how do you count steps

[nitro]

When people are running, do you count their steps or lefts? ie. 16 steps or 8 lefts

its how you count other peoples steps not your own...

[PoleVaultinPsychic]

Yeah, but I don't "guess" my steps, I just go, I don't worry about if I had uneven lefts and rights or more or less steps than someone else, the only thing that matters to me about the steps is that I plant with the correct foot and its a good plant. Otherwise if I run crooked with ten steps for my fourty feet or or whatever I'm going at I don't care. And I agree with powerplant42 it messes with my brain, I have to clear my thoughts before I vault and if I have to worry about counting I'm not going to get anything else done. Although if its already a habit powerplant42 is right, don't waste time trying to break it.

[hallvaulter]

i count other peoples by lefts, and if i see that they have a giddy up step or half left, i consider it cheating a left and add one

[chaus]

counting my steps keeps me in a rhythm.

in hurdles i count every step. but in vault I only count the lefts, though i used to count every step.

I think counting is helpful, in pv I count down (ie 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). I know that I always want the pole in a certain position at certain points in my run.
With hurdles, I think it keeps me at the right speed so I can get the correct amount of steps in. If I do too many or too little steps to the 1st hurdle, I cant get the correct amount for the following hurdles, or I have to stretch or stutter step.

[Thats.What.She.Said]

Yeah, but I don't "guess" my steps, I just go, I don't worry about if I had uneven lefts and rights or more or less steps than someone else, the only thing that matters to me about the steps is that I plant with the correct foot and its a good plant. Otherwise if I run crooked with ten steps for my fourty feet or or whatever I'm going at I don't care. And I agree with powerplant42 it messes with my brain, I have to clear my thoughts before I vault and if I have to worry about counting I'm not going to get anything else done. Although if its already a habit powerplant42 is right, don't waste time trying to break it.

how are you possibley able to get a good plant? since you arent starting from a constant spot then you arent going to be taking off from the same spot, unless you stride out or stutter step, and neither is going to lead to a good vault.

[IAmTheWalrus]

I count lefts in the following fashion

n,...,5,4,3,2 and jump!

with "2" taking place on the second to last left, "and"taking place on the penultimate (right) step, and "jump" obviously on my takeoff left.

I find the inclusion of the "and" helps to emphasize the quickening up at the end which, hopefully, leads to a better jump. I got it from Matt Scheffler, my club coach.

[PoleVaultinPsychic]

Yeah, but I don't "guess" my steps, I just go, I don't worry about if I had uneven lefts and rights or more or less steps than someone else, the only thing that matters to me about the steps is that I plant with the correct foot and its a good plant. Otherwise if I run crooked with ten steps for my fourty feet or or whatever I'm going at I don't care. And I agree with powerplant42 it messes with my brain, I have to clear my thoughts before I vault and if I have to worry about counting I'm not going to get anything else done. Although if its already a habit powerplant42 is right, don't waste time trying to break it.

how are you possibley able to get a good plant? since you arent starting from a constant spot then you arent going to be taking off from the same spot, unless you stride out or stutter step, and neither is going to lead to a good vault.

I don't stutter step though. I have a set point that I take off from, but otherwise, it doesn't matter to me if I take twelve steps or eighty seven. The most important to me are my last three. and the only thing I think about those are to speed up.

[powerplant42]

How can your last three be executed correctly if the previous steps weren't?

[PoleVaultinPsychic]

who's to say my previous steps weren't executed correctly just because I didn't count them? If I don't count my steps when I walk does that mean I'm not walking correctly? Its all in the way you learned. I learned not to count my steps. Others learned to count steps. I don't think that means one is right while the other is wrong. Its just a different way of coaching.

[powerplant42]

That's not what I mean... if you don't have a 'spot' that you go from each time, your run, however short or long, will be different each time. That is inconsistent! Would you do that from your full run? Probably not (I sure hope ). So why wouldn't you take the extra 5 minutes that it takes at one practice to figure out where your 1, 2, and 3 step 'spots' are? It won't help a lot, no, but it will help a little. Control every factor that you can... that's key in the vault.

[PoleVaultinPsychic]

The 1,2 and 3 steps I assume you mean my final three steps, yes? yeah, I have those. but I don't count them. I know where my last three steps start, no matter where on the runway I start from. I don't have to stutter step because i don't count. Without having a set number of steps that I think I need, I don't have to fit more in or whatever. I dunno, I think it makes alot more sense if you could see it or hear my coach explain it, this would make a lot more sense.

[powerplant42]

I mean 1 left, 2 lefts, 3 lefts...

I'm pretty sure I know what you're describing... but it still doesn't make sense. First, how would not counting have anything to do with stutter stepping? That's only a function of your stride length/starting spot. But whatever... Please try to describe what it is you're doing. Is it not just running to the mark you mentioned however from wherever then planting? That's still not a good thing to do.