School Track

[Grejo]

So my friend has convinced to join our school track team. He says I would be a good sprinter and/or Pole Vaulter, but i've never done track in my life.


So to all who have ever done it in their lives, could you tell me 'weight lifting' wise what i should work on in order to be a better sprinter and pole vaulter?

i'm gonna train from now until track season starts so if any of you have any tips or suggestions, please throw them at me.

[AndyPants]

I wasn't in track but have a few friends that were. I don't think they lifted at all but I could be wrong. I gathered that training was going running which they still do.

From my perspective, which is climbing, you would want to do body weight exercises and plyometrics (box jumping, lunges, etc). These tone and increase reaction time of your muscles but don't really build bulk which could be a bad thing (bigger muscles = more weight, slower, and less flexible)

[Grejo]

well yea pole vaulting your basically lifting your body weight....in which i can lift 1.25 times my own body weight.


i just need exercises and any king of lifts that will help me with running or vaulting...but yea that's what i wanted to know thanks andy


any other advice or suggestions please give them to me

[Rdaug27]

I think speed is more important then strength on the pole vault. I mean the pole will lift you up and over if you are fast enough and get the momentum behind you. We used to run with small parachutes, or dragging a tire, but hell I'm really not too sure on which, if either made you faster. I only did shot put, disc, 100meter, and 400meter relay. Too bad it wasn't 50meter or so cause I would have blown everyones ass off lol. I remember I had the quickest jump off of the blocks. I think football coming out of a 3 point helped me out a lot there. I was at top speed quickly, and could run over, or through most defenders. LOL When I ran with the ball I leaned into it, so much that if I didn't hit the guy, then I would fall face first to the ground. I didn't realize that until practice one day and the safety just side stepped me, not even trying to tackle me and I fell ROFL.

[TriPP]

i didn't do the pole vault or sprint. i threw the javelin, shot put & discus.

with that said, virtually every event in the track & field is dominated by those with the best technique (and banned substances, ha).

explosiveness out of the starting blocks is important in sprinting, so squats and calve squats can help with that.

for the pole vault reverse curls will help with pole control.

[DARKHELMET]

I did pole vauting in hight school. You have to be fast but it's more upper Body strength . I was not a fast runner but I had the upper boddy strength . I went 13 ft was my personal best. I have some cool medal's but **** that was so long ago ,that I can remember were I put them. lol

I would ask your coach to time you on the 100 mm
If you going to pole vault i can help you out.
good luck:)

[Grejo]

track doesn't start until march so i wanted to plan ahead and work on the stuff needed....my friend is gonna help me train for pole vaulting since he's our school's best

ok so far for muscles that should be trained i have this:

biceps - curls
triceps - pull downs
shoulders - basically lift weights above my head
upper back - machine that targets this area
lower back - machine that targets this area
chest - numerous machines, bench press, free weights
abs - lift legs to chest with weights tied to ankles
calves - machine that targets this area
quads - leg lifts, squats, lunges
hamstrings - machines, lunges



anything else i should work on?


and DH when the time comes i'm floodin you with questions to help me with pole vaulting

[Kerry2]

For a sprinter your biggest focus should be exploding off the block. Practice your sprints with heavy shoes or ankle weights. Decide what sprints you want to run then practice double that, i.e. if you want to run the 100 meter dash, run 200 meters during your practice. The logic behind it is that your body gets used to the 200 meters so the 100 meters seems like a cake walk, that's an old distance runners trick. Having never run before the biggest thing you are going to have to get used to as a sprinter will be running on the balls of your feet. A sprinters heel should never touch the ground during a race, that's why most spinters wear the moulded shoes.

I can only give you so much advice, I was a distnace runner in school. If you live near a beach, run in the sand and in the water.

[Ditch]

lol DH I pole vaulted in high school and I played 2 seasons of ice hockey, worked out 2 hours a day at the school gym, ahh so long ago, (1996)

[Grejo]

yea i work out around 2 hours a day after school at Bellin Health center (doctor's clinic upstairs, huge weight room cardio room and an XL program that is like training like michael jordan) but only if i have the time in which work is spanking me in but they usually slow down a lot in the winter so i'll get less hours so i'll be able to work out much more


my friend leads the conference with the best vaulting of around 30'3'' and our school record is 30'6'' so he's trainin his butt off and he's makin me tag along with him and do the exact workouts and stuff that he does (apparently he wants our school to do better in this area lol)

again track doesn't start till march but i wanna get a huge lead so i don't end up not making varsity and lookin like an idiot or be one of those kids who just plain sucks.

[Dioxin]

Grejo, good for you man. I just started working out myself for the first time in October. I've made pretty big gains in a short period of time. I wish you the best of luck with training!