Shot put training

Diet and Nutrition
1

CT,

I have your black book and have read everything I can find about your training programs.

I compete in the shotput using the rotational technique.

I am currently starting indoor competition. This will last for the next 3 months. After that I will have a 2 month break from competition. The most important competitions will then be in the outdoor season in the summer.

Which of your training programs would you recommend for inseason and which for out of season for the shotput. Also what are your general thoughts on core rotational training for the throwing events.

Thanks for your insights. I am looking forward to the publication of your next book.

Walt Shields

2

A shot puter should follow a shot put program :), not a football or olympic lifting program.

Shot puters first need brutal strength in all the muscles of the body. Staple exercises should be:

  • Bench press and incline bench press
  • Push press
  • Back squat
  • 1/2 squat
  • 1/4 squat
  • Romanian deadlift
  • Power clean from blocks
  • Power snatch from blocks
  • Barbell rowing

Do not use all these exercises at once! You can use a modified pendulum approach…

Week 1 Hypertrophy
Week 2 Strength
Week 3 Power
Week 4 Strength
Week 5 Hypertrophy
Week 6 Strength
Week 7 Power
Week 8 Power

HYPERTROPHY WEEKS

DAY 1 and 3

  1. Bench press 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps
  2. Military press 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps
  3. Barbell rowing 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps
  4. Shrugs 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps
    Several weighted abs drills

DAY 2 and 4

  1. Romanian deadlift 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps
  2. Full squat 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps
  3. Lunges 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps/leg
  4. 2/1 leg curl 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps/leg
    Several weighted abs drills

STRENGTH WEEKS

DAY 1

  1. 1/2 back squat 6-8 sets of 3-5 reps
  2. Deadlift 6-8 sets of 3-5 reps
  3. Goodmorning 6-8 sets of 3-5 reps
    Several weighted abs drills

DAY 2

  1. Incline bench press 6-8 sets of 3-5 reps
  2. Military press 6-8 sets of 3-5 reps
  3. Close-grip bench 6-8 sets of 3-5 reps
    Several weighted abs drills

DAY 3

  1. Barbell rowing 6-8 sets of 3-5 reps
  2. Barbell power shrugs (lift with traps and calves) 6-8 sets of 3-5 reps
  3. 1/2 deadlift with a snatch grip (bar starts 1" below knee cap) 6-8 sets of 3-5 reps
    Several weigthed abs drills

DAY 4: optional “beach work”

POWER WEEKS

DAY 1.

  1. Bench press 4-7 sets of 1-3 reps
  2. Push press 3-5 sets of 3-5 explosive reps
  3. Ballistic bench press 3-5 sets of 5 reps (20-30% of max bench press)
  4. Plyo push ups 3-5 sets of 5-10 reps
  5. Medicine ball throws from chest 3-5 sets of 5-10 throws

DAY 2.

  1. Full back squat 4-7 sets of 1-3 reps
  2. 1/2 back squat 3-5 sets of 1-3 reps
  3. 1/4 back squat 2-3 sets of 1-3 reps
    Several weighted abs drills

DAY 3.

  1. Incline bench press 4-7 sets of 1-3 reps
  2. Push press 3-5 sets of 3-5 explosive reps
  3. Speed bench press (50%) 5-7 x 3 speed reps

DAY 4.

  1. 1/4 back squat 4-7 sets of 1-3 reps
  2. Power clean 4-7 sets of 1-3 reps
  3. Jump squat (20% max squat) 3-5 sets x 5-8 reps
    Several weighted abs drills
3

CT

Thanks for your program for shotput. Your willingness to give detailed programs and responses on this forum goes way beyond what most top strength coaches would do and I thank you for your the effort and thought you put into your replys. I wasn’t expecting a whole program.

As a follow up question, what means or methods for strength and power blocks would you recommend for an inseason program for a shotputter. For example would you recommend using Auto-Regulatory Clustering? Or do you think this would be too hard on the CNS for inseason? Could I use Isomiometric and Iso-ballistic Methods during the power blocks?

Thanks again for your info and effort.

4

Functional Isometrics maybe…CT wat i was interested in the volume, do you have a guideline of how you set up the set and reps in accordance with volume(ie I noticed some sets could be up to 45 total reps, so do you start out with a “cap” on the total reps per session and work from there? and if you do could one spread it out among more exercises?)

5

I am a Highland Games Athlete, would a routine similar to this shot put routine be beneficial for Highland games competition? Also, would you recommend keeping the pendulum approach during the throwing season or would you recommend sticking mainly to power/speed work in-season. Thanks for all of your great advice.

6

Please disregard my “in-season” question, wshields response wasn’t up yet.

7

The only technique I would recommend you at this time might be isodynamic method during the power phase (pause then explode). You don’t need other more complex methods, and these should only be used early off-season.