Powerballs

[Alan H]

NASGA discussion started by me...

http://www.nasgaweb.com/forum/pataki...topic9783.html

And where to buy 'em.

http://www.vsathletics.com/product.php?xProd=516

Greg Hadley uses these a lot during the Canadian Winter...

Vids.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN3s6...ure=relat%20ed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asR-j0TtBHM

Stuck inside during the winter, or don't want to throw steel weights in the snow? Get a powerball or two, load them up with sand to whatever weight you like and practice form. Throw PRETTY, not "far".

[LitTrog]

"I'm loving this stupid latex ball."

That's the line that really clinched it for me. Looks like I'm buying myself an early Christmas present!

[RogerWS76]

What weight are you using?

[Alan H]

I have three of them. The first two I got a few years ago as part of a Craigslist deal, a 25 and an 18 pounder. I throw the 25 pounder during the winter on the grass when I want to practice form.

I have one of the VS Athletics balls that's about 4-6 pounds. I use that for discus drills that Mike P. showed me. These would be only minimally useful for Scottish throws. However, the thing is, you can load the ball up with however much sand you want.

I would suggest loading it up to about 14-16 pounds and then practicing LWFD form over and over and over again. You can get in wads of reps with these things. They don't feel *exactly* like a weight, but it's close enough.

The other thing I did, which might be useful, is I made GGGP an 8 pound throwing weight. How?

Some PVC. ..two 4-inch end caps.



There's about a 1 foot long piece of 4-inch ABS plastic between the two caps.



Drill one cap with a 3/8 inch hole. Insert an 8-inch LONG 3/8 inch eye bolt with extra nuts on it and some big fender washers into the hole, so that lots of the eye bolt sticks down below the bottom of the cap. Kind of like this, but with extra nuts cranked on super-tight to lock everything in place.



Use PVC cement and maybe even some other glue, like 3m 5200 (will NEVER let go) to attach one end cap to the ABS. Attach the one you haven't drilled, yet. Goop some of that stuff on the threads of the eye bolt, too, for good measure. You don't want the nuts to slip.

When the adhesive dries, fill the ABS/one end cap with cement and old automobile wheel balancing weights. When it's as full as you can get it, smear a mess of glue on the ABS and jam the other end cap on there. Make sure that the rest of the eye bolt and at least one washer gets buried in wet cement.

You want the eye bolt/washer to get deep into the cement so that no all the load generated by swinging this thing is taken by the glue holding the end cap on.

Let the cement dry for 24 hours and then put a loop on this baby with a quick link and go throw it. THROW PRETTY.

I can't emphasize this enough. This thing will weigh, maybe 8-9 pounds. You can throw this thing to the moon. The same goes for an 8 pound powerball. Big whoop, Big man you are, huh? You can throw 8 pounds really really far. It doesn't matter. So knock off the macho thing, GO EASY and put your body into the throwing positions. Drill the positions. Flow from one position to the next. Only put 1/3rd effort into it. Don't throw the thing FAR!

Throw it easy.
Throw it slow.
Throw it pretty.

Throw it RIGHT.

Softballs, powerballs, 8 pound ABS and concrete weights....that's what they're for, to drill, drill, drill the positions.

If you don't want to go through all this, then go find an old 12 pound sledgehammer head. Figure out a way to attach it to some sort of throwing handle. Or make a pud. Then throw it.

Throw it easy.
Throw it slow.
Throw it pretty.

Throw it RIGHT.

Save the big macho explosion for March, when you will have drilled the positions so many times that your body just *goes* there.

[o1d_dude]

This dovetails nicely with the Gurley Mon weight.

It's a regular throwing weight that weighs only 24-25 lbs. It's nothing to get in 15-20 throws with it before fatigue sets in. The upside to throwing an actual weight is that you get stronger doing so and the specificity of the training greases the groove as it were. Stay long, stay loose.

80-85 Percent throws and keep doing them. Over time the distances will increase even though you're throwing "casually".

[Martin Roy]

I used an 18lb kettlebell for training footwork for a long time and, more recently, a 14lb wfd. They both work well for getting in many, many reps without the wear and tear of heavier weights.

[Alan H]

Now we have three, 14 lb weights in the CHAC. The "old" one, which is made from a really old sledgehammer head that had melted lead poured into the handle-hole....a welded-on chain link...a couple of quick links and a 1/2 inch wide slice off of a 6-inch diameter length of steel tubing for ahandle....that is going to be my go-to weight to drill, drill, drill positions this winter.

Old sledgehammer heads are usually pretty cheap and are useful for all sorts of things!