New to HG and 53 years old

Hi, I have been training all my life for 1 sport or another, for the last 5 years i have competed as a 105kg Masters Strongman and this year I got invited to compete at a highland games competition.

I am Really enjoying the training and have already set my sites on 2 more comps

However at my age changing from something very linear to something with much more spinning/circles has not been easy.

I was lucky enough to have some coaching (2 hours) with a decent HG competitor right at the start, but have been working on my own for the last few weeks. I probably left it too late really for my first comp as i have only really managed  6 weeks of any HG training, But every week does seem a little improvement

As a relative newbie and a Masters  competitor what sort of realistic distances should i be looking for in the events as most of the video clips i see are hardened athletes and experienced masters and Im getting close to the comp

I have kept all the techniques very basic, 2 swing WFD, shuffle shot put etc and as i train more will add in more  technical movements


Thanks

In all honesty..you shouldnt be concerned with anyone elses marks or what standard you should be throwing...get marks from a games-drill the shit out of the events..lift heavy and explosive..throw more..go to another games and improve on distances from last games...wash,rinse and repeat as often as needed

i started at 51 in the open division, got regularly pummeled by the accomplished throwers here in the south but enjoyed every minute of the punishment; the camaraderie was unlike other sports i had played, except possibly rugby; i still have lasting friendships from those early days

when the masters divisions became a reality, i made the transition and had some success there, you can too

the strongest man in the world will get beaten by a fellow half his size who knows how to throw these damn things effectively, however, all else being EQUAL, the stronger man has the edge

good luck to you, and don't forget the beer

Well, this sunday will be my first comp, so after that i will have my throws to guage  from. I have thrown better every day in training and with the Buzz of competition hope to better all my previous throws and will work on improving from there

I am keeping my technique simple for this comp, but have also been working on improving technique and will have that to practice too after this comp

Well I did my first comp this weekend and had a great time, learned a lot from the guys i in my flight and hit PBs on all events except the caber toss, something i hadnt had a chance to practice

I was a fair way off the rest of the guys, but even the guy that was new to Highland games was a thrower (shot and hammer) i had 5 weeks training before this and last time i had picked up any throwing implement was nearly 40 years ago

got 2 more comps planned this year along with 2 strongman comps (all masters)

here in england theres not many masters comps so will have to throw the heavier weight in the WFH, but thats all part of the learning curve too



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Atta boy! Stick with it.