Posts

Martin Bingisser

The Beer and Chocolate Diet

/3 Comments/in /by

I did an interview with a small local newspaper on Saturday and it ended with a question that seems to be on the minds of many non-athletes: “Do you have to follow a strict diet?” Nearly every one of my co-workers has asked me the same question as if they assume I have an Excel spreadsheet calculating my daily intake.

This is always a difficult question for me to answer. The honest answer would be no, but I don’t want people to think I don’t care about nutrition. Far from it. I was a fat shot putter in high school before dropping 70 pounds in less than a year. Back then I had a strict diet that I would follow. But that experience taught me a lot about nutrition and since then I haven’t ever needed to count calories or worry about my diet. Instead I tend to follow three simple rules now:
Read more

Martin Bingisser

A Day in the Life

/1 Comment/in /by

At last week’s speech to the Bellevue Overlake Rotary Club, I was asked a question that I’ve received a number of times before: what is a day in the life of a professional* hammer thrower.  As you will see, what sounds like a glorious life is often monotonous.  However, I am nevertheless thankful to have the opportunity to chase this dream and enjoy every day as much as the one before.  Without further ado, here is a typical day in my life.
Read more

Martin Bingisser

Nutrition and Throwing (and a New Sponsor)

/0 Comments/in /by

Nutrition is often a topic overlooked by throwers. Back in high school, when I was playing American football, I was too overlooked it. I held on to the belief that bigger was better and topped the scales around 300 pounds. After deciding to focus on the hammer and hearing legends like Harold Connolly and Wolfgang Schmidt essentially tell me I was too fat to throw the hammer far (Harold used kinder words but Wolfgang was fairly blunt), I started to pay attention to nutrition for the first time in my life. I even began learning about some of the collateral issues in the food industry after reading Fast Food Nation and hearing impassioned talks by Harold about trans fats. With a balanced diet and frequent cross-training, I dropped 60 pounds in one year and another 20 pounds the next year.
Read more