PoleVaultPower.com

Some forums have a feature where their prominent posters will go into what is called "the well." Basically you can ask me any question (Training related, not technique) you want and I will respond to as many as I can with a well thought out answer. I welcome all criticism so bring it . I'm doing this to try and bring life to a once lively forum which has become rather dormant recently.

Have you ever looked at the "triphasic training" methods put forth by Cal Dietz from U. Minnesota? What are your thoughts.

Regardless of your thoughts on his training philosophy, do you think that a vaulter whose knee buckles (stays bent way too long and ends up being flat) at takeoff needs to address eccentric strength of the quads? Perhaps through plyos beginning with down jumps and progressing to depth jumps?

I'm not up-to-snuff on all the minute details of Triphasic Training. I read a couple articles on elitefts about it a while back but that's about it. What I do know is that it's a form of block periodisation designed to help strength athletes. It works and works well, but so do a lot of other programs out there with the same goal in mind. I think the main problem nowadays is we have this mindset of "I NEED THE BEST TRAINING PROGRAM ON EARTH!" and it causes us to put most of our energy into programming, researching and jumping from program to program instead of just busting our a** on a program we know yields results but may not be the best program ever. Is triphasic training better than 5/3/1? Maybe. However I'd take an athlete who gives 110% to a mediocre program over some neurotic athlete on the best program ever. I was very guilty of this back in the day.

One thing that a lot of programs lack nowadays is leniency with the competitive schedule. What if you can't get your team in the weightroom as often as a program suggests? What if you have 2 meets in one week, then none the next? What if you can't get in the weightroom Saturday/Sunday? Etc. Triphasic training addresses this quite well with the inclusion of TONS of programs from 2-6 days per week.

All that being said, I'm wary of any barbell strength program approach for vaulters. I find strength to be somewhat overrated with the pole vault since if your technique is spot-on, you will perpetually have your body in advantageous positions with good leverage on the pole and the vault will be almost effortless.


I think your knee buckling problem is almost certainly a product of being under and slowing down at take-off, unless it happens when you do pole runs on the track as well. Then you may have some kind of weakness somewhere in your posterior chain and/or quads. However, Id bet my life that it is a mental problem with your run.

Thanks for the reply. I agree with everything you said. I tend to incorporate a lot more barbell training for my lower body (squats/deadlifts) in the winter because my limited access to good indoor facilities, but if I could do just vaulting, plyos, and sprints whenever I wanted I'd probably ditch the lifting. I also agree with what you said about the programming hang up. Especially when you are vaulting, coaching yourself, training by yourself, and writing your own training program. You are right, my run isn't perfect, I was just trying to rectify 9 m/s on the vault runway with a 5.94m long jump, haha.

Thanks again for the response.

What are your thoughts on things like dropoffs for sprints and lifts? Like doing 30m sprints until your time goes above some threshold value instead of just using an arbitrary number?

What is your take on resistance bands (small ones for around the ankles) in order to strengthen hip movement? Is there significant increases in the hips, glutes, and abdominal muscle to make sure that they are incorporated into an off season training program? Or are there other ways to strengthen these hard to hit stabilizer areas that are so important for good running posture and injury prevention?

dnike13 wrote:What is your take on resistance bands (small ones for around the ankles) in order to strengthen hip movement? Is there significant increases in the hips, glutes, and abdominal muscle to make sure that they are incorporated into an off season training program? Or are there other ways to strengthen these hard to hit stabilizer areas that are so important for good running posture and injury prevention?

I am curious about this one as well: I am contemplating utilizing bands/chords to target hip flexors...

Bands are a good tool to use but you have to be sure that you're progressing in difficulty just as you would with by adding weight to a barbell. Buying some form of a dynamometer to figure out how far you have to stretch one band before it is as difficult as the next one would be a good idea. They would only ever be a minor part of a training program though, good for lateral and transverse work to balance out all the frontal and sagittal plane work that dominates our training. Most people's hip flexion power isn't lacking, however it is inhibited by tight posterior chain, tight psoas, poor gait, etc. Soft tissue work done regularly will do wonders for an athlete with poor mobility.

EIUvltr wrote:All that being said, I'm wary of any barbell strength program approach for vaulters. I find strength to be somewhat overrated with the pole vault since if your technique is spot-on, you will perpetually have your body in advantageous positions with good leverage on the pole and the vault will be almost effortless.

I agree with this 100%, but reality states that you will rarely be "spot-on" if ever. Proper strength training helps your body handle the multiple imperfections of 99% of your vaults, starting from the first step, as efficiently as possible. That's probably the number one reason for strength training in the pole vault. A close 2nd, if not tied for 1st, is increasing your speed and explosiveness. Maximum force is key and that is best achieved through barbell strength training like dead lifts. Technique in the PV is #1, but being a "functionally strong" PV athlete will allow you to learn the proper technique that much faster and easier.

Now I do agree most vaulters spend more time on being "strong" than focusing on technique improvement and consistency. That "strength" focus is usually not "functional" for vaulting either. This all comes down to having a knowledgable PV coach.

Good post EIUvltr.

Now I do agree most vaulters spend more time on being "strong" than focusing on technique improvement and consistency. That "strength" focus is usually not "functional" for vaulting either. This all comes down to having a knowledgable PV coach.

Good post EIUvltr.[/quote]

I like it!