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I really want to increase my upper body strenth to help vaulting and so that i can actually start to look like an athlete. I am doing the workouts and weight room with the team but i feel like its not going to make me much stronger and will only keep me in shape. does anyone have any tips as to what to do outside of practice to help.

do lotsa pullups.

fong520 wrote:do lotsa pullups.

and Bubka's, wipers, leg lifts, muscle-ups, pullovers, kips, knee-ups, etc...

Don't know how to do most of this stuff? Do a search on this site or check out advantageathletics.com

My first piece of advice is to learn the basics of strength and conditioning for yourself. If your school has a good library have a look to see if they have any good books such as 'Essentials of strength training and conditioning' for example. you won't need to read it all but it will teach you the basics on sets and reps and how to periodise the training.

You havent given your training age so ill assume its not too advanced (8 years +) so sticking to the basics will be fine. As you progress there are more advanced training sytems that can be used which are best left to further along in your vaulting career.

Theres no point starting training for pole vault wanting to put on bulk, if you can stay light and get stronger than that is the ideal.

The pole vault specific drills given above are also important but a base of strength built in the gym will not only improve performance but if done correctly will help minimize injuries aswell.

Don't try and lift weights with no knowledge whatsoever, or worse with tips from some bodybuilders at the gym, remember bad training can be worse than no training.

lonestar wrote:

fong520 wrote:do lotsa pullups.

and Bubka's, wipers, leg lifts, muscle-ups, pullovers, kips, knee-ups, etc...

Oh Yeah! My workouts almost to the T.

another good exercise, just do what this guy is doing

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-video/onearmpull.mpg

that will sort your upper body strength out.

PaulVaulter wrote:another good exercise, just do what this guy is doing

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-video/onearmpull.mpg

that will sort your upper body strength out.

holy moly.. mad props to whoever can do that.. i thoguht i was good with being able to do 1 handed pushups with each hand... wow..

Ins0mnizac wrote:I really want to increase my upper body strenth to help vaulting and so that i can actually start to look like an athlete. I am doing the workouts and weight room with the team but i feel like its not going to make me much stronger and will only keep me in shape. does anyone have any tips as to what to do outside of practice to help.

when you say you want to look like an athelete, are you saying you physically want to look ripped when you are standing on the runway? or do you want people to think you are an athelete because you can jump really high? because if you are looking for the first, there is a chance you will never achieve that. if you are build like me (6'1" 160ish lbs.), you will never get there. in the last two years, my bench press has improved nearly 75lbs, but my arms/shoulders have not got any larger. its not about the size of your guns, its about being able to do a thousand curls with your right gun to impress the new babe in the news room, haha

the best way to impress a lady is to give her 2 tickets to the gun show

oh righttt.

Don't ignore the lower body. Speed comes from the development of type II (fast twitch) muscle. Have a strength and conditioning coach or other professional show you the structural olympic lifts. Make sure you balance your weight training with both pulling and pusing type lifts. Also work the hamstrings and glutes (hip extensors) rigorously. A ballance ball is very good for this as are plyometrics and other hamstring and glute drills. A lot of imatative upper body stuff can be done on a high bar and a rope. Ankle ups, Bubkas, pull ups and that sort of thing. Speed work can be done on the track and do lots of pole runs and sliding box. I know this is more than you asked for but I have found that this is a good off-season training formula for my athletes.

good luck

Speaking of pull-ups, which ones are the best to do? Palm facing in or out? Hands spread wide or narrow?

I'm not quite sure which particular muscles each work out so I can't figure out which is going to be the best for the vault.

In addition, is it best to do several sets of a lot of pull-ups at a time or many sets of a couple of pull-ups?

Do em all facing out, facing in, tight, wide, behind the back(my favorite), one arm(if u can't do that try holding your wrist)...