Looking Back at 2014: Best Training Posts
This year marked the first full of HMMR Media and several new authors joining our site. We have doubled our readership and hope to keep promoting a good discussion of training methods. But most importantly we have also improved our content. As a coach or athlete, you have to constantly analyze what you are doing and either verify what you are doing or be ready to change. Nick Garcia summed up this philosophy overt he summer by saying only the paranoid survive.
→ Want to learn more? HMMR Media has it’s last training seminar of the year on Tuesday in Seattle. Learn about periodization, transfer of training, special strength, and more.
Below is a compilation of my favorite training posts from 2014. In preparing this post I looked back through every article for 2014 and was impressed by the wealth of information. We had nearly 150 new articles on training topics along, plus many more providing news and commentary. To be honest, I’m quite proud of everything that our authors have produced over the last year. We have highlighted just a fraction of those below, but you can browse the rest in the archive section of each blog. A HMMR Media membership is required to read most of the articles in our archive, so if you haven’t joined yet it is a perfect way to start the new year.
Training Talks
We took a look beyond track and field in several posts this year, such as our training talk with NFL strength coach Tom Myslinski.
Training Methods
Jason Young had some great posts this year including the most popular training post discussing the difference between working out and training and how the difference affects your training. His first post of the year about managing variables in training is applicable to training towards any goal. Nick Garcia gave a detailed breakdown of how he classifies exercises for throwers, selects implements to use, and even put together a great video on specific strength exercises for the shot put.
This was also a focus on my writing with a good series of articles for Juggernaut about creating special strength exercises, implementing them, and also a discussion of range throwing and its role in training. And while I wrote more about transfer of training this year, I also outlined my periodization manifesto and an overview of complex periodization. After the success of our HMMR Media Seminars, I hope to write more about this in the future.
Finally, we also welcomed our most recent author Zac Brouillette recently with an overview of his training philosophy.
Science
World record holder Yuri Serykh always looked relaxed, but he was simply patient. There is a difference.
Technique
Kibwé Johnson had some great posts about technique this year. Over the summer, Kibwé Johnson proclaimed “technique is a myth.” Earlier in the year he also wrote about an epidemic among hammer technique. The most popular post I wrote on technique discussed the difference between patience and relaxation in the hammer throw. And the training talk with Vesteinn Hafsteinsson provided some good pointers on discus technique.
Martin… I want to get my almost seven year old son into the hammer. .. any suggestions? Mark Connolly
Seven is quite young. At that point the most important thing is general athletics development to help with coordination, speed, etc. Then gradually introduce the hammer. Even a rubber ball with a rope attached. There are more formal methods for introducing the hammer (your dad had one, for example), but at that age just make it a toy and play around occasionally. The key is to get them used to turning and feeling the hammer. The details can be learned over the years. Feel free to email me for more ideas.