Trog Log: Transforming a 170-pound weakling into a highland athlete.

[Alan H]

Running is good for throwers... ESPECIALLY short sprints. Like 30-50 yard sprints. Do you know what "suicides" are? Killah for throwers.

The mystical and probably mythical "Litvinov squats"....attributed to Russian hammer thrower, Gregory Litvinov.

Backsquat some hellacious amount of weight, 5x. Immediately rack the weights and do 5x 30 yards sprints. Repeat until you win an Olympic medal.

Like I said, these might be mythical, but the principal has something going for it.

[LitTrog]

This morning's abuse:

Trog Frogs--4 sets with weight ascending from 5# to 35#

Back squats--1x10x155, 1x10x215, 1x6x245, 2x2x295

Fast Incline starting with 115# ending with 175#

Hang cleans (1st time in a long time!) Decided to go easy to let my wrists limber back up...95# was plenty for now.

Been reading up on the physiology of heavy throwing and I might start to phase out the Yoga stuff. It seems that you don't want your muscles too stretchy--you lose recoil power. I'll have to read and think on it some more. Besides, my back's been feeling great the last couple weeks. Maybe new exercises are curing some of the muscle imbalances which may have exacerbated the long-ago back pain which made me stop doing them in the first place.

Whee! What a neat little circle!

[Alan H]

TrogFrogs. Video or we all languish in ignorance.....

Also, those are solid squat numbers.

[LitTrog]

Been out of reach of my usual workout equipment for the past few days, but was able to push around my body weight a few times, just so I felt like I was doing something...

Throwing this morning:

Studied videos, lightened the hammer, technique improving significantly. Going to work light (12#) until I stop having to consciously think about some of the stuff. Also reversed some duct tape to make the handle stickier. HUGE improvement.

LWFD and HWFD--just doing baby steps. Sprint drills, working on the turns and getting separation between shoulders and hips. The guys who can do it make it look easy. I'm not a guy who can do it...yet.

Trogfrogs: I've never posted a video online, but I'll see if I can manage one. It's really just a basic exercise, but for one small improvement.

[Alan H]

Throwing a light hammer is good. My huge *AHA!* (one of only two I've ever had in hammers) came with the womens light. You can wind the 22 pounder lots and lots, next spring. The time you put in with the 12 pounder now, will pay off later.

Regarding handles...."friction tape".



$2.79 at your local Ace Hardware. You will love it.

[o1d_dude]

Throwing a light hammer is good. My huge *AHA!* (one of only two I've ever had in hammers) came with the womens light. You can wind the 22 pounder lots and lots, next spring. The time you put in with the 12 pounder now, will pay off later.

Regarding handles...."friction tape".



$2.79 at your local Ace Hardware. You will love it.

This. Not used in comp much here on the West Coast but widely used in the rest of the nation on PVC handled hammers.

My normal hammer training starts out with an 11 lb hammer, followed by a 12 lb hammer, moving up to a 14 lb hammer and then three throws with the regulation weight 16 and 22 lb hammers. That's 15 throws and enough for a good hammer session. One session like this per week and you will soon be throwing respectable distances assuming your technique is good.

[LitTrog]

Ran a couple miles last night, follwed by several groups of suicide sprints at the park.


Barely dragged my tail out of bed this morning--late--for a quck workout.

"Fast" deadlifts 135, 155, 185. Good form with speed takes some concentration.

Hang cleans 1x10x95, 2x5x135

Overhead press 2x10x115, 2x6x135


Body feels weird. Not the good weird that afflicts my mind, either. Don't know if I'm sick, short on sleep, or short on calories. I know my body, and things aren't feeling okay.

[LitTrog]

10/5

Fast sqatting 1x10x135, 1x8x185, 2x6x225

Landmines 3x10xbar+35

Weighted pullups 3x8-10

Incline press 1x10x135, 2x8x155, 1x5x185

Snow!

[LitTrog]

So the fact that it snowed here this morning made me think about winter throwing. Fortunately, Lakewood is in a banana belt (no, that's not what Josephine Baker wore, nor is it a colloquialism for "athletic supporter.") Simply means that, even though we get a fair bit of snow dumped on us, it usually warms to the 50s or 60s within a few days. I might put some mighty holes in the soggy park, but I should easily be able to keep throwing on through spring.

Way to early for snow, though. Kwazy.

[Alan H]

Snow, already? That better not happen out here, or at least not below 6K feet. I've got a caber-hunting expedition scheduled for the first weekend in November.