Is heavier better?

[lonestar]

Look at those Japanese guys in Reno - none of them had any mass, but they were all fast and extremely technically sound. Same thing with Trandenkov (he looked like a heroin addict with his face sunken in most of the time), and Tarasov never looked real big. They were all fast though.

[Barto]

Contrary to popular weight room lore, most elite athletes are not very big people.

Muscle is not inherently better than fat if it is not helping you to run faster, jump off the ground better, or swing harder. Any excess of either is not good.

In the pole vault, it is suprising just how little upper-body strength is required to jump high. If you can do 10 pullups, you can jump 18'. However, you had better be one bad ninja in the abdominal dept. or you will never jump high no matter how "strong" you are.

Barto

[VaultNinja]

Contrary to popular weight room lore, most elite athletes are not very big people.

Muscle is not inherently better than fat if it is not helping you to run faster, jump off the ground better, or swing harder. Any excess of either is not good.

In the pole vault, it is suprising just how little upper-body strength is required to jump high. If you can do 10 pullups, you can jump 18'. However, you had better be one bad ninja in the abdominal dept. or you will never jump high no matter how "strong" you are.

Barto

I am going to have to agree on this one, especially since I am the ninja.

[zack]

Example I was at a meet this weekend A guy the was 6'6" and about 200 pounds jumping on 5.10 220. He ony jumped 14'6"

Wow talk about overkill/overgripping. Don't think I've seen any that bad...have seen some guys jumping around 14' on 4.90s.

[jhesch]

though not directly related to weight gain, i thought this quote was good from Brad Walker's chat, and it applies to other threads regarding to working out. however, it still seems important, in terms of high school/novice to practice swinging and get down a good technique before hittin the weight room hard.

Todd Ford from Alfred State - What equipment do you implement in your training for the vault?

Brad Walker - In my mind, the most important equipment you can use is in the weightroom. I personally feel that tons of my success is due to my strength gains in the weight room. Bar work, pulley drills, jumping hurdles, and plenty of other common stuff has helped me along the way.