Spring pre-season weight room routine

[thejulesmiester]

Since indoor's finally winding down and i've got a good 6 weeks free of competition before scrimmages start for HS outdoor, and i figured i might as well spend a good amount of time in the weight room. I came up with this work out schedule in order to try to focus in on building strength in some of my weaker areas (mostly upper body) and cater to what i figure would be key muscle groups in the vault. this'll also most likely carry on into the season. feel free to critique/comment on anything i'm doing right or lacking on.

Tuesday:
lat pull-ups 3x10
push-ups 3x15

Bent-over rows 3x10
handstand push-ups 3x max

Chin-ups 3x10
Bench press - 3x10

Dips 3x10
Weighted Box steps 3x10


Thursday
Behind the head pull-ups 3x10
medicine ball push-ups 3x15

upright rows 3x10
clean and press 3x10

incline bench 3x10
Bicep curls 3x10

squats 3x10
inverted dips 3xmax

saturday
lat pull-ups 3x10
push-ups 3x15

Bent-over rows 3x10
handstand push-ups 3x max

Chin-ups 3x10
Bench press - 3x10

Dips 3x10
Weighted Box steps 3x10


every day is finished off with abdominal work:
High bar swing ups 3x10
bicycles 3x50
incline sit-ups 3x20
back extensions 3x15

note that this is done after a 2 hour event-specific practice (alternating pole vault and hurdle days), so if it seems like i skimped out on the legs (which i did) that's why

[H.Gray]

Jules

As you are looking to address a strength issue, I feel a more intense rep scheme than you have presented would be more beneficial.
What you have presented is a strength endurance microcycle - which can be part of "the big picture" to get stronger, but in the short term (the 6 weeks you have) I feel sets of 5 would be better. This is dependent on you being ready for the heavier resistance of course.

One other thing that really jumps out at me is that you are doing a 2 hour event specific session everyday. I assume that this is part of team training (and so may not be able to reduce this). If getting stronger truly is a goal of yours (and your coach agrees), then at this stage, slightly less training on the track / runway with more work in the weight-room would be appropriate. Athletes and coaches often look to just add more of something to an already demanding schedule. This can be counter-productive and cause people to get weaker, not stronger (like a candle burnt from both ends). Something has to give in your training, and remember nutrition and recovery will be more important than ever.

Hope this helps,
Howard

[EIUvltr]

I actually wrote a post for about a half hour analyzing the workout you wrote out but it was a disaster and I rambled on for about 2 pages before I threw my hands up in defeat.

No offense.

So I'm going to give you the abridged version of what I wrote.

1. Organize your lifts according to the following criteria
A. Most intense to least intense
B. Most important to least important
C. Most difficult to least difficult

2. Volume and intensity are inversely related. You need to cut down on the volume significantly and increase the intensity. Basically you need less exercises, less reps and more weight.

3. Don't have more than one exercise per movement. I.E.) No reason to do bench press, dips, AND push-ups. They do the same thing, pick the one which suits you better and do that one. Same goes for LAT pulldowns and chinups.

4. Abdominal work doesn't need to be endurance based. A vaulter needs strong abs, not conditioned ones. Get on a high bar and blast that midsection. Abs don't need to be done everyday.

5. If you are doing so much energy system training (running) that your legs are too tired to lift, then you are doing too much energy system training. The pole vault lasts under 10 seconds in its entirety. You don't need to do conditioning workouts with the 400 runners. To be honest the training plan for a high school pole vaulter should be extremely low volume (pretty easy ). A bit of running, a bit of lifting, some plyos and a lot of event training. I'll cut Altius off at the pass and say the best way to get better at vaulting is vaulting. Only when you reach high technical proficiency is when the importance of other modes of training starts to really increase.

Read my post "10 things everyone should consider while lifting" for more of me stroking my ego

[H.Gray]

EIUvltr's "abridged version" is good advice for you.
The basic principles that he illustrates are very important for you to understand if you are going to design a successful program (and thus improve your performance as a vaulter). I am sure you are getting different advice from all directions and advice from some may contradict advice from others. However, few people could argue on the above guidelines.

[dougb]

That is the best and most concise description of strength training i have read. I have copied it and will hand it out today.

Thanks

Doug Balcomb
PV Coach, Colfax HS

[thejulesmiester]

Hey guys, I really appreciate all the feedback.

To be completely honest, i gave the workout a try before i saw any of your responses to my post, and it did feel like it was a little excessive.

EIU, no offense taken whatsoever in fact, i might even need more of that.
I read your "10 things post" and it was incredibly informative. i think when i came up with this routine, i modeled it after an old conditioning/strength program that i had been given for soccer one year, just changing up most to the exercises to make it better suit the pole vault. i guess in all my youthful naivete, i really didn't consider that i'm trying to achieve a different kind of strength than needed for soccer, so i didn't tweak the format accordingly. using your guidelines, i tried revamping the formula a bit, so if you don't mind, tell me what you think about this

Tuesday:
pull-ups 3x10
benchpress 3x5

Bent-over rows 3x5
handstand pushups 3xmax

deadlifts 3x5
Weighted Box steps 3x5


Thursday:
Behind the head pull-ups 3x10
incline bench 3x5

squats 3x5
chin-ups 3x10

upright rows 3x5
shoulder press 3x5

saturday:
pull-ups 3x10
benchpress 3x5

deadlifts 3x5
handstand pushups 3xmax

bent-over rows 3x5
Weighted Box steps 3x5

The only things i'm really concerned about with this new ones are the inclusion of the bodyweight exercises and the grouping of shoulder presses and incline bench. i've read just how important the ability to comfortably move your own bodyweight around is to the vault, so i'd like to keep them in there. but since i can't really increase my own body mass on demand in order to increase the intensity, what should i keep the reps per set at? should i just try to keep the movements as slow as possible? and regarding the incline bench and shoulder press, are the movements too similar? you mentioned them both in "10 things," but should they be kept seperate?

and additionally, i think i may have been a little exaggerated when i said two hour event-specifics a day. it's probably more like 1-1.5 hours. should i go a little heavier on the legs in my plan from what i come up with?

so again, feel free to have fun with this routine as much as you like. include or exclude whatever, i'm open for suggestions.

Julian

[thejulesmiester]

oh and for ab work, how about

highbar leg lifts 3x10
bubkas 3x10
back extentions 3x10

would that be better suited?

[EIUvltr]

That's 10 times better. Some people might argue that you are still doing a little bit too much volume, but depending on your work capacity, level of training, where you are in the season, and some other stuff, I think what you wrote up is pretty decent given the right situation. As far as incline bench interfering with shoulder press... Give it a shot. If you feel like you are overworking your deltoids then just alter your training plan. I could just write you up a workout but its always good to let you figure some stuff out on your own.

[thejulesmiester]

sweet deal.
i'll try to keep you guys updated on how its going.

EIU, would you recommend tossing any plyometrics into training at this point, or should i keep it to vaulting/lifting?

[altius]

"I'll cut Altius off at the pass and say the best way to get better at vaulting is vaulting". You took the words right off my page!

[thejulesmiester]

Haha. Well, I can't say I didn't see that coming

Believe me, i'm well aware of the fact that i've got huge amounts of work to do concerning my technique. After all, this is only going to be my third season vaulting. But i do have a good coach at my high school who's pretty familiar with the petrov model and has us do at least 3 days of vaulting and drills during the week (weather permitting). Plus i've watched countless hours of video in my free time and probably think about vaulting a lot more than i should...

By the way, its a huge honor to actually be talking to you Mr. Launder i've read a lot of what you've written and watched a few of your videos and i really think they've helped me.

[altius]

its a huge honor to actually be talking to you Mr. Launder i've read a lot of what you've written and watched a few of your videos and i really think they've helped me. Thanks the cheque is in the mail!!