Thoughts about lifting and throwing

[Alan H]

Well, you have to be strong to throw far. There you go. But there's strong and there's strong. Every time I do a hard workout I am sore. What's telling is WHERE I am sore...is it upper body? NO.

Hips. Hips and quads and IT band, down the outside of my legs...THAT is where I am sore. And that is where you need to focus on in the weight room.

I remember reading somewhere that some famous Highland Thrower said if you could only do ONE weight exercise to train for the Games, it would be overhead squats. I think that's about right.

As a very general rule I'd say that during the off-season you want to lift for just plain strength. Get those muscles all swolled up and big...yah, yah! Squat a LOT. Do single leg squats. Leg press. Team those up with...surprisingly....pylometrics. Yeah, box jumps. Do dead lifts.

Do a lot of core work...cable chops, sit ups, Russian twists, window wipers.

Bench press is good. So are flys. Incline bench, or dumbell press is good. Do bench rows and triceps work like cable pull downs or bar dips. Upright rows are good, so are shrugs. Maximize the weight, and go for fewer reps and don't waste your time curling. There is no Highland event where you curl anything. Curling is for looks, it will do next to nothing for your throwing distance.

But when the season starts getting close, things change. You want to *Move* the weight and you can NOT be tight. having a tight upper body will kill your hammers..
If you can do it, if you have the equipment and the room, do functional strength stuff like hauling sleds and flipping tires. Sledgehammer slams on a tire stack are good.

Hang from a pullup bar to stretch your shoulders. Do you have access to pullup handles on various racks in the gym where your hand position changes? Use them! You don't even have to pullup, just hang!

Dumbell snatches... power cleans....my personal favorite is sumo dead lift high pulls (look 'em up on YouTube) and suitcase lifts are all good. If you have access to a hex bar, use it and work on speed in dead lifts. Hang cleans are great for "popping the hip" in stones and weight over the bar.

You want lateral strength in your legs, and you want speed. You want to *Explode*!! Do side cable pulls from a bent-knee position. Forward and lateral lunges with weight are good. All the stuff you did on the football or rugby or soccer field to build agililty are good. So is climbing stadium steps.

But forget the curls!

Just my thoughts.....comments welcome!

[Alan H]

Just as an aside, I find...and this is just me....that ten minutes on the rowing machine after shoving weights around a lot, REALLY helps soreness, tightness, and recovery time.

[BigMikeLV]

I suggest 2 books for you to read: "Dinosaur Training" and "Grey Hair and Black Iron" I just finished Dino Training and am working on GHBI now. Great infor for "older" lifters.

www.brookskubik.com

[escherblacksmith]

works for me, I hate curls . . . course, I'm not real fond of squats either . . .

[o1d_dude]

Snatch grip deadlifts, some sort of press (flat or incline bench, overhead, etc.), some sort of swing (kettlebell, core blaster, etc), chins, abs. Two-four times a week. Ten reps total each movement (2x5, 5-3-2, 6x1). Don't worry about the poundages, just get the reps. Throw as much as you can stand.

This is the stuff by which champion throwers are made.

If it comes down to choosing between throwing and lifting, throw. For maximum success be a thrower who lifts, not a lifter who throws.