Concerning Pole Vault, 10-21-09

First of all, it's my sister Kelly's birthday today, so wish her a happy one.

On to business; as some of you may recall, I posted a blog not too long ago about my shoulder injury. I'm happy to say that I feel my shoulder is basically back to 100%. Lately I've been hitting the weightroom pretty heavily to strengthen the entire muscle group, along with the rest of my body. I got a pretty awesome 3 month general workout schedule from the old ChasingKaz forums, and it seems to be pretty effective. Along with the general free-weight routine, I do quite a bit of abdominal work and hit some other muscle groups as I see fit. My workout starts with a warmup run of anywhere from .5 - 2 miles (I've been replacing the run with an excercise bike warmup at times.) I try to make my warm-ups more intense and to get my heart rate up over 150 for a period of time, the purpose is to make sure that I'm burning off fat and that weight I'm gaining is only muscle. After that, I'll do static stretches for 10 minutes or so, then go through my weight routine. My workouts target different groups every day, alternating from legs and back to chest and arms. Every day though, I make sure I work on my abs too.

Another big thing I've been concentrating on is nutrition. If you see me out in public, and you don't know me, you might think I'm a bit malnourished. I'm right at 5'11" and most definitely underweight. However, I've been putting on muscle weight recently, and that's a good thing. My workout rotates in three week cycles; the first two weeks concentrates on intensity and high repetitions, while the third is a strengthening week for the muscles you built during the first two. I have scheduled this to last through 4 rotations, 12 weeks total. Directly after my workouts I get protein into my system through either those health bars and shakes, or boiled eggs. Last May, my vaulting weight (shoes and uniform) was averaging around 133lbs-134lbs. Already, I've put on over ten pounds in muscle (Yesterday my vaulting weight was 147.7lbs., and the day before it was right at 149.0lbs.) My goal is to stay right around 150lbs. for the season. Being a little heavier now is a great thing, because it puts a lot more vaulting poles in my range for me to use. The fact that the weight i'm gaining is all muscle is even better.

As of right now I'm keeping myself from actually vaulting; I want to have a good base built and a powerful core before I dive right into it. The indoor facility I use will be opening in the beginning of December, and I plan to be jumping again around that time. I'm urging my top female vaulter to do this same workout plan as well, and to hold off on jumping. I have some high hopes for this season, since last season a big problem was finding good vaulting poles for my weight range. This year I'll have access to almost any pole I need. I'm already quite a bit stronger, and hopefully have more balanced muscle groups. The big "X-factor" for this upcoming season will be just keeping myself from getting injured. As of now my goal is 16ft, and I believe that if things go well I'll have to raise that goal soon. The mechanical aspects of my vault are sound, overall. There are a few aspects I'll need to work on though, when I start jumping again. The first one being my pole drop (How efficiently I move the pole tip from high above my head during the carry to the moment the pole tip is planted in the box.) Ideally, you want to be able to time your pole drop so that the pole actually freefalls during the last few strides of the approach run. As it is now, during my approach I gradually lower the pole over the entire run. This causes me to lean back a bit to support the pole's weight over the last few strides, which leaves me in a less than ideal body position at takeoff. One of my early goals will be to work on my timing and to create more of a freefall of the pole during my approach.

That's about all there is to write about vaulting right now, sorry to bore you with the technicalities. Now, on to...

Reasons You're A Shithead

You're a shithead if you go to a concert and you JUST STAND THERE. Nothing is worse than being on stage and really rocking out an original song, while the crowd stands motionless and expressionless like lobotomy patients. It makes me want to light your head on fire. Just shake your ass, it's simple. I can see these people searching each others faces, asking "do you know this song?" No, you don't know it, does it matter? Just dance. Now, some of you out there reading might be saying to yourself "I bet they're just a shitty band, that's why they have that problem." If you found yourself thinking that, then you too are undoubtedly a shithead. We rock, and you suck.

You're a shithead if you buy into any of these TV fitness gimmicks. Want to lose weight? You don't just take a pill and watch it magically happen. It takes hard work and sweat, it hurts and you have to push yourself and be consistent. IT'S SUPPOSED TO SUCK. I'm planning to buy a commercial slot on television and have the dialogue go something like this: "Do you want to know the secret to the fastest, easiest way to lose weight and keep it off? Well then listen up! My new fitness program is guaranteed to get you on your way to being more healthy and slim. Its called the "turn the TV off and quit being so goddamned lazy" program!!! Guaranteed to work! Just get off the couch, and go do something active! That's right, fatty... Put down that remote control and bag of chips and go run or something. Quit being so damn lazy, get out there, and get that heart rate up! Guaranteed to work or you just fail at being a human. And remember, get active... or get Heart Disease, you lazy shithead!!!"