How to "row"? and get my body up

[beers1213]

Hey this is my first post. I'm a 16 year old and i just started pole vaulting 8 days ago. I keep reading into this stuff and reading these message boards. Half the time i hear you should "row" and half the time not. I still don't really know how to in the first place. I just cleared 9' today but i never like get my body up. i need help on how to invert my body because when i get over i like turn in a sitting position over the bar. I was just wondering how can i focus on getting my hips and body inverted and how to row or even if im supposed to row. im about 6' 160lbs, using a 13'6" 160lbs pole and my grip is at 11'3", any help is appreciated. Thanks

[powerplant42]

First of all, maybe you should be on a smaller pole. But whatever. So you're having trouble getting inverted you say... I would wager a guess that this is because the previous phases of your vaults don't put you in a good position to drop your shoulders and shift up your hips. Remember, 90% of any phase is directly dependent on the phase before it.

(Also, there's a lot of confusion about rowing. If you jump for a while with it, you'll often find yourself not rotating the pole into the pit consistently, and you'll probably notice the pole will just sort of have a crazy wierd bend in it that you can't ever really use. What you SHOULD do, is once you get your hips ABOVE your hands, THEN you can begin to pull, then turn, then push into your flyaway.) Good luck!

P.S., try to get some video up! And good job vaulting 9' in a week!

[beers1213]

Well at my school we only have 2 160lbs poles and im on the shortest but i was bending the 150 a lot so the coach switched me up. and im not sure about my steps, im pretty comfortable at 4 lefts (around 51ft) but i read u should b in the 80ft-100ft range, would this help me to practice a longer approach run? and i have a video on a camcorder but im not sure how to upload it, ill work on it. thanks for the advice

[indestructo]

The longer run will probably increase your height. Should you do it? Probably not! The added length in your run will add speed to you jump and while that may improve your height now, it also covers up a lot of technical errors that someone only doing it 8 days would have. if you're doing 9ft from 4 lefts without good inversion yet, then your doing pretty darned good. I say stick with 4 lefts, find a set of rings and work on swinging that trail leg. If rings arent available then do a lot of pop-ups from a short run and short hand grip and work only on swinging the trail leg all the way to the 1 o'clock position. When you've achieved that then you can work on the fly-away portion. Both of those will improve your height and make you a better vaulter down the road.

Good Luck!

[beers1213]

I dont have rings or high bar or anything like that to really work with, so ive just been basically doing ab workouts and pushups when im not at practice, is there anything around the house that i could use to practice the swinging motion? Oh and another thing, ive been getting pretty bad blisters and tears in the blisters lately, ive been taping my hands but it still hurts a lot, anything you know would help heal quicker or help my hands? Thanks for any help.

[powerplant42]

I get the same sort of blisters you're talking about, right in between your ring and middle fingers on both hands, right?... your hands will eventually get used to them, and they'll turn into callouses. I guess you could put some vasoline and a dry bandage on if it's that bad... Only tape them up in practice if you can't stand to hold a pole in them, because it can make it difficult to feel some elements of your vault. (Side note: You can't tape your hands at a competition unless there's an open wound, like a popped blister or something like that...)

Do you have access to a gym? Try to get in and do some olympic lifts, like power snatch, power clean, push jerk, etc. Get somebody who knows what they're doing, like the strength trainer at your school if you have one, to show you the correct way to do these lifts. Don't use a lot of weight, just enough so that it's mildly difficult to perform the lifts as explosively as you can.

Do you know of any playgrounds in your area? They should have a couple of opportunities for swing drills and bubkas and the like.

Also, you really shouldn't move your run back yet. Once you feel like it's the major limiting factor in your vault, then it's time to go back to 5. I would guess that currently it is not, and you'd be making a wise decision that most high schoolers wouldn't have the discipline to do.

Hope that helps!

[beers1213]

well my blisters are right under my index finger and they are bleeding so i tape it during the meets, i do have access to a gym and ill ask about those lifts, i feel dumb asking but what is the bubka exercise? and another thing, i think its tendanitus from too many jumps but pretend your holding your pole, now about an inch directly back from your left elbow, i have soo much pain there and ive been taking advil but it just comes back when the advil wears off, do you know what this is and/or how i can treat this? Thanks

[AR01]

check this out. tons of drills you can do on a highbar, rings, etc.
the first one is the one powerplant was talking about.

http://www.polevaultpower.com/media/vid ... anddrills/

[powerplant42]

I think I've had what you're talking about, but I'm not sure... for me, I just took it sort of easy and it wore off and I could go hard again. But I don't know, maybe it's tendonitis or bursitis or whatever, get it looked at by your trainer.

[beers1213]

Well it was weird because i just had a practice and then a JV meet, and in the practice i was soo dead like i couldnt lift my arm. then at the JV meet i was perfect, i got over 9' and had a great attempt on 9'6" so i was happy. and thanks a lot to AR01 for the drills, looks like i have to find a playground with a bar now

[beers1213]

I dont think im there yet, but when i feel im getting the max out of my 4-step would it be smarter to move down a handgrip before i go to my 5-step?

[powerplant42]

NO! It's possible that you could put too much energy in and penetrate too far into the pit and fall out the back! Keep the same grip if you're going to go back a step, and you'll find that you need to move you grip up at least a fist and a half to have any legitimate chance to swing! It might intimidate you at first, but if you just bump it up inch by inch then you'll get to a good grip height.