Better look at Bubba Sparks Pop Up Drill and more stuff

[souleman]

Hi kids! Got a real nice e-mail from Bubba Sparks today and he has revised the video of his pop up drill and his "gettin' verticle "roll back"drill.The pop up link is http://www.bubbapv.com/Pages/drill.htm Once you're there click on to the 2005 version. It really gives a good look at where body positioning should be for the best results.Here's what he wrote about the parallel bar drill. Go here http://www.bubbapv.com/Images/New&Old/ and click on the "RollBack.mpg" file. The high parallel bars are 8.5' high and the bars are 24" apart supported by 4X4s. Stills attached. I would do this in the back of your house as opposed to joining a gym. I built a gym at home piece by piece as needed. It's awesome and I didn't spend a fortune. On the bars you will make four attempts a day on three days a week to max. When that number totals 30, you add 1.5 lb. ankle weights to each foot. When that hits 30, you go to 2.5 lb. ankle weights. I'm currently on 4 lbs per foot but it took me over a month to do ONE with no weight. You'll get good at this fast and it will show up in your vault within two weeks. Get it going before you vault and your progress will be much faster. Like I tell people, it's all timing so it doesn't require much strength once you know the timing. It DOES require strength to LEARN the timing as well as to jump on bigger poles. Win/Win!! Talk to you later Man! Bubba. Hope this helps some of you. Later........Mike

[patybobady]

I am sooo doing that with my guys tomorrow at 5AM!

[fong520]

for the 2nd thing... do u do it that slow??, or is that vid just slower to how how its done?

[1yeldud1]

On the second drill we do it at our barn on a home made set of olympic rings. The kids try to do it for as many reps as they can without touching the ground. We have a couple of high school boys that can do it 34 or 35 times with out stopping. There is a 10 year old girl that is a gymnist that did it 20 times - non stop !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To make this drill more difficult deflate a basketball and hold it between your ankles while doing this drill. This "trick" makes this drill much harder - just try it>

[souleman]

Here's something else he sent along. I feel it appropriate because of someof the comments made about how many of these should be done.Food for thought from personal or group conversations -

"About 90% of injuries to pole vaulters are not caused by vaulting but in training for the vault. Of the 10% of injuries while vaulting, over 60% are caused by not training in a particular area, with the minority coming from accidents. How come your elbow or shoulder hurts from lifting or gymnastics but it doesn't bother you when you vault? If you could bench press 250 lbs. before you cleared 15' and it is still your best and you've cleared 17', the bench press is probably a waste of your time and an injury risk. You must decide if you are being injured by your event or by training for it and make the proper adjustments." Glenn Almquist, MD

"After you know how to vault, 70% of your effort needs to be spent on getting stronger and faster." Bob Fraley @ Reno many moons ago (98-99?).

"The truth is, only about 30% of competition jumps will come out how you expect them to due to adrenaline, weather and competition conditions. The more jumps you take the better you get at adapting with instinct." Doug Fraley at Cal/Nevada Championships 1995

"With grips already high and very elite athletes on huge poles, the biggest improvement will come from shortening the duration of the swing where the most energy is lost". Vitaly Petrov @ his first Reno (1993?)

Still holds true and a good time for athletes and coaches to think about it. Bubba

[1yeldud1]

Am I hearing that multiple reps are not a good idea ?????? We use these "challanges" to push the kids to do boring drills that yhey would not do otherwise. I think iof the kids are having fun and thay are in shape no harm is done.

[souleman]

Keep in mind, alot of what Doug wrote was for me and what I need to do towards my come back to the sport. A sport I last did successfully (meaning I didn't hurt myself like I did 2 years later) some 26 years ago. So much of my "Masters" training is waaaaaaaaaay slower and lighter than it is for you younger folks. Even things as simple as running stairs I shouldn't do for a while because I could blow out my achilles. Seriously though, if you go to his web site there is stuff in there for all ages and it's very easy to follow. One more thing to keep in mind on the pop up drill is you'll notice how he keeps his body, once inverted, on the runway side of the pole as it is going to verticle. He says that this excercise and the roll back has done the most for him to "get verticle". He also told me that the roll back works best with the hand holds stationary rather than like say a trapeze or free rings. He said," The rollbacks need to be stationary so that you learn how to slam your arms to bring your hips up. It feels real similar on a pole. You're going to get hit with pressure on your top hand (well both) and you have to slam through that impact. Another alternative is to check your local park for monkey bars. It's not as good because you need your feet to go under that bar to get back far enough". There ya go. This should clear up a few things I think. Later....................Mike