Here's one to peruse, why not a longer pole?

[PaulVaulter]

I would say yes, at least by pushing down you are at least maintaining pressure on the pole and giving it every chance to return as much energy to you as possible.

You may not be gaining extra height by pushing but you are at least minimizing the loss of height.

Paul

[AVC Coach]

Great explaination Paul. That's the first time I've heard it put that way.

[skyin' pimp]

You guys are totally missing the point of Morry's question.

yeah, like if we had that new "pole material", now we gots ourselves a whole new pile of crap to deal with..
the pit is going to get in the way.. then it'll obstruct the bending of these long poles and mess the whole thing up..
plus, who'd want to be the guy either:
gripping 6.10 and taking off at 5.80, mmmm fun, i have a hard enough time jumpin' that nowadays without a pole,
or, bringin' back mr. pole vault's coaches theories, runnin' with a bent pole..
paul, i hope your 90% balls are the size of watermelons..
fun to think about all these wonderful ideas, and i'm over tens years past my last physics class.. but, all in all, why not hold higher???????

cause either you can, or you can't.

i try and keep it real simple, or, my fav way of putting it,
K.I.S.S=keep it simple stupid

1st- figure out max speed you can do w/o pole,
2nd- plant pole as high as possible allowing bottom elbow to be as high
as possible, with utter importance on sprinting through the takeoff
with a lil faster cadence on the last stride, (last 3 strides should
sound like well, in music terms~ quarter note, eigth note, whole
note, and don't try and get techie on me sayin' that's not quite the
rhythm, it's just a guideline)
3rd- swing center of gravity as long as possible, (biggest arch you can
get), till you've completed yourself to vert
4th- hang on for dear life and the thrill of vaulting higher

we can all break this down 15,000+ ways, but, don't forget that most of us are not that bright when we're trying to actually perform. man, i feel like my four points are gettin' a bit too techie.. hey, it's cool y'all know some good science and i'm by no means sayin' lets not discuss possibilities to the max, i'm just doin' what i do when i coach, k.i.s.s.

[AVC Coach]

Heck! You convinced me. P on it. I'm getting rid of all of our poles and buying some longer sticks. If my kids can't hold 5 meters or higher, they can go back to studyhall.

Just kidding around. There are a lot of factors that contribute to holding high. Each athlete will be different and respond in various ways to just raising the grip. A vaulter's overall athleticism is a huge factor.

It's really a trade off. If you can raise your grip considerebly and still jump the same height or higher with relatively the same number of QUALITY vaults, then by all means do it. If raising your grip causes you to faulter in your technique and start to develop some bad habits and bail most of the time, why do it right then?

I think everyone would agree that you're not going to win the Indianapolis 500 driving a Yugo, but it's going to take a little more than just some testicular fortitude to succeed by simply raising your grip.

[Barto]

General rule of thumb:

If you are gripping over 13', you should clear 13+2(the amount over 13 you are gripping)

ex. 13'3" grip 13'+2(3")=13'6" clearance

Don't raise your grip until you can do it. Then raise your grip no more than 3" at a time. Raising your grip any faster only makes it more difficult to learn to actually vault.

Barto

[master]

If you are gripping over 13', you should clear 13+2(the amount over 13 you are gripping)

That's a very interesting formula. I assume this is empirically derived (based on observation of many good jumpers).

- master

Here is a chart of the formula results:
(Please correct me if I have misunderstood the formula)

Code: Select all

grip
height  clearance
13-0....13-0
13-1....13-2
13-2....13-4
13-3....13-6
13-4....13-8
13-5....13-10
13-6....14-0
13-7....14-2
13-8....14-4
13-9....14-6
13-10...14-8
13-11...14-10
14-0....15-0
14-1....15-2
14-2....15-4
14-3....15-6
14-4....15-8
14-5....15-10
14-6....16-0
14-7....16-2
14-8....16-4
14-9....16-6
14-10...16-8
14-11...16-10
15-0....17-0
15-1....17-2
15-2....17-4
15-3....17-6
15-4....17-8
15-5....17-10
15-6....18-0
15-7....18-2
15-8....18-4
15-9....18-6
15-10...18-8
15-11...18-10
16-0....19-0

[AVC Coach]

Great chart! I remember reading an article about Joe Dial back in the day when he jumped 19'06.5" and he was only holding 15'8". Is there a formula to determine what the max height you could clear at any given grip would be? This is good stuff! Thanks!

[dj]

here's the chart that gives us the info and more..


of course these are averages on height above grip.. but the meters per second and mid mark are very..very real!!

dj

http://www.polevaultpower.com/docs/djmidchart.doc