Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

T H E P O L E V A U L T TRAINING for pole vaulting should begin in the gymnasium early in the winter. 1 he arm and chest and dorsal muscles are the ones that must be developed, and these may best be strengthened by work on the chest weights, rope climbing, dip­ ping on the parallel bars, and by using the travel­ ling parallels. If you have no gymnasium to work in, a good exercise is to stand four or five feet off from the wall of your room and to fall forward on your hands and then push yourself back into an erect position. Do this a few times at first, in­ creasing thenumber as you grow stronger. Sprint­ ing is also as necessary an exercise for the pole vaulter as it is for the broad jumper. When the weather moderates, work should be begun and continued daily out-of-doors. For practice the vaulter must have two square posts similar to those used by the high jumper, only higher, bored with holes two inches apart above 6 feet, then one inch apart up to 8 feet, and half an inch apart from there up. The pegs should be between two and three inches long, and