Tag Archive for: Shot Put

HMMR Podcast Episode 250: The ultimate Olympic Trials throws preview

It seemed like the Olympics might never arrive, but all of a sudden the tryouts for the world’s best team are here. That’s right, the US Olympic Trials start this week and we’ve got an in depth preview of all the throwing events together with guest Kibwé Johnson. In addition to sharing our predictions, we also discuss format changes in the field events, what makes a championship environment different, the resurgence of American hammer throwing, and much more.

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HMMR Podcast Episode 247: More mailbag

On our last episode we dove in deep into the listener mailbag. But we ran out of time before getting to the best questions. Therefore we pick up where we left off on this week’s episode, exploring questions on brisket, throwing, transfer of training, and more.

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The balancing act of planning

Quite often on the HMMR Podcast and this blog I write about the various elements of athletic development: strength training, sprinting, jumping, multi-jumps, multi-throws, and more. Sometimes the hardest part is not understanding each element, but in figuring out how to combine everything into a plan. To help readers get an idea of how I do it, I just posted the first eight weeks of our high school thrower sprogram in the HMMR Classroom.

» Learn more: the complete 8-week program, including all sets and reps, is available for HMMR Plus members.
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HMMR Podcast Episode 229: The 8-week plan

We often talk on the podcast about different components of training: lifting, jumping, sprinting, throwing, and more. We spend less time talking about putting it all together. The best way to learn about that is to take a look at an example. Last week Nick posted an 8-week throws program on HMMR Media. We walk thought it to understand the thought process behind it and how coaches can look at fitting all the components of athletic development into a plan. Read more

The drivers of technical evolution

When we look at track and field, technique in different events have evolved at different paces over the course of the last century. Comparing different events it is interesting to see how some techniques have barely changed while others have become unrecognizable. All of this begs the question why some events move forward technically, and others do not. Read more

HMMR Podcast Episode 215: Throwvallis (with Dave Dumble)

After leading athletes to 24 NCAA titles in 15 years, throws coach Dave Dumble packed up and headed north to take on a new challenge of building a program from scratch at Oregon State University. On this week’s podcast Dumble joins us to talk about the move, what he is building at Corvallis, his coaching philosophy, and more. Read more

HMMR Podcast Episode 211: Reactive throws (with René Sack)

It is easy to think about the throwing events as strength events. But in the end, the implement is often not that heavy. The bigger challenge is coordinating the whole body to add speed to the element through elasticity, as well as strength. German national discus coach René Sack joins this week’s podcast to discuss how he thinks about this element of the throw and exchange ideas about how to address it in training. Read more

HMMR Podcast Episode 208: History in the desert (with Joe Kovacs)

The most amazing performance at the recent World Athletics Championships didn’t take place on the track, it took place on the field. On his final attempt, shot putter Joe Kovacs summoned the best effort the world has seen in nearly 30 years. Not only was his performance historic, but the whole competition was as he edged out both of his top rivals by just one centimeter. Kovacs joins us on this week’s podcast to talk about the competition, the ups and downs he’s faced in the years leading up to his breakthrough, and the evolution of rotational shot put technique. Read more

HMMR Podcast Episode 200: The faculty (with Angus Ross, Greg Gatz, and John Pryor)

Vern Gambetta’s GAIN event brings together top practitioners from around the globe in a variety of fields. While the presentations are world-class, what makes it special is the side conversations that we strike up. We tried to recreate that on this week’s podcast by interviewing three faculty members live from GAIN: Angus Ross, Greg Gatz, and John Pryor. Read more

Using time as a training variable

When we pick up a barbell and perform a lift, we normally focus on just two things: the weight and the number of repetitions. These are undoubtedly key variables to use improving performance, but they miss a lot nuance that goes into getting better. A few years ago I was talking with former discus thrower Adam Kuehl about what other variables he feels are overlooked and his answer was quick: time. Read more