Summer break...

[VaultPurple]

as far as strength training, I really think more muscle makes you more athletic (to an extent). Like a gymnist build and not a body builder.... just my opinion, no argument needed

But as far as a really good routein that I think is really geard towards the type of body a pole vaulter needs, has anyone tried P90X. We had a set of dvds someone orderd off line a few years ago and never did. I downloaded the schedual off line and started it one week ago just to give it a shot. Each dvd is about 50 min long and you could probably get stronger using 5lb weights.

I made it through about 30 min of the day one video (ONLY UPPERBODY) befor I had to quit from exhaustion, dehydration, deadness. I seriously under estimated the intensity when they said PACE yourself. The first video used no weights, just diffrent types of push ups and pull ups, and they had women in the video doing sets of 20 pull ups and I can do over 30 so i figured id just try to stay with them. BAD IDEA!

But the reason I think these workouts are really pole vault specific because so far for the first 3 weeks it goes... chest and back (pushups pullups), Plyometrics (very intense but really good plyometric routein... made it about 30 min in this one and could barely walk afterwards), sholders and arms, yoga, legs and back (some weight is optional and i used none on day one and it still was hard), karate cardio, rest.....

all of this is just really works on stability muscles and relative strength that makes you pretty strong but not like a body builder, and works on explosivenes.

Just wondering if anyone else has tried it... think its pretty pricey dvd set but I think any workout program could be addapted from this just by incorperating lots off pushups and pull ups into workouts. But they also teach you how to build up to doing push ups and things like that....

It just made me feel really weak.....

[birdi_gurlie]

I'm not saying I'm going for the body builder look [no way...those ladies look disgusting, though that's with drugs...ewww.]
I mean, body builders are TOO muscular. I'm going for the "decently athletic" look...not the "completely ripped" look.


I've never heard of that.
That said, I'm pretty sure that if YOU are dead tired after that, so would I! lol.
Sounds interesting.

Yoga isn't ALWAYS easy...I've done a little in my life. It's not always as easy as some think.

[MarissaBraindead]

To an extent you do need muscle. My main problem early in the season was my Left arm (I'm right handed) caving and not pushing the pole to bend it. Once i got the Muscle. I started bending the pole... though it scared the crap out of me and the second i was over a mat dropped it. But yeah. If you think you need to work on Muscle, work on it. We do a lot of Core at my school when we don't have vault practice and that also REALLY helped me. REALLY REALLY helped.

[powerplant42]

To an extent you do need muscle. My main problem early in the season was my Left arm (I'm right handed) caving and not pushing the pole to bend it. Once i got the Muscle. I started bending the pole... though it scared the crap out of me and the second i was over a mat dropped it. But yeah. If you think you need to work on Muscle, work on it. We do a lot of Core at my school when we don't have vault practice and that also REALLY helped me. REALLY REALLY helped.

I'm glad you're going to be training with me this summer... You're going to learn a LOT! (It's not your fault... This is precisely why MD is where it is, and the US as well...)

Vicki Parnov, 7th grade, about the size of your average twig: ~12'. Search for "Bartonietz"... Come on people, we've had this discussion before... more than a few times! Check out the 'Athletecism vs. Technique' thread in here... I'm upset that that died. 99% of the strength training you need can be done through gymnastics (ESPECIALLY the high bar) and sprint work.

There's a girl that I've been coaching for a while (out of the country for a year at the moment) that probably weighed about 90 pounds. She was about 5' tall, and she was not fast at all. I swear, her take-off is better than any other girl in the state that I've seen, and I think she cleared 8'6" in indoor this year. She had a background on bars, but hadn't practiced seriously on them for quite some time. If I could've gotten her on the bar more often, I have no doubt that she would have cleared 10' or more this past indoor season. (By the way, she struggled to do pull ups too... Just as much as you, BG!)

Well, I'm not going to bother preaching on deaf ears any more. I can see how altius gets so frustrated.

[birdi_gurlie]

I never said I WOULDN'T do drills...I will. I won't do much weight room...maybe 2-3 hours a week...and at that, not every week. [I'll be out of town for 5 weeks on vacation...3 weeks at camp, 1 at grandma's, 1 at beach] so it won't be a lot. I AM going to the Lojo Vault camp...I'm hoping to learn a lot there!

For most of the summer, I'll do the drills and bar work. However, at camp they may not let me hang from the trees, lol. Also, there aren't many places at the beach that can be used as a high bar...I know, I know, "high bars are everywhere" but beach house beams are too low, renting doesn't allow for swinging by the door ledge, and there aren't many trees there. And no playground at the one where we stay.

I'll do all those drills. I may end up using a PVC pipe for some drills instead of my pole, depending on when/what/where [and at camp, I won't have a pole to use, but I can do other drills] but it's heavier and harder to run with, so that shouldn't be a bad thing...I'll HAVE to carry it right!

[powerplant42]

Ask altius and agapit (LoJo too I guess) about it when you go.

[birdi_gurlie]

The strength or the high bar? Or the pole vs PVC?

[powerplant42]

EVERYTHING.

What you should be working on, how you should be working on it, when you should be working on it, and, what you should NOT be working on.

[birdi_gurlie]

Okie dokie!
Only a few more weeks till then! YAY!

[xjoeyx]

bg which session are you going to? i might go to the 2nd one but I have to get a job first

[birdi_gurlie]

I can ALMOST do a handstand now!

I went to an "open gym" at a gymnastics place tonight.
I learned how to do a handstand for a little while...but I kick up too hard and end up falling on my back.
Strangely enough, doing it against the wall is harder for me...I'm afraid I'm going to hit my head on the wall.

Kips were hard...but that might partly be because the bar is lower than I am. Maybe it's not, maybe it is...
And I tore another callus on the bar. Now I know why gymnasts wear those guard things on their hands/wrist.
But it's not too bad. It's about the size of a dime, maybe a penny.
It almost ripped past the skin, but there's a thin layer of skin in between it and the outside. I still put a bandaid on it though.
Only problem is that in 2 weeks, I'm going to a pole vault camp and I don't want a newly-formed callus to tear while I'm there.

Also, can anyone explain a "tap swing" or "whip swing"? [Are they the same???]
If so...how difficult is it...I've been trying to do something like it, I think, but I'm not sure.

[KirkB]

... can anyone explain a "tap swing" or "whip swing"? [Are they the same???] ...

They're almost the same, except that gymnasts call it a tap swing, and vaulters call it a whip swing.

Even when vaulters do the Whip Drill (aka Swinging Whip Drill, Hanging Whip Drill, or Whip Swing Drill) on the highbar, it's still called the whip swing. Now if you were a vaulter doing giants, you'd probably want to call it a tap swing.

The tap swing is the way a highbar specialist (or uneven bar specialist ... for you girls) keep their momentum going (add power to their swing) at the bottom of their swing, when they do giants. They're slightly arched (inverted C position) just before they pass below the bar, then they're slightly hollow (C position) just after they pass the bar.

The whip swing is as per Alan Lauder's video (and PP's video) discussed today on this thread: http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=17388.

To compare the tap swing to the whip swing, think of passing under the highbar as identical to passing the chord of the pole. So when a gymnast does a tap swing as he passes under the highbar, that's similar to a vaulter doing a whip swing as he passes the chord of the pole.

Got it?

...how difficult is it...

Compared to swinging any other way on the highbar or on the pole, it's actually the easiest (and proper) way to do it.

I like to compare it to a kip up. If you do it properly, it's dirt simple. If you find yourself muscling up to finish your kip up, then you're not timing it right. Once you figure out how to kip up WITHOUT MUSCLING UP, you'll find it's easy ... RIDICULOUSLY easy! Ditto with the whip swing. It's actually the EASIEST way to swing ... on the pole and on the highbar!

Kirk