Not that I know that much about the subject, I'm still pretty new at HGs. But I read something about two weeks ago that said the rest one gets 2 days prior to an athletic competition or lifting event is THE most important.

I USUALLY THROW EVERY DAY BUT ON THE WEEK OF A GAMES I STOP AND TAKE OFF THURS. AND FRIDAY.

SOME TIMES ITS HARD TO FIGHT THE ERGE TO PRACTICE BUT IT DOES PAY OFF TO REST.

-DAVE

This would be a great topic to research.  Any one out there working on a masters degree, this is you thesis.  The amount of time before a games to rest is still personal, but it also depends upon what you are doing before hand.  If you are throwing hard on Wednesday, you need to back off entirely for a competition on Saturday or Sunday.  The body needs to rest.  While you are new at the events, you will see big gains made from increasing your skills.  After that you will flatten out.  I would suggest that if you are competing on Saturday, that you only work on an event or two which needs some work or fine tuning.  Do so on Monday and or Tuesday, then rest.  You might do your weights on Wednesday, but these should be light and essentially going through the motions.  Doing a 400# squat on Wednesday is not going to improve your throws on Saturday.  Think of it this way.  If you were a sprinter, you would not complete a hard sprint workout on Thursday or Friday before the big Saturday meet, and your Wednesday workout would be simple such as starts, and some easy 3/4 runs.

Great topic – Coach Mac would probably have the best answer to this (from a hands-on perspective of training with top athletes for a number of years).  Sounds to me like there’s two topics – how to train prior to a comp, and perhaps how to rest prior to a comp.  For training I’d venture to say there are two main factors – physical and mental preparation.  For myself, the physical preparation includes ‘quick-movements’ a few weeks prior to the competition – to stimulate the fast-twitch muscles and create more speed in the throw.  An example would be to stop heavy lifting and switch to more jumping, or light & explosive lifting to get the body in the habit of moving quicker.  I also focus more on the ‘details’ of the throw – always training with a trig, and even doing warm-ups outside the trig, and then 3 throws behind the trig – to really simulate the upcoming competition.  Other details of a throw include the various ‘pulls’ in the hammer.  Whether pulling across, above, around or down in front of the body, I try to work each of these through a series of slow to fast winds – and then the throws behind the trig as indicated.

For this week, Pleasanton is only a handful of days away… I trained at the USTC (acronym is close) with several other athletes, and went through the identical events for the games this weekend.  Most the guys from the games indicated they would be resting ALL week (probably with some stretching, massage and/or visit to the chiropractor as well).  For myself, I threw pretty hard on Sunday, will probably go through some light throwing on Tues and have some fast-twitch activity like racquetball today and Wednesday – Thurs/Fri will be rest and are focused on NUTRITION (which I found to be a HUGE component of how I feel/throw on the weekend).  Essentially what you eat two days prior to the games will dictate how you feel (my two cents).  If you can limit the junk food, soda’s and other food that may takeaway from your peak performance, do it… and replace with something healthier. 

With respect to mental training – the more you can make practices simulate a competition – the better you should be able to focus during a comp.  Avoid over-psyching yourself prior to the comp – and just relax the day before (both your body AND MIND).  Many times, I’ll intentionally go to a movie or a shopping area the day just to keep my mind off of throwing.  On the day of, you’re going to think of throwing anyway, and keep in mind that you’ll need to be mentally ready almost once every 15 minutes for the entire day – I’d be interested how others deal with this particular facet of the comp.

My two cents.

Dave

Caber,

You asked..

<<<So you're saying the rest one gets on that day, 2 days prior or that you should have complete rest for two days prior?
>>>

The meat of the article stated that the rest 2 days prior was most important. I.e. if you got only 5 hours sleep 2 days prior, then 11 hours the day before, it would not be as productive as getting 8 hours sleep 2 days before and 8 hours the night before. Same amount of rest, but 1st case was inadequete rest 2 days out.

dave brown wrote: For myself, I threw pretty hard on Sunday, will probably go through some light throwing on Tues and have some fast-twitch activity like racquetball today and Wednesday – Thurs/Fri will be rest and are focused on NUTRITION (which I found to be a HUGE component of how I feel/throw on the weekend).

Aren't you going motorcycle riding this week?

Speaking for myself i find lifting 85 to 90%  of max pulls /pushes etc mon and wed and some throwing on the tues with rest thurs/fri works best for me,and i beleive some elite highland athletes like mr aitken follows something along these lines aswell.

steve

ps that dave brown throws those weights far too far and high,good job with that modified style at ballater dave.

Aren't you going motorcycle riding this week?

OUCH!

Borges... it seems you're probably the fourth person to remind me of my stupidity two years ago - when I decided to get footloose and fancy on a crotch-rocket in the foothills of California, which resulted in a ride to the hospital the week of the Pleasanton games - Worlds competition no less.  I'm just glad to be back in action and throwing again. 

On your question - the answer is 'no'.. I'm not riding the bike (at least not this week, or until after New Hampshire). 

Missed seeing you at Vierra's on Sunday - a lot of good throws by good throwers... was great to finally be at a practice that Coach Mac attended - both good to hear comment, and then not-so-good to hear somewhat simply concepts that should have been incorporated many throws ago.

Regarding a posted note above on Ballater - I heard big Mike Smith was trying the WOB style in a clinic last Saturday.  Needless to say, I think it's harder than it looks - I heard he went 13'6".

Dave

Dave,

  I had planned to head out there but I got hung up on some ongoing home improvement projects. Good luck this weekend. You've got your work cut out for you with Sean and Ryan going the way they have been lately. Beat East Coast Dave B.