Technique is a Myth
The wife, Crystal, has just returned from an Ido Portal Movement-X course. In it, the instructors spoke a lot about making pragmatic choices that work for you and your body. The idea being that there is not one specific way for an individual to do what’s required. I already had most of this post written, but decided to add to it because that’s an important point that I think needs to be taken more seriously within the throwing community.
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Thank you Kibwe…
You make a great point here and yes for sure there are no medals for style points in our sport.
Yet, I do believe, the best of the best…truly those of whom have consistently achieved perfomances beyond 80 meters, did so because their particular style captured the necessary bio-mechanics that matched the empirical model of the physics required to consistently achieve such distances. There is no doubt about this and so for these particular throwers, there is indeed a constant of similarity in their styles that separates them from all the rest. And while there are subtle nuances in their “form” when compared to each other, if we look closely at the physics of each of their styles, we can see, their styles are indeed very similar.
All the best to you at USA Nationals.
Mike
Hi Mr. Lauro,
Yes and no. To expand on my point, those who have thrown far are all aesthetically different. Yet similar when factoring in the physics. Mostly in that what makes the implement go far comes down to one thing: release velocity.
Hammer (and all throwing events) are about movement. Breaking that movement down to micro seconds, be it video analysis or pictures, is the last way one should learn the event. Choosing to copy an athlete ensures that you will not find your own rhythm. As I said, we are not created equal. Body type, mental type, or good old fashioned genetics. We all have to do the best that we can do.
Great post! In the history of events, there are some big shifts that we see in technique that seem to be universal – everyone tries to adopt them. How do you think those fit in with the idea of individual technique development? Sometimes I wonder if there are still some high jumpers, that due to their own special bodies and talents, should be going chest down over the bar. Maybe there are some hammer throwers who are better off dragging the ball? Then there are world-wide technical shifts due to fashion, or mimicry without reason, which might be a topic for another post along the lines of this one!