Strength Training for Throwers

[stef]

by Bill Starr

"Throwers were some of the very first competitive athletes, other than Olympic weightlifters, to make strength a prime consideration in their overall training. In the fifties and early sixties when sports coaches were constantly telling their athletes to stay away from any form of weight training, throwers were doing just the opposite. Parry O’Brien, Bill Neider, Dallas Long, and Randy Matson were extremely strong and they ruled the sport."


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[Scrofula]

Great article. It's interesting that he recommends that many reps on the auxiliary exercises. Does anyone know if his books explain the reasoning behind this?

[ZEvenEsh]

Those high rep sets help pack on muscle, the repetition method.

Heavy weights for the 5 rep range (or 5 x 5) and then some high rep work adds the volume the body needs.

Add tons of quality food and you're gonna be a strong mofo!

Love these articles Rip, keep em' comin!

--Z--

PS: These articles / this web site has to be required rdng for the athletic directors, coaches, etc of high schools who have losing athletic programs and continue to do nothing about educating their coaches who run the weight room so ineffectively.

[astanto2]

Yes. They do.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

PS: These articles / this web site has to be required rdng for the athletic directors, coaches, etc of high schools who have losing athletic programs and continue to do nothing about educating their coaches who run the weight room so ineffectively.

Unlikely this will be changing. I have been offering a "coach the coaches" clinic at my gym for all the local high school coaches for several months now. In other words, bring them in for an afternoon and give them a crash course on how to coach a squat, press, and powerclean. I have met nothing but absolute refusal.

Article was great though. Anything by Starr is solid gold.

[homerj742]

I really enjoy reading these articles. I always learn something new...

[Bloodninja666]

PS: These articles / this web site has to be required rdng for the athletic directors, coaches, etc of high schools who have losing athletic programs and continue to do nothing about educating their coaches who run the weight room so ineffectively.

I can't even tell you how badly the football program at my high school needs to remove their head from their asses and do this. The stupidity that goes on in some programs is borderline criminal..

[WaWa Bird]

I can't even tell you how badly the football program at my high school needs to remove their head from their asses and do this. The stupidity that goes on in some programs is borderline criminal..

My hockey coach never even recommended a training program for us. I wound up picking up a really bad book on the subject (3 sets of 10, 20 exercises per session). On top of that our off-ice conditioning was running for about 10 miles at a time. We only got to run sprints after everyone complained that long and slow doesn't translate to hockey.

[rizsa]

Part of the problem with high school athletics is the coaching requirements. In NJ, a high school coach needs 60 college credits, first aid/cpr, and epi-pen administration. No formal experience in that sport, no exercise science background, nothing but a warm body to keep that program going. This is not to say that the english or history teacher doesn't have good intentions or isn't successful, but the lack of knowledge in training/conditioning for their sport is high. As our schools S/C coach (10 years here, 19 overall in the field), I perform a lot of damage control and education/re-education of our athletes. The poor information that their coaches give them or conditioning drills they do is incredible. It's not just at the high school level. Some of the college programs that our athletes show me are of the muscle and fiction bodybuilding variety or of the extreme functional training, bosu ball 1-leg balancing contra-lateral db press while juggling a chainsaw workout to develop the multifidus. And again a warm body in the weight room also suffices as quality coaching. I teach a basic weight training class and the lack of basic strength and poor movement quality is of epic proportion. I'm not expecting Olympic level technique, I'm talking about push ups, pull ups, and squats-all basic bodyweight movements. Anyway I am ending my rant, but I just wanted to share one persons view on working in a high school setting. I will continue to teach and coach squats, presses, cleans, snatches, deadlifts, rows, push ups, and pull ups. I feel like Leonidas, one person fighting for what they believe "never retreat, never surrender".

Rob