PoleVaultPower.com

people on this site talk about the speed and strenght involved with vaulting...i was curious to see your opinion on what is the ideal flexibility of a vaulter

I was a gymnast for 12 years before vaulting. With the hour of splits I had to do every day I think the most helpful stretch for the vault is the "pike" stretch. This stretches the hamstrings when you reach to touch your toes. It helps to be flexible so you can bring your legs to your body and prepare to invert.

stretching is good

Flexibility is obviously an important facet of the vault. I will perform some stretching everyday I workout. If I am lifting, I will break it up and stretch the muscles I am working out in between sets...this is an efficient way to get stretches in while also breaking up the monotony. If I am vaulting I will perform a full body array of stretching prior to vaulting without overdoing it...i.e calves, shins, quads, hammys, glutes, abs, back, chest, shoulders, forearms, bis, and tris...usually 2 setsx 10-15 secs. Seems like a lot, but it is a must. I really use to warm up the muscle. I f you want to improve you should probably stretch a little bit more after workouts. You have to be careful when drastically improving flexibility...It is important that when you improve flexibility, you must improve strength in that range as well. This means also performing strength exercises in that range. So improve it slowly!

I watched the footage of the Olympic Trials and was disappointed with how inflexible most of the American men seem to be.

Well... It seems to be working for them. But what do I know.

As a former gymnast, I agree that stretching is critical for doing your best and preventing injuries from happening (at least some of the time...splits aren't going to help you with a fractured foot). Some of my favorites that I have to do before vaulting are, as mentioned before, the pike stretch, and then, for back and shoulders I always do a bridge stretch followed by a quick back and front walkover. Don't know if you've ever done front walkovers before, but if you do a really hard ab workout the day before they will tell you when you are sore!

one of the best ways I found to improve my flexibility (other than pulling my hamstrings) was to strech multiple times per day. just a quick 5-10 minute stretch 3 or 4 times a day outside of the regular stretching routine in practice.

I ususally stretched out right after I woke up (very important), during lunch, after I got home from practice, and before I went to bed.