Hi all, I’m 18 and currently throwing for my track team (although I’m also doing 100 meter sprints). Anyways, our team doesn’t have a throwing coach, so a teammate and I decided that our best bet is to just try and gain as much strength as possible in the couple of months we have left of the season.
If any of you have suggestions for exercises or drills it would be greatly appreciated, I’ve also attached a picture of me in the shot put ring. For those of you wondering, I run the 100 between 12.5-12.8 seconds. I throw a shot around 9.8m, discus around 35, javelin around 38. I realize the numbers are pretty crappy, but we’ve only been training for a couple of weeks.
At this point in the season, new strength gains may not carry over directly to the shot or Jav. My guess is your not going to continue to throw in college. Just an assumption. Focus on throwing and throwing correctly. At this point, better technique will trump strength. It actually most always does, unless your as strong as Christian Cantwell.
Check out “The Throws Manual” by Dunn and McGill. Suzy Powell is on the cover. Also check out “the Throws” by Jarver. Has John Godina on the cover. Both books will cover the shot AND the Jav. If I had to get just one, I’d pick up “The Throws”. Start reading over at www.effortlessthrow.org/
Watch as much video as possible to learn what your supposed to look like and see what your supposed to be doing. Supplement this video with some reading.
jesues those are pathetic throws I hope you don’t mean feet-almost positive you don’t- I have hit those marks standing in both events and only been doing it for few months ever-in meters not feet-. Well the getting the mark in jav required one cross over and plant step hop then throw, though I’m using college level weighted discuss and jav not sure if different for high school. Really for both those events strength is not going to help you as much, technique will. You just got to practice technique over and over.
Some of the links others have posted will work watch videos of pros on youtube also and just practice practice practice the technique over and over till its instinctive.
Get shoe throwing shoes for discuss, and some javelin boots for jav if you can they will make a HUGE difference in your throwing.
Thanks for all the tips, and references, I really appreciate it. The throws are pathetic, I realize, but the level of competition here is not very good. Anyways, thanks very much for the advice.
I will second www.effortlessthrow.org and there are some T&F guys at www.nasgaweb.com but it is a highland games site. I just started HG last year and I was astounded at the impact footwork and technique have on throwing in general. Just a slight improvment in timing and your throws will skyrocket. Good luck and have fun.
Not sure about anything other than Javelin, but I used to throw them a lot to a high level and would say the following.
A javelin is not a heavy item, it doesn’t require a lot of strength to throw it. As many have said on here, technique is very important, even the right angle of throw will help hugely as the aerodynamics of a javelin will carry it much further.
The other hugely important thing for javelin is arm speed. You need to work on accelerating the javelin as quickly as possible while the javelin is in your hand. I used to find that throwing a tennis ball or something similar into hanging towel was great. The towel stops it bouncing for miles, and if you don’t always have access to a lot of javelins to practice, you can get a lot of throws in. Just be careful to keep your elbow up and tight to your ear when you do it, otherwise it will impact on your javelin technique.
If you have access to a medicine ball, there are huge numbers of exercises that can be done with that to assist, again useful as you can’t always be chucking spears round the place.
I would agree with Eventine on arm speed, and I’d say that arm speed is probably the 2nd most important aspect to the javelin throw.
Nail your technique first. Everyone who throws has heard it, but you must throw through the tip of the javelin. If your arm is moving one direction, but the tip of the jav is pointed too high up, it will begin to put the air brakes on immediately. Watch all the high level throwers and you’ll see that the javelin rockets out of their hands. Now watch a lot of high school athletes, and you’ll see that they throw with the tip up. Get that point down first and foremost.
Also, don’t run any faster than you can handle. You should be accelerating up to your block. If you are decelerating over your last few steps, you either need to shorten your approach, or slow it down to the point where you can control it.
Strength gain, while in season, is going to be pretty negligible, compared to what you can get out of improving your technique.
The other hugely important thing for javelin is arm speed. You need to work on accelerating the javelin as quickly as possible while the javelin is in your hand. I used to find that throwing a tennis ball or something similar into hanging towel was great. The towel stops it bouncing for miles, and if you don’t always have access to a lot of javelins to practice, you can get a lot of throws in. Just be careful to keep your elbow up and tight to your ear when you do it, otherwise it will impact on your javelin technique.
If you have access to a medicine ball, there are huge numbers of exercises that can be done with that to assist, again useful as you can’t always be chucking spears round the place.[/quote]
Thanks a lot, I also play baseball, so working on arm speed should be do able, and the medicine ball also seems to be a staple at my school’s gym (although not properly used in my opinion; people doing crunches all day )
[quote]Modi wrote:
I would agree with Eventine on arm speed, and I’d say that arm speed is probably the 2nd most important aspect to the javelin throw.
Nail your technique first. Everyone who throws has heard it, but you must throw through the tip of the javelin. If your arm is moving one direction, but the tip of the jav is pointed too high up, it will begin to put the air brakes on immediately. Watch all the high level throwers and you’ll see that the javelin rockets out of their hands. Now watch a lot of high school athletes, and you’ll see that they throw with the tip up. Get that point down first and foremost.
Also, don’t run any faster than you can handle. You should be accelerating up to your block. If you are decelerating over your last few steps, you either need to shorten your approach, or slow it down to the point where you can control it.
Strength gain, while in season, is going to be pretty negligible, compared to what you can get out of improving your technique.[/quote]
Thanks, how high is “too high up”? I’ve watched a couple of videos, but I learn a lot better through reading and tips would help. I guess my initial goal of trying to use brute force wasn’t well thought out.
[quote]blaine.denton wrote:
Thanks, how high is “too high up”? I’ve watched a couple of videos, but I learn a lot better through reading and tips would help. I guess my initial goal of trying to use brute force wasn’t well thought out.[/quote]
Depending on headwind you want to be throwing at somewhere between 30-40 degree angle. A headwind will dictate a lower trajectory, and a tailwind a higher one.
Right now I would focus on exerting the force along the length of the javelin. At your distance, I wouldn’t get too caught up in an exact trajectory, just make sure that you arm isn’t traveling at 30 degrees while the javelin is pointed up at 45 degrees.
The closer the trajectory and the alignment of the javelin are, the better the flight path will be. When you hit it right, the jav will seemingly cut through the air. If you hit it wrong, it will stay nose up and then just plummet to the ground.
If you can work on that point, and on your arm speed, you should see some good results.
[quote]Eventine wrote:
Not sure about anything other than Javelin, but I used to throw them a lot to a high level and would say the following.
A javelin is not a heavy item, it doesn’t require a lot of strength to throw it. As many have said on here, technique is very important, even the right angle of throw will help hugely as the aerodynamics of a javelin will carry it much further.
The other hugely important thing for javelin is arm speed. You need to work on accelerating the javelin as quickly as possible while the javelin is in your hand. I used to find that throwing a tennis ball or something similar into hanging towel was great. The towel stops it bouncing for miles, and if you don’t always have access to a lot of javelins to practice, you can get a lot of throws in. Just be careful to keep your elbow up and tight to your ear when you do it, otherwise it will impact on your javelin technique.
If you have access to a medicine ball, there are huge numbers of exercises that can be done with that to assist, again useful as you can’t always be chucking spears round the place.[/quote]
Arm strength does play a role though, I have long arms being nearly 6’8 which gives me a huge advantage over my teammates. I’m progressing much faster then them and I’m around 170-180ish range now with horrible technique. I would avoid over throwing though, work on the feet work getting your HIPS into it like all throws will help you tremendously. Doing a lot of throws you get tired and can throw shoulder out or elbow with a bad throw. The plant step at the end is one of the most important parts, thats where you will utilize hips a lot practice that a lot. Get javelin boots if you can they help tremendously like I said.
[quote]shizen wrote:
jesues those are pathetic throws I hope you don’t mean feet-almost positive you don’t- I have hit those marks standing in both events and only been doing it for few months ever-in meters not feet-. Well the getting the mark in jav required one cross over and plant step hop then throw, though I’m using college level weighted discuss and jav not sure if different for high school. [/quote]
Nobody cares. The kid asked for help, he didnt ask for your numbers, or any ridiculous qualifications like “the jav required a crossover and plant hop step step hippity hoppity and oh, by the way, my implements are heavier”
