Throughout 2018 we’ve had the chance to sit down and talk shop with some of the world’s top throwing coaches. To close out the year we’ve compiled six of our favorite highlights from our interviews with coaches like Dan Lange, Don Babbitt, John Frazier, Aretha Thurmond, and Mattias Jons, covering a variety of topics like coaching character, communication, individualizing technique, the biomechanics of throwing, and the champion’s mindset. Read more
Without a truly global championship, many consider 2018 an off year. But if you look closer, the year was full of some big meets, including the European Championships, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games. The year also featured a changing of the guard, with a new name sitting atop the list for the first time in four years. Our complete annual rankings for the men’s hammer are below. Check back this weekend for the women’s rankings. Read more
Eugene might be TrackTown USA, but Los Angeles has a good claim to being ThrowsTown USA. Not only does Nick live there, but it is home to UCLA and USC, with two of the nation’s top throwing traditions. Five years John Frazier got a unique opportunity as a coach: he got to return to his alma matter UCLA to continue the school’s legendary tradition of throws dominance. Since then UCLA throwers have only gotten stronger and Frazier has solidified himself as one of the top shot put coaches in the country, routinely qualifying multiple athletes for the NCAA Championships. On this episode of the podcast we talk to coach Frazier about his experience starting out as a throwing at UCLA under Art Venegas, his evolution as a coach, and his approach to continuing the UCLA tradition. Read more
Europe has long been the epicenter of track and field. With the European Championships taking place last week, it’s a good time to take a look at whether that is still the case. On this week’s episode of the podcast we recap the highlights from the meet, which countries are on the rise, and how Europe still stacks up against the rest of the world. Read more
We’re two years out from the next Olympics, so it’s a great time to assess the current state of American throwing. On this week’s podcast we looked in detail at the topic, giving each event a buy, sell, or hold rating. If we think the event is on the upswing, it was given a buy. If it is on the downswing, a sell. And if we’re not sure, we hold it. Below are our complete ratings and comments. Read more
It is common to hear coaches say we need to fit the plan to the athlete, rather than the athlete to the plan. But how exactly do we do that? On this week’s podcast we focus on individualization, when coaches need to start doing it, what should be individualized, and different ways to put the concept into practice. Plus, Nick and Martin start off the episodes with an analysis of the state of American throwing. Read more
We’re proud to announce our next seminar tailored specifically to training for the throwing events. On June 16th Nick Garcia and I will be presenting at Rice University in Houston. Through both classroom instruction and demonstrations, we’ll show you various ways to program for the heavy throws, share our training plans, walk participants through key exercises and progressions, and more. It willl be a great opportunity to learn and see first hand how to put a program together in a variety of ways. Read more
Temperatures are rising and so is the anticipation as the international hammer throw season is about to get underway. Over the next few weeks the IAAF Hammer Challenge will kick off and big meets like Hallesche Werfertage in Germany will take place. As a fan of the hammer, there is lots I am looking forward to watching. There are some new stories, some old. Some good stories, some bad. But the common common theme is that 2018 will definitely be exciting. Below are 10 stories I’ll be tracking as the action gets underway.
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Last week we posted our hammer throw world men’s rankings and women’s rankings. That was just one man’s perspective on the year. In order to get a higher level picture of the year, we decided to compare the major rankings. Below you will find two more subjective rankings from leading publications Track and Field News and Athletics Weekly, both compiled expert panels. In addition, we have included the computerized rankings from All-Athletics. In 2018 a new ranking developed by All-Athletics will be launched and be used by the IAAF in the qualification process for major championships. Read more
While the men’s hammer featured more competition at the top this year, the women’s hammer was once again the highlight event of the year. Anita Wlodarczyk is a generational athlete that has propelled the sport to a new level and once again led the way on this year’s rankings. But the competition for the other spots was fierce. Our complete rankings are below, featuring the top 10 throwers of 2017. Read more
