Martin Bingisser

Tips on building a strong mind

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Our friend Wil Fleming released a new book in November: Strong Mind: A Weightlifter’s Guide to Focus, Confidence, and Resilience Under the Bar. As a former elite hammer thrower and weightlifter, a shockingly bad performance at the Olympic Trials changed Fleming’s outlook on the mental side of training. This has helped him significantly as a coach, and now he is sharing his learnings with others as well. He then joined us on last week’s podcast to dive into the topic as well.

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Martin Bingisser

A father’s reflections on developing young athletes

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Today is Father’s Day and it has me reflecting on how parenthood has shaped my views on developing young athletes. My wife and I never set out with a plan, but when I look back at a decade of parenting there are some key values that really stick out. Before I share them, let me start with a disclaimer: I’m not an expert on long term athlete development. My official academic title is simply dad. What I lack in expertise I compensate for in a passion to see my kids lead an active and healthy lifestyle. You can ask me in a few decades if our approach worked or not, but below I share the principles that have guided us so far:

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Martin Bingisser

Notes from the 2025 Halle throwing conference

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After a successful launch in 2024, we once again put together the Halle throwing conference at the 50th edition of the international throws meet. The theme this year was “behind the technique.” I kicked things off with a presentation on factors to consider in defining your athlete’s technical model. Then coaches Dale Stevenson and Dylan Armstrong gave practical examples of how they approach the topic, including a breakdown of the technical approach for Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg, Olympic medalist Matt Denny, and world champion Tom Walsh. Video from the technical analyis and roundtable are now online for Plus members and below are three key take aways from Dale Stevenson’s talks.

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Martin Bingisser

Notes from the 2024 Halle throwing conference

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The world-famous Halle throws meet is one of a kind. Last year 542 throwers from 36 countries and all age groups descended on eastern Germany for 48 hours of pure throwing. Olympic champions and local youth throwers all bringing the same passion to the ring and thousands of spectators.

With so many elite throwers and coaches in one place, my friend René Sack and I wanted to see how we can spark more exchange of knowledge with a free coaching conference. Below are some of my notes from last year’s kick off event and a little taste of what is to come next week when the event kicks off again. Join us for free in person, or become a HMMR Plus Member to access to the videos after the event.

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Martin Bingisser

Coaching lessons from the world of investing

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When I present coaching seminars about planning and periodization, one key concept I talk about is opportunity cost. For those that do not know me, coaching is my hobby, not my job. During the day I work as a finance attorney at an asset manager. I used to think these two worlds were in different universes, but the longer I work in both the more I see how their orbits intersect.

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Martin Bingisser

Exploration and exploitation in training

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Last week Alex Hutchinson’s new book The Explorer’s Gene was released. Huthcinson is well known in the sports world as a sports science writer and columnist, even coming on GAINcast 118 as a guest to look at the role of the mind and effort in endurance performance. His latest work goes in a new direct to look at exploration: why humans explore, how much we should explore, and methods of exploration. Even though the subject is no longer sports, his book is just as relevant to coaches as his prior work as coaches are confronted daily with the question of exploration, whether we realize it or not.

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Martin Bingisser

The break down: Andy Bloom and finding the simple throw

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We started a series last year that breaks down the technique of top throwers through their own eyes. We started with a breakdown of Matty Denny’s discus technique and Dylan Armstrong’s shot put technique, as well as a comparison of different ways to start in the shot put. Up next is the shot put technique of Andy Bloom, fourth place finisher at the 2000 Olympics. Below I lay out three key factors that helped lead to his unique rotational technique.

» Related content: Learn more from Andy Bloom HMMR Podcast 267.

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Dean Benton

Revisiting running drills

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As much as coaches love drills, it is important to remember that drills do not equal skills. If the intention is to enhance running skill, then this must be coached directly via running per se. Moreover, if you want to get faster you must run fast. This is simply adhering to the principle of specificity. The primary benefit of drills is to challenge posture and positions that are similar to those that occur during the sprint action. Drills should be considered as specific strength and functional flexibility development – the technical benefit is ancillary.

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Martin Bingisser

Lessons from Bondarchuk on culture and communication

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Last week the National Post in Canada published an article on how Canada became a hammer-throwing superpower. Canada won both the men’s and women’s world titles in 2023, plus a number of other elite throwers. To be more precise, all that hammer production is coming out of just a small corner of the massvie country. The article itself is a detailed oral history one person who was a catalyst behind the recent dominance: Anatoliy Bondarchuk.

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Dean Benton and Martin Bingisser

A structured process to improve training quality

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In the age of big data, quantities have taken over the attention of many coaches. Quality, on the other hand, often takes a back seat as it is not as easily put in a spreadsheet. Yet when we look at high performance, quality is the factor that defines coaching and performance. High training quality is the basis of world-class coaching; it is what separates excellent from average coaching. Quality of performance in the arena is also directly proportional to quality of the preparation. You cannot hope for high quality performance with low quality preparation.

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