Triskaidekaphobia - Joshua's Training

[RogerWS76]

Looked at your video practice. just a couple of suggestions to start. Try to get your low point more to your right foot rather than in the mideel and when you throw it reelaeas it MUCH higher. YOu are releasing it like you would swing a baseball bat. Think of it more as a lift from your right foot at the bottom over your left shoulder.

PS If anybody took video of last weekends games I threw in DO NOT WATCH it! Ha! I think I was doing the same thing. Bad Habits die hard!

[Alan H]

Roger is right. You're also not opening your shoulders and torso out into the field as you release.

Here's a picture of Alistair Gunn releasing the hammer. See how he's looking straight up in the sky? Look at where his chest is, in relation to the field....he's got his chest pointing out towards the field.



compare that to your release point.

Here's Harrison Bailey... almost the same point...looking straight up into the sky, and driving his chest around.

[Joshua]

There is a LOT of stuff I need to work on with hammer. Most notably, I still need to get my rhythm down on the winds... I'm chanting to myself...
1 wind: Get it started, straighten the elbows
2 wind: Get the hips going opposing the swing of the hammer to work up speed and maintain balance
3 wind: Crank it from 8 o'clock to 1 o'clock and release, twisting hard to the left at 4 o'clock (can you tell I've been reading Matt Vincent's book?)


Tonight was gym work, I've begrudgingly convinced my weightlifting coach to let me throw some things into the mix that I feel will help me out.

Behind-the-Neck Push Press (from Jerk Blocks): 3x60kg, 1x80kg, 80kg, 80kg, 90kg, 90kg, 90kg 3x100kg, 3x110kg
Behind-the-Neck Jerks (from Jerk Blocks): 3x110kg, 1x120kg (poor attempt here so I went down in weight), 3x115kg, 2x117.5kg, 1x120kg/265lbs
Bent-over Rows: 5x90kg, 2x5x110kg
Barbell Jump Shrugs: 5x120kg (I like these with a trap bar much better)
Front Squats: 2x70kg, 90kg, 125kg, 135kg, 145kg, 130kg, 140kg, 150kg/330lbs


I am dead serious about winning my next games. I will be prepared... even if I'm only lifting 2x a week and throwing 2x a week... I was barely doing either before and I've set numbers that I think would make top 3 in the B's - with some functional practice I'll be ready to own it.

[Martin Roy]

Ditto on what Roger and Alan said about hammers. We are all still working on all of those points constantly; it's a classic example of easier said than done. Keep at it.

On your weightlifting: Why are you doing the behind the neck presses and jerks? That position can cause some real shoulder problems; there are a number of cautionary articles on the subject that can be found with a quick search.

It's been fun watching your progress; keep it up.

[Joshua]

On your weightlifting: Why are you doing the behind the neck presses and jerks? That position can cause some real shoulder problems; there are a number of cautionary articles on the subject that can be found with a quick search.

Behind the neck push presses and jerks are no more damaging to a shoulder than a backsquat, as there is no strain on the shoulder. Behind the neck strict presses will wreck shoulders pretty bad. I've been doing btn jerks for about 10 years now without a related issue with my shoulder (full disclosure I had shoulder surgery a few years back on one shoulder, a decompression because of a crushed bursa after squatting 645lbs) but they've never caused me problem. I've especially never had problems with rotator cuff or supraspinatus normally attributed with behind the neck strict presses.

That being said, I have a degeneration in my right wrist where I'm literally missing tendons that hold the carpals in, in addition to a completely collapsed carpal tunnel. I cannot do rack jerks from the front without severe discomfort in my wrist even when wrapped, so if I'm going to front squat or clean in a workout, I'm only going to do jerks behind the neck to reduce the strain on my wrist.

[Joshua]

Little conditioning on off-day. 3.6mi bike ride, it's a beautiful day (66* sunny, dry) and to keep my heart rate up, I kept my bike in low gear even up inclines... and kept my speed around 14-16mph on flats and 9-10mph on inclines.

Might be up for kettlebell snatches later, I need to work on hip drive for WFH and my kettlebell is 66lbs/30kg, so it's just about right.

[Martin Roy]

Thanks for the reply, Josh. It's clear you've put some thought into this. I would be really interested to see some video of you doing these movements.

[Joshua]

Thanks for the reply, Josh. It's clear you've put some thought into this. I would be really interested to see some video of you doing these movements.

This one is from 5 years ago, but the same logic applies... (These are BTN Jerks) I have the added safety now of using jerk blocks, so I don't have the impact of lowering the weight either - but that's the only difference. I work up to 130kg in this video (around 290lbs).

[Joshua]

Hard workout today - We had a pre-Paddy's celebration at my house with a large dose of family drama, so hangovers were the order of the day today.

Clean and Jerks - up to a 115kg/253lbs single
Back Squats - triples at 125kg, 145kg, 160kg, 170kg
Clean Pulls - Three triples at 125kg

Looking forward to throwing tomorrow. Gonna work on hammer especially. In B's, hammer is usually last event of the day... gotta be strong on hammer to win Dunedin.

[Joshua]

Hammer: About 2 dozen throws, all at the mid-50' mark but most of them were slow winds focusing on speed at the last rotation and all of them were 3 spins. We broke two hammer heads in the process.
Open Stone: Messed around with MSA and Glide, and I might have to switch over to MSA, I was able to throw a lot more hip into the throw and the difference was, on average, 34' throws as opposed to 30' throws with my normal style and the odd 35+ that happens once in a blue moon.
42# WFD: We set a marker out to 30' and I passed it every time, but these were the last throws and since I don't throw 42 normally, I didn't record them.