Hi, my name is chris and i just graduated from high school. I am 18 and well built at 6 foot 2.5 inches around 230 pounds. After finishing my lacrosse season I was begged by my high school track and field coach to come throw for him. I did and I was relatively successful.
I placed at two of the three meets and fell short of qualifying at state by a foot. My first meet i threw 36’5" and at regionals i set my personal record at 42 even (I am a glider).
I love throwing and I love lifting weights. Next year I will attend the University of Colorado-Boulder and I have been thinking more and more about training to throw on their track and field team. This is something I am passionate about and I am willing to invest my time in. Do i have a legitimate chance?
Yes you do, you have the height and it seems strength. Just getting better technique and you’ll be over 50ft in no time. I am also first year thrower, I do much better in javelin then the other 3-I have thrown over 200ft- but best shot in competetion is 46-also glider-. If you get good coaching no doubt you’ll be in the 50’s and placing well at meets.
If you learn to spin you’ll do much better also, as it is proven to be a better technique. Sure some roid freaks in the 80’s threw far with glide but they were freaks and lengthy. I’m working on learning the spin and its so much faster. Good luck with throwing, you should try hammer also you have good build for that-not too tall and good weight- discus will be hard for you though. Most discus throwers are tall, so you will have to work on that one more.
Yeah I tried discus in high school and i could never get the hang of it. I actually was able to see Mason Finley of Buena Vista throw 222. he is amazing. He will own the national record soon. but thanks for the encouragement.
Based on your story you haven’t been throwing very long. Throw, throw, and throw some more. Your biggest gains right now will come from improved technique. Resist the urge to try and PR every work out and work more on your form. I assume you’ll be atempting to be a “walk on” at college. Don’t know Boulders policy but hopefully this will give you access to their training facilities and coaching. Have you tried throwing the college weight implements, yet? Start practicing your discus. Doubt you’d be allowed to specialize in just the shot at college.
Olympic lifts. Cleans, C&J, Snatches. Lots of squats. You want to go for explosiveness. Study up on plyometrics, too.
Learning the rotational style shot isn’t going to magically increase your distance. It definitely has the potential for the greater distances. The top US throwers all use it but gliders are still putting it out there. Being good with the glide does take a lot of strength.
Your standing power position distance vs your full form distance is generally a good starting indicator of where you need to concentrate your attention. Let me know if you have any specific questions. Good Luck, once you get the throwing bug it’s hard to get rid of it.
I have not thrown a 16 lb yet. And i might try the hammer or weight throw, because my discus is horrible. How can i learn to spin? Should I just practice the glide until I have adequate coaching to learn rotational shotput. THe weight room I work out only has a bench/shoulder press machine, a tricep/bicep machine, a lat pulldown/row machine, a wimpy leg press/calf machine, a leg curl/extension machine, and dumbells up to 50. other than treadmills that is all. Should i force myself to improvise or go to the rec center?
[quote]treeclimber08 wrote:
I have not thrown a 16 lb yet. And i might try the hammer or weight throw, because my discus is horrible. How can i learn to spin? Should I just practice the glide until I have adequate coaching to learn rotational shotput.
THe weight room I work out only has a bench/shoulder press machine, a tricep/bicep machine, a lat pulldown/row machine, a wimpy leg press/calf machine, a leg curl/extension machine, and dumbells up to 50. other than treadmills that is all. Should i force myself to improvise or go to the rec center?[/quote]
Most shot putters are also decent hammer throwers, it goes together with the build-medium hight, compact and very explosive-
You will have trouble with the discus, doesn’t matter if your really strong. My buddy was a weak 6’5 190 lb discus thrower and threw low 170’s with the college discus. He just abused his leverages to the fullest and threw far because of it.
I thought your throw was with the college shot, thats a decent throw with the high school shot since your still very new to it. You will improve tremendously with good coaching. Shot putt and hammer is all about explosive power, you need to be doing olympic lifts like the power clean.
Also you need to squat, if you are not already, so fine a gym that has good equipment if you can. I would start practicing throwing with a shot as soon as possible-they are cheap also if you don’t have one, under 20 bucks from elitfts.com- Focus primarily on standing throws with a reverse, since thats a very important part of the throw. Most of the throwers at ucla practice primarily from the standing power position.
Watch videos on youtube of throws if you don’t have a coach now, possibly video tape yourself-my coach did this with us and it helps a lot-
What school did you throw for? I threw for garretson at Sierra. He was a great coach for someone who never threw a day in his life. I would definitely search youtube for some drills/training tips and go hard if your serious.
i’m actually in a very similiar situation for next year. I threw for 2 years in high school and wound up with a PR of about 45 but with no coaching my form can really only be called terrible. I’m going to a pretty big school next year and i’ve decided to give walking on a chance, probably in my sophomore year.
definitely keep us all updated on your progress. since this is a topic which really doesn’t get discussed enough on T-Nation i’ve always thought it would be nice to have a thread where people involved in throwing could post.
I throw HS shot and Disk, The SPin is probably the hardest maneuver to learn for any sport,Don’t be Discouraged by any early attempt, it pays out well when you get it right
Jr start season Glide 34 ft
End season Glide PR 34ft
[quote]treeclimber08 wrote:
Hi, my name is chris and i just graduated from high school. I am 18 and well built at 6 foot 2.5 inches around 230 pounds. After finishing my lacrosse season I was begged by my high school track and field coach to come throw for him. I did and I was relatively successful.
I placed at two of the three meets and fell short of qualifying at state by a foot. My first meet i threw 36’5" and at regionals i set my personal record at 42 even (I am a glider).
I love throwing and I love lifting weights. Next year I will attend the University of Colorado-Boulder and I have been thinking more and more about training to throw on their track and field team. This is something I am passionate about and I am willing to invest my time in. Do i have a legitimate chance?[/quote]
I go to Boulder and have a couple friends on the track team. The coach is Casey Malone and he got sixth in discus in athens, and is going to Beijing. I would email him about potentially throwing. I threw for Wheat Ridge and had like a 45 shot put and 140something discus, but I’m 6’1 200lbs so I’m not that big. I was also thinking about throwing next year, if I don’t sprint.
Thats sick Davy D you should find me on facebook or something. I all ready emailed Casey Malone and talked to Coach Wetmore. I am gonna start throwing in the next week and start lifting habitually (summer after high school you all know how it is). How hard is it to throw there would you say?
Yeah thats tight you should add me on Facebook or something Davy. I emailed Casey Malone and talked with Coach Wetmore. I start throwing working on the spin technique in the next week and actually lifting hard and on a regular basis (senior summer really busy). How hard would you say it is to throw at CU?
So I officially started school and I have been throwing the 16 pound for about two weeks. It is going all right. My PR for gliding is something like a 37 and I still have yet to spin in a proper manner; however, I just got some asics to throw in so I am psyched to put those on.