I swim occasionally too. I coach a lot, read a lot about vaulting, and I look at video a lot, so I'm consistently thinking about vaulting too.

90% of the jumping that I do is from 3, 4, and 5 lefts. I do very few jumps from 6 or 7, except in competition.

Avoiding injury is one of my main goals. I have to hold myself back. Sometimes I feel so good that I get lulled into thinking that I can train harder, faster, and do more (like when I was 17). That's when I get hurt...when I try to push too far.

[patybobady]

Thanks for all your comments. I find I do some distance and sprints about 4-5 days a week, I do 50 push ups and situps before bed, think about pole vault all the time and watch a lot of video. I hit (and will hit more regularly now that school has started and i teach) the gym 4-5 days a week doing various lifts and exercises and gymnastics work. Every day a new body part starts to ache, which is always exciting...no.

I am looking forward to the track season to start so I can start jumping and doing the drills easily. I was just curious to see what people do to keep in good enough shape so when they do jump, they jump well and do not waste the opportunity.

*I find myself doing a lot of sprints where my steps are marked and I hit the 'finish line', from my 7 left approach so I am doing a full run. Should I focus more on a little longer sprints? Or will a combination be better? Just curious.

Thanks,

Patrick

[Vaulting prof]

I'm 62 and came back to pole vaulting last year.
With a year of intense focus on vaulting exercises and jumping
I have found that a core of gymnastics balances & stretches along
with bench pressing pull ups along with a regular combination of distance
running and a carefully added package of speed work has worked well.
I think my gym routine and 5K to half marathon running kept my legs
in shape to take on the intensity of vaulting. I know-- slow twitch vs
fast twitch muscle fibers-- but I think the over all conditioning helps
to avoid injury. I typically do vault twice a week but have vaulted
3 or 4 times in some weeks. Partly, because I felt I needed a lot
of practice to learn how to make the transition from straight pole vaulting
to a proper bend. So, while the advice to go slow is good-- "slow "-
may be defined by your body and condition.
Good Luck

vaulting prof