First Time Training for Highland Games

I did every single event about 5 times each…it kicked my ass. Caber tossing is way harder than it is all I know. I thought this stuff would be way easier as I lift dynamicly with kettlebells…but there really was not too much transfer really, well when I think about it my lower back doesn’t hurt so they did help with that. This was my first time on all of te events so I was not too dissapointed by my lack of abilites to stay in the box, get a sheaf toss for real hight, etc. but I do know this…it was a blast and really fun. Looks like I will be competing next year!!!

FWIW, I’ve found that training every event in a single session can be a bit counter-productive. For me, I like to pick 2 events, 3 at most, and really drill my technique on those until I get too tired and my form starts to falter. This method has really helped me delvelop my internal mental “cues” that drive proper form and technique.

Another Highland Games athlete contacted me to train, I am working just Caber with him on sunday. He is going to get me to turn a “C”, and teach me all the protocols etc.

I am noticing how nice the athletes that train highland games are. I am learning allot fast, but it has to be a pain in the ass because last sports I did was gymnastics and wrestling, so realy new to this throwing heavy stuff thing.

[quote]bperwien wrote:
Another Highland Games athlete contacted me to train, I am working just Caber with him on sunday. He is going to get me to turn a “C”, and teach me all the protocols etc.

I am noticing how nice the athletes that train highland games are. I am learning allot fast, but it has to be a pain in the ass because last sports I did was gymnastics and wrestling, so realy new to this throwing heavy stuff thing.[/quote]

Totally. Its the only sport I’ve done where the guys you compete against give you tips and pointers that may help you beat them. In most classes, most of the guys are really only trying to get PRs anyway, so everyone is very helpful.

I just competed in my first games last Sunday (the 11th).

I’d never thrown any of the implements before the competition, kind of blindly feeling that my strength and training would keep me in the mix.

My ego and I didn’t stand a chance, haha.

Braemer and Open Stone were my hardest, heavy and light hammer felt the most natural. WOB was good for my confidence because even though I didn’t get past 12’ I had guys telling me that I was hitting the bar on the way up and my release was too far behind my head.

The Caber Toss… OP is right, that shit is no joke. Didn’t turn it first throw, but got two 11’s on the successive tries. Popping the cherry on the caber was my main goal and my biggest success of the day. Everything after that was gravy.

The judges were completely good dudes, kept it light and casual. The other competitors (as well as myself) were pretty tense initially, but by the end of the day we were being pretty social, helping each other out, contgratulating each other, comparing notes on different throws.

In short, I had a fucking blast. Can’t wait to do it again.

Where did you throw? I’m guessing Ventura? I threw on Sat.

[quote]BradTGIF wrote:
I just competed in my first games last Sunday (the 11th).

I’d never thrown any of the implements before the competition, kind of blindly feeling that my strength and training would keep me in the mix.

My ego and I didn’t stand a chance, haha.

Braemer and Open Stone were my hardest, heavy and light hammer felt the most natural. WOB was good for my confidence because even though I didn’t get past 12’ I had guys telling me that I was hitting the bar on the way up and my release was too far behind my head.

The Caber Toss… OP is right, that shit is no joke. Didn’t turn it first throw, but got two 11’s on the successive tries. Popping the cherry on the caber was my main goal and my biggest success of the day. Everything after that was gravy.

The judges were completely good dudes, kept it light and casual. The other competitors (as well as myself) were pretty tense initially, but by the end of the day we were being pretty social, helping each other out, contgratulating each other, comparing notes on different throws.

In short, I had a fucking blast. Can’t wait to do it again.

[/quote]

Yessir

[quote]BradTGIF wrote:
Yessir[/quote]

Cool. If you live in the area and want to train the events sometime, send me a PM.