Training Talk with Vésteinn Hafsteinsson (Part 2)
Earlier in the week we the first part of a training talk with Vésteinn Hafsteinsson. Hafsteinsson runs the Global Throwing team and was best known the personal coach of 2008 Olympic discus champion Gerd Kanter. In part two our discussion moves from training methodology to discus technique. And continue reading to part three, where we discuss the current state of throwing within track and field.
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I think, in some cases, the “jump” is actually such a strong, complete blocking that some energy that does not get to the implement lifts the athlete and appears to be a “jump”. That’s my impression of watching Mac throw, especially in the mid- 1970’s @ his peak, was he brought SO MUCH speed & power to his block he couldn’t get it all into the plate, so there was a bit of “getting air”. And he sure did “drive his car” against the block!!
So good to read about flexibility being important. I had the pleasure of closely observing the top discus scene of the late 70’s, and it was obvious that many of the best looked flexible – but at the time, it seemed normal. Same for the javelin. Bob Roggy amazed his shot put training partners by spending 45 minutes stretching before he threw. I did similar stretching, so as to hit good positions early in the workout and for the rest of the session, with more stretching afterwards. Fast forward to now, or at least the last 10 years, and many throwers in the US at least seem quite tight (there are a few exceptions). I think this is because of the unfortunate fad against stretching, which is supported by badly flawed studies “showing” how bad stretching is (take untrained subjects, stretch the daylights out of them, test them and they;re weak. Of course they are. No consideration for getting in condition for stretching. Think for a moment about the gymnasts..) Of course, there are other great ways to gain range of motion (like full ROM weightlifting), but it’s been too bad to see the value of range of motion overlooked. I suspect this will change soon.