Ask any experienced pole vaulter what separates athletes who clear big heights from those who stall out, and they’ll probably say the same thing. It’s not always grip, not always speed, and not always technique — though all of those matter. More often than you’d think, the answer is core strength.

Getting inverted on a pole is one of the most athletically demanding movements in all of track and field. Your body has to work against gravity, manage the energy of a bending pole, and maintain total tension from shoulders to toes — all in under two seconds. None of that happens without a trained, strong core. Here’s what you need to know to build it.

Why Core Strength Is Non-Negotiable for Vaulters

Let’s be blunt: if your core is weak, your vault suffers. Karlie Place, a collegiate pole vaulter who has written extensively on training for the event, puts it simply: “Getting upside down in your vault is a lot easier with the core strength to do so.”

That one sentence cuts to the heart of it. The inversion phase — where your hips rise above your hands and your body rotates around the pole — depends entirely on your ability to create and hold full-body tension. Without that tension, you collapse through the middle. You lose height. You miss bars you should be clearing.

The good news? Core strength is trainable. You don’t need to be a gymnast (though a gymnastics background doesn’t hurt). You just need to put in the work — consistently.

The Hollow Body: Your Single Most Important Core Position

If there’s one drill concept that shows up across elite pole vault training, it’s the hollow body position. It’s been incorporated into drill progressions by high-level coaches precisely because it mirrors the body position you want to achieve at the top of a vault.

In a hollow body position, your lower back is pressed flat against the floor, your legs are extended and elevated, your arms are reaching overhead, and your entire torso is braced as one unit. No sagging hips. No arching low back. Just tight, controlled tension from fingertips to toes.

How do you apply this to vault-specific training? One coach-designed drill uses a resistance band attached to a seated athlete’s foot and to the pole behind them. The athlete drives backward, extends the pole, and finishes in a “hollow” body position with toes elevated — the elastic resistance forces the arms to extend forcefully, simulating the pulling mechanics of a real vault. The finish position in this drill is exactly what you want to feel at the top of your jump.

Practice hollow body holds on the floor. Progress to hollow body rocks. Then start connecting that feeling to your pole work.

Core Activation Starts in Your Warm-Up

One mistake a lot of vaulters make is treating warm-up like a box to check before the real work begins. In reality, your warm-up is where you start waking up the muscles you need — including the ones that connect your hips, torso, and shoulders.

Side leg swings are a great example. Stand near a wall for support, swing one leg out to the side (foot parallel to the hip height), then cross it back in front of the other leg. Keep the leg straight without locking the knee. This movement does double duty: it opens up the hips and engages your torso muscles to stay stable against the swinging load.

High knees develop push-off power and reinforce the higher knee lift you need during the approach. They’re more of a sprint prep exercise, but a strong core is what keeps your posture tall and your stride efficient when you’re running hard down the runway.

A proper dynamic warm-up increases blood and oxygen flow to muscles, tendons, and ligaments — making you faster and stronger when it’s time to vault. Starting with 5–10 minutes of light movement before launching into dynamic exercises sets the stage for a quality practice.

Don’t Neglect the Weight Room

Core training doesn’t live only in the gymnastics-style exercises. It also lives in the weight room — and specifically in the heavy compound lifts that build full-body tension and force production.

Karlie Place is direct about this: “Learn how to lift. This is the one I wish someone would have stressed to me as a high schooler.” Her recommendation is to lift heavy and build muscle in the offseason, then follow your coach’s program once competition season kicks in.

Deadlifts, squats, Romanian deadlifts, pull-ups — these movements build the posterior chain and lat strength that directly translate to better vault mechanics. Every time you brace your spine under load in a deadlift, you’re teaching your core to hold tension the same way it needs to during a vault.

Don’t be intimidated by the weight room. Start light, learn the movements correctly, and build progressively. If you’re a high school vaulter and your coach doesn’t have a structured lifting program for you, ask. It makes that much of a difference.

The High Bar Whip: Training Body Tension Under Load

Another drill worth adding to your toolkit is the high bar whip drill, which uses a gymnastics bar or horizontal bar. The athlete grips the pole, builds momentum, and whips one leg up toward the bar while keeping the trail leg positioned correctly below. The goal is developing the whipping action needed during vault execution — and it requires serious core involvement to stay controlled and tight throughout the movement.

What makes this drill valuable is that it trains your core under conditions that actually resemble vaulting: arms overhead, legs moving fast, body fighting to stay organized. It bridges the gap between floor-based core work and the real thing.

Putting It Together: A Simple Weekly Framework

You don’t need a complicated program to see results. Here’s a straightforward approach for in-season athletes:

  • Pre-practice warm-up — dynamic exercises including side leg swings, high knees, and active hip movements (10 minutes)
  • After jumping sessions — core work while your nervous system is still warm; hollow body holds, hollow rocks, hanging leg raises, and planks (15–20 minutes)
  • 2x/week lifting — compound movements like deadlifts, squats, and pull-ups with coach guidance on loading

During the offseason, you can push the weight room harder and spend more time developing raw strength. During competition season, maintain what you’ve built and focus your energy on vaulting quality.

Gear That Goes the Distance

Strong core or not, you still need the right pole to reach your potential. At TetonVault, we carry UST-ESSX, Gill Pacer, and FiberSport poles — all three of the top brands in the game — so you can find the right fit for your weight, grip height, and skill level. Whether you’re a freshman just learning the event or a senior chasing a state title, we have poles for every stage of the journey.

Browse our full selection at TetonVault’s pole vault shop, or contact Coach Dopp directly if you have questions about pole selection. He’s coached vaulters at every level and can help you find the pole that matches where you are right now — and where you’re headed.

Now go build that core. Your vault will thank you.