Training schedule & how to make a hammer, etc

[Burly Brute]

My friend and I live in the valley, around the 101 and cave creek and we are both total amatuers when it comes to the games. However, we want to start training. Not necessarily to compete, but to learn the art and get in better shape. But, I need the rabble's help! I am looking for two things:

A. A training schedule, including things to get in preperation for the actual events but not necessarily the events themselves.

B. I need a list, a shopping list to take into home depot so that I can DIY the weights, etc, for what we will need. I am poor, but I have spirit and am willing to craft whatever need be.

If you are willing to accept this challenge, let me know!

-BB

[Alan H]

First of all, if you throw for a workout, why not step up at the Games in the C class and throw? What do you have to lose, besides the registration fee? Seriously, dude.... there is NOTHING keeping you from being on the "action" side of the fence at the Games.

And...while I love to throw, I have to say that if I was planning a workout scheme for my overall health, I wouldn't put throwing in the mix. The torque on your core is hard on your body. Lift weights, swim, bicycle, hard walking, running, play basketball, use the climbing wall at the gym....it's all good.

Regarding gear and workouts, all that information is here in the various threads. You have a whole off-season workout thread here to look at, that documents the workout plans over many weeks for 3-4 athletes. Just read it.

If you don't have access to a gym you can do a lot by lifting rocks and sandbags. I'm dead serious. The size will depend on how strong you are.

A.) pick up a big rock and wrestle it to your shoulder...drop and repeat.
B.) pick up a big rock, probably smaller than the A rock and wrestle it to chest level. Now press it overhead
C.) pick up a big rock, hold it to your chest and walk 100 feet with it. Drop, huff and puff....pick it up again and carry it back.
D.) pick up a big rock, hold it to your chest and do deep knee bends, keeping your back straight.
E.) get an old tire and a rope about 30 feet long. Tie the rope around the tire. Dump the rock on the tire. Now grab the rope and drag rock and tire around the back yard until you're really tired. This is a sled-drag workout.
F.) sit down, brace your feet and grab the rope. Now pull the tire and rock to you as fast as you can, hand-over-hand on the rope.

You laugh. I'm drop-dead serious.

Go look at YouTube for video on how to make a cheap sandbag, and what you can do with sandbags for workouts. Go down to the high school and run the stadium steps. Now bunny-hop the stadium steps. Go stand by a wall. Take a piece of chalk and jump as high as you can and make a mark on the wall. Now, do it ten times and try to make a mark on the wall that's higher than the first one.

3-4 rocks, two sandbags, the high school track and a piece of chalk. You will be an animal. IF YOU DO IT. All the talk in the world is useless if you don't DO IT.

If I were starting out and wanted to throw the first thing to do is to make some implements and throw them.

weights....there's a photo thread here in Athletics that shows a 28 pound weight that I made for my nephew. Go look at it, and then hit the hardware store and craigslist.

stones....seriously....they're rocks. Smooth river rocks. Go find one that's between 15-17 pounds and throw it. When you get pretty good at that, find a 22 pounder and throw that.

hammer.... go look at the very first thread in this forum "so you want to be an athlete". There are pictures of DIY hammers up there. Total length should be about 50 inches.

Caber... it's a tree. Go find a dying 22-foot tall, straight evergreen tree like a spruce or a pine or a fir. Cut it. Trim the branches off. Get all the bark off. Round off the little end. Sand it so that you don't get splinters. Coat it with something that will seal it....clear coat/varnish or even paint. Total length can be 14-17 feet. Weight for a newb should be 50-70 pounds but whatever you get is better than nothing.

Now, go throw.

[Alan H]

BTW, I know the Arizona Chair of the NAHA...National Association of Highlander Athletics. His name is Jake. He's a beast, but a very nice guy. He knows everybody who knows everybody in Arizona. Let me know if you want to talk to him.

[o1d_dude]

Hammers are easy peasy.

Go to the local Home Depot or other big box store and buy a length of gray PVC electrical conduit. Not the white sprinkler pipe! Schedule 40 will work but Schedule 80 is better. You want the 3/4" stuff that comes in 10' lengths.

Now you need some old barbell plates (three 5lb plates will work just fine) with the 1" diameter center hole. Slide them on to the electrical conduit all the way down to the flared end of the pipe. Measure 50" from the bottom of the lowest plate and cut off the excess. Now look at the flared end of the pipe and cut off enough of the flare so that you've got about 1/2" to 3/4" to keep the weights from flying off. Take that cutoff piece and slip it over the other end and slide it all the way down to the weight plates. Wrap some duct tape around the pipe just above the plates to keep them from moving around when you carry your new hammer over your shoulder.

[Delaney]

Hey Alan H and o1d dude, thanks for posting up your counsel here! I've been wrestling with the DIY gear question myself, and had figured on using simple loops of 1" diameter rope passed through the center hole of plates, tied off with a square knot for a handle, and just throwing loops with various weights around in the field. But I was a bit concerned with the hammer because the mechanics of throwing an object seemed it would be different than what I would get out of a long rope loop.

... well, all of this is to say thanks for the info posted above. Now, how about sheaf throw practice gear and routines????

[Alan H]

OK Burly Brute, at the end of January, you asked about gear to start practicing the Highland Athletics events. You've responded to some other posts in this forum about what to do, how to get started, gear to make.

So, what have you DONE...not talked about, but DONE to make this happen?

[AKScott]

had figured on using simple loops of 1" diameter rope passed through the center hole of plates, tied off with a square knot for a handle, and just throwing loops with various weights around in the field.

I am all about getting things done on a budget, but for heaven's sake please learn to at least tie a bowline.

Now, how about sheaf throw practice gear and routines????

Move to Alaska. Buy a snow shovel.

[Delaney]

o1d_dude, you must throw some grip tape on the end of those hammers too, right???

[o1d_dude]

I do indeed.

I really don't care much for hammer tacky during practice sessions and PVC handles are very slick. Athletic tape neat solves that problem. On the other hand, the tape will prevent you from adding or subtracting plates.

[captnmac]

I'm new to the forum and just wanted to say thank you all for posting your DIY ideas and training info. I saw my first games when I was eighteen and wanted to compete, well life happened and never did it. I'm now 46 and am competing for the first time at the end of the month in the Eagle River Highland Games. Thanks again.