Entries by Kibwé Johnson

Forces vs. Positions

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My training partner, Martin, already blogged about our discussion from the group and Dr. B on this topic here. So I will paraphrase and add some personal thoughts from my own experiences.

I used to think there was some hammer secret out there. There has to be, why is everyone else so good and we kind of wallow behind? (aside from our 3 80m guys and our other pioneers of course). Since training here, it is so increasingly obvious that there is no ‘secret’, but people think ‘well, it can’t be that simple!’ Well it is. When my coach explains what he wants and gives you the why, 9/10 times it’s a ‘duh’ moment. Coaching the hammer this way has been lost over time. Indeed, not in only the States either. Dr. B is very careful when saying this. The issue is all over the world. I’ll tell you the secret: Throw the hammer and do lots of special strength! Maybe easier said than done, but here’s the why. Ultimately, there is a ceiling for how weight room strong you can be to effect the hammer for maximal distance. The special strength exercises focus on all those other muscles that are absolutely essential to throwing a hammer far (especially the 7.26k).

New Program

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I started a new program a couple days ago and it’s pretty BA. For those who aren’t aware, Dr. B is in to the transfer of speed and power from the light and heavy implements into our competition weights. He achieves this by designing programs that are more special strength based and when that program ends the speed emphasis comes. Then it all meshes magically and the heavens open up, yada, yada, yada. This is how we grow. I get better every program. It’s crazy smart. My training partners have informed me that they think this is one of the harder programs that he has written for any one of us. (all of our programs here are individualized). I gotta grit my teeth and giv’r, but I’m glad he feels I can handle it. I was pretty sore and stiff for a couple days, but it’s all good now. I’ve got lots of heavy implements and special strength stuff to make me “strong boy”. Crystal told Bizzle the other day that she thinks I’m going to throw well this season and he smiles and says “Yes! I think. Good speed, good technique.” Now if that’s not just the best damn thing your coach can ever say to you! He made a tweak to my entry this week and It’s going very well so far. It’s provided more of an orbit where I can physically affect the hammer by pushing. Which as we know is a great thing. Holla!

Long Term Hammer

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Dr. B had a very interesting conversation with Crystal and I a couple days ago. I’m not quite sure how we got on the topic, but here’s the gist. Where most coaches and athletes train for the “fast track” to achieve distance, Dr B’s system takes time. He was sure to point out that plenty of countries deal with this issue , not just our American coaches.

Our New Hammer Cages

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While we have been training inside for the past few weeks, our new outdoor facility is ready to go for the spring. Rather than throwing in a mudpit like we did this past year, we’ll be throwing in a new hammer-only facility. Check out some of the pictures below. So from now on, hopefully there won’t be anything growing on my hammer shoes like before…