The Apex Vaulting Podcast

In this episode Branko is joined by Lilly Brown and Calvin Gould. They discuss what it is like to jump as adults. Lilly is currently in law school and Calvin is an Engineer. They discuss the shift in perspective from being highly driven and competitive athletes at the high school and collegiate level to now using the vault as an outlet and way of staying in shape. They share their insights and of course the importance of community and culture of positivity and growth being one of the major reasons for continuing to vault. As always if you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and leave a comment! And if you have any questions please feel free to email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

In this episode Branko covers recent videos posted on the invert and getting "stuck in the bucket." As explained in those videos working on developing the needed strength and speed for each skill in the vault is needed, and doing the drills required to work on aspects of the vault has to be done to master skill. Doing full jumps from longer approaches and trying hard will get you no where fast. On that note Branko also discusses what really causes run throughs and what to expect if you want to solve your run through issues. If you enjoyed this episode it would mean the world to us if you subscribed and shared this episode on your own social media! Thanks for listening and email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com with any of your comments or questions.

If you have never pole vaulted before going to your first practice session might seem intimidating, but it doesn't have to be! In today's podcast episode we go over what beginners should expect at their first practice. And if you are a coach or club owner and don't have a pole vault structured warm up, make sure to take notes and email us if you need help designing your warm up structure to not only help onboard new athletes but help current ones continue to refine the foundational skills of the vault at every practice session! If you enjoyed the episode please share with a friend and subscribe! If you have any comments or questions please feel free to email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

I think if you're anything like me you want to know that you are doing your absolute best. And maybe that's what draws us to the vault. With all the technique there is to master, physical improvements we can make through training, there really are so many different variables we can continually work on to improve. The journey never really ends. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 you're only scratching the surface, 10 you are squeezing every inch out of your jump, how do you rate your jump? Are you really trying your best? What are the metrics you use to rate yourself. Check out this episode for more context and perspective on this question, and discover what you should be considering when you try and rate your jump! If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share it with a friend that you think will find it helpful! Thanks for listening!

Strength and Conditioning coach at Defranco’s Gym Calvin Hartman, former Apex Vauliting athlete and coach, joins the podcast to share an amazing new service we are providing at Apex Vaulting. As a former athlete and coach at the club he has experienced first hand what a strength and conditioning program can do for a pole vaulter. In college he went from being a 14’ HS jumper to hitting 15’9” in college! At Defranco’s Calvin has expanded his knowledge and experience by working with NFL athletes, adult clients, and high school athletes of all sports. He is now bringing this knowdge and experience to Apex by offering Virtual Training options through the Bridge App. And the best part, even if you aren’t an Apex member you can now virtually do our strength and conditioning programs. Hope you enjoy this episode! Please subscribe and share it with a friend! And if you want to take you pole vaulting to the next level you need to sign up for our Programming. Get all your workouts, an exercise library of videos and cues and even virtual feedback from a coach all on your phone! Email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com for more information.

Did you just have an awesome practice? Did you finally get the grip up, master one of the skills of the vault and it felt like everything just clicked? What should you expect for your next practice? What comes next may be suprising. Often athletes and even young coaches expect a never ending string of excellent practices and meets, but that's just not reality. In fact we must learn and expect that often those excellent practices and performances at meets are a product of many average, some may even call them boring practices. If you expect this it will be easier to get through the grind! As always if you value the podcast please subscribe, review, leave a comment and share with a friend! If you have any comments, questions, or you need help with your pole vault training email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com.

Have you ever plateaued three quarters of the way through a season? Are you sick of the same practice routine season after season? Maybe what you need is drill variation! In this episode Branko discusses how you can use drill variation to avoid practices getting stale and keep improving your technique and keep pr'ing! As always if you enjoyed this podcast episode please subscribe and share this episode with a friend! If you have any comments or questions or would like us to help you with your pole vault training email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

You can't wait for indoor track and want to have a big year! So what should you be doing right now to give yourself the best shot at having a great season? And what happens if you wait until December to start training? You might be surprised to find out it may be too late to make some of those technical and physical improvements you were hoping to make for this year. Don't wait, start training now! And if you need any help setting up your training reach out, we can help! Contact us at apexvaulting@gmail.com.

Chris Chappell of UCS joins the podcast to discuss the recent World Championships and Mondo's new World Record! I ask Chris How it feels to be the company that provides the poles for so many record breaking performances. As always if you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share! Also if you have any comments or questions please email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Have you ever had issues with run throughs? How do you fix the run through problem? In Episode 113 with Robert Plumb we discuss some strategies on how to fix run throughs and how long it will take to fix the issue. As always if you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share! Also if you have any comments or questions please email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Noah Kaminsky joins the podcast again! Noah discusses his experience coaching large groups at pole vault clinics for the Public School Athletic League in NYC. At times Noah would coach up to 40 plus athletes at a time. How do approach large group training differently? What should the goals be for coaching clinics and camps? Find out in this episode! As always if you enjoy this episode share with a friend and subscribe! If you have any comments or questions please email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com.

Ellie Fitzgerald joins the podcast and discusses her last two years of vaulting, including dealing with a stress fracture in her foot during this past indoor season and how she persevered to a PR this outdoor season! Have you ever had to deal with a setback from injury? Did you just sit back and wait for to it heal? Is that the best way to deal with it? What are some other options? Check out this episode to find out! As always if you enjoy this podcast please share with a friend and subscribe! Email us any of your comments and or questions at apexvaulting@gmail.com

You have one practice left before your big meet, (States, Conference, Nationals etc.)what do you do? Well Branko discusses how people answered that question on twitter and how he would approach that final practice. He also discusses some mistakes he made in the past. As always if you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share with a friend! And if you have any questions please feel free to email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Vaulting for Life! Why would adults pole vault? Calvin Gould one of the adults that train at Apex goes over his reasons why he trains. Calvin has jumped at Apex for over 10 years, through high school, college, and now as an adult, and he goes over his shift in mindset as a vaulter how that has made all the difference for him. His mindset of skill mastery instead of change pr's has made vaulting way more fruitful and satisfying. If you vaulted when you were in high school or college, or always wanted to try, find a pole vault club and see what pole vaulting can do for you! As always email us with all your comments and questions at apexvaulting@gmail.com, and please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe!

Vaulting for Life! Why would adults pole vault? Joe Lesky one of the adults that train at Apex goes over his reasons why he trains. Physical fitness, chasing goals, and finding a home away from home are just a few reasons why. Too often in the vault community it seems the only reason someone should vault as an adult is to train for the Olympics. But the vault has so much more to offer. If you vaulted when you were in high school or college, or always wanted to try, find a pole vault club and see what pole vaulting can do for you! As always email us with all your comments and questions at apexvaulting@gmail.com, and please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe!

Branko discusses his recent article, How do you program drills into your practices. Branko breaks down three different types of practice, small, medium, and big days. How to structure the practice and how many drills should be done on each type of practice. He also discusses how to choose drills for your athletes depending on deficiencies in their jumps. Finally Branko discusses that often the majority of the pole vault community has the wrong perspective. Their advice is often coming from the perspective of trying to get someone to jump olympic heights and not realizing that most of the community is trying to develop into pole vaulters. They need drills and progressions that will help them develop a complete jump, instead of what it takes to jump 19'. As always if you enjoy the podcast please share it with a friend and subscribe! And if you have any questions or comments please email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

This episode Branko discusses how paying attention to small details as a coach helps your athletes have more attention to detail and the dangers of overreaching at meets. Sometimes as coaches we feel that we need to make adjustments after every jump, but do we? As always if you enjoy this episode please subscribe to our podcast on Apple podcasts or our youtube channel Apex Vaulting! Also if you have any questions please feel free to email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Robert Plumb, college junior at NCAA Division 2 East Stroudsburg, joins the podcast to discuss how he chose the school he's at and how he has become an important member of his track team. We discuss what athlete's should be looking for in a school if they intend to compete at the collegiate level. He also discusses what it takes to be a successful member of a college team. You may have thought you were working hard in high school, but you may need to take it to another level in college. If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share with people that may enjoy it as well! Thanks for listening!

Brad Lawrence, owner and operator, of Apex Long Island joins the podcast to discuss the Twitter debate Branko got into with Scott Simpson about specializing in the pole vault. Should people specialize in the pole vault at a young age? Will it cause injury? Should you do multiple sports instead?

Calvin Hatman joins the podcast again, and he never disappoints. We discuss how you can grow your club and provide service that will attract more athletes. We discuss short term and long term goals you should have with your club/business. What actually works when trying to grow? How important is social media? What can you do make your athletes happy? Do you have athletes that struggle with pull ups and upper body strength? Calvin also goes over his bullet proof plan to get athletes from zero to 10 pull ups! Do not miss it. We have the video on our YouTube channel. If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share our episodes with friends!