PV Speed & Strength Training

For those athletes with elite ambitions and who are not currently competing in another sport in season, many might want to accelerate their development with the addition of pole vault specific speed and strengthening clinics (sessions) on days they are not vaulting.

Led by Coach Steven Pust, this entails sprint mechanics with and without a pole, max velocity intervals which respect the limited distance of actual pole vault approaches, and some plyometric work to enhance the reactive strength of the sprinter’s nervous system which is foundational to speed improvement. Often athletes will rehearse actual pole vault approaches with a sliding box to exploit as much of an athlete’s raw speed as possible for the actual pole vault.

The lifting is designed to develop explosive power for speed, lean and mean, without a lot of general strengthening for body building etc. Teaching young athletes to move weight safely and efficiently is a great gift to their athletic journey wherever speed is critical. For the sake of quality vaulting on fresh legs, it is ideal (not critical) to position lifting sessions as long after vault sessions as possible, rather than the day before. That might mean vaulting on Wednesday and Sunday for folks doing all of this.

And please remember, at this age and level, no work is as critical or formation for pole vault development than the actual pole vault sessions themselves. Older athletes who have achieved higher mastery of vault technique typically emphasize more speed and strength work than teenagers do.