WHEN YOU DO ROTATIONAL TRAINING THAT IS!!! Yesterday I was looking for another exercise to round out my workout. In our gym at school we have a glut of broken bars. I took a bar outside and started doing hammer swings. It felt great, a 8 foot 30 lbs steel bar really gives a good workout.

My question is do you guys swing left and right or just the way you throw?

Trying to figure out when event specific training is too specific. When I do DB Snatch I alternate between hands. In college we used to throw both lefty and righty. It really helps the technique I think. Now that I coach I have a hard time remembering which way I actually throw. I can do the tech both ways...the actual throw is a different story.

Also, anyone have any good NEW core rotational exercises?

Hey Steve, when you start a post titled "DO YOU GO BOTH WAYS" you are really testing my new years resoltuion to not make fun of you.  That aside, good question.  The UNH track coach told me to throw both ways.  He said it will help loosen up the left side (your right) and really work on loosening everything up.  So yup I have been "going" both ways.

Damn its too easy.

TROB

I expected to peek some interest with the subject. Who is the throws coach at UNH? Is there a kid throwing there named Lundquist? I tried to recruit him to Sacred Heart when I was coaching there. SO then you would suggest training both ways. I will take your advice.

Have you ever tried doing a throw backwards? We used to do that in college as well. I guess it gets you thinking about all aspects of the throw.

I was a college hammer thrower in the 70's.  Very old school, a time when all Americans were dragging the hammer and no American new better.  I only trained right handed.  My trap on the left side was a good two inches higher than the right.  In the mid 90's I ruptured my bicep tendon on my right arm.  Threw everything in the games left handed for about 18 months.  It really helped to develop better balance understanding of the throws when it recovered.  I am a high school throws coach here in Georgia and I have my throwers "go both ways" every couple of weeks.  We also do the old John Powell rewind drills.  Track season is so short to learn the events; we spend most of the time on drills.  Kids hate it because they just want to come out and chunk it.

There's no way I would have ever had the time to throw both ways but years ago Kurt did something like it.  He threw the weights back to the trig the opposited way nice and easy.

Hanging upside down helped us both with the imbalances we felt.  Especially in the front of the right hip for some reason.

So have decided to use an old 8 foot bar with the collars off. It is a good time and the kids on my team think I am a freak. I just do hammer turns in both directions. I guess it weighs around 30 lbs. I like it because it forces me into a better position, no more straight over head and straight down. You can actually drive the hammer instead of lift it. You need a lot of room though. 6'6" swinging an 8' bar is a bit dangerous.

Any other exercise suggestions???

Dan,

First off Congrats on the new arrival!!!! Can't wait to meet her!

Am I right about the low point? It should not be so vertically over head and down, but more out in front to get a better drive in the ball.

It would be great if you SCSU guys could help me out now with this event rather then 5 years after the fact...don't want a repeat of 1998 if you get me!

Steve,  I'd be glad to offer you my help with the hammer.  I can sum up my understanding of it in two sentences.

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There, isn't the concept of throwing a hammer properly easy as hell to understand?  Now you have all of my knowledge.  Go get em!

steve,

        think of the low point in relation to where the ball is to your foot.  You want to pick up the ball behind your right ear (left for r handed throwers) so you can create the pengellum for the ball.  In relation to where the ball is wioth your foot, you want to keep the ball to the outermost portion of your left foot and never let ot drift past your junk.  Keeping it behind your foot allows torque which allows the hips to be involved creating a "lift with the hips" and a "Drive with the legs"  hope that clears it up.  You should really come down for a weekend with the wife...it would be a great time!  Roy just insert JIOYIOUNGyuugugyfhbGYUGHYUOBJBUIOLNIJ and your there!!

Dan B.

I found your thoughts on the low point and high point interesting in the hammer. I would have thought your technique would be, (right Handed) to put the low point just to the outside of your right foot and high off of your left ear. Then on the final wind put the low point dead center (zero deg.) so the high point would then be at 180 deg. The direction of the throw. This would also allow your right side into the push and post the left side on release. All the while staying as long as possible.

Thanks for pointing out the left hand insight. I am still curious about Dan’s approach to the hammer. I think he was coached by Bill Sutherlin in college and was curious how he took his T&F experience and translated it to the Scottish hammers.

Larry S. – I’m sure that the throwing techniques in the 70’s where a direct result of who was leading the Americans at that time. Harold Connely, who had the “drag” technique down, was inflicted with a bad arm that caused him to throw in this manner. It is funny how we model who is throwing the furthest even though it hinders the technique for the future.

Maybe a new thread should be on who has the most potential/invoation in their technique rather than who is throwing the furthest. Some athletes have the right technical ideas but just can't put the whole package together to hit the big throw.

Steve you are exactly right.  My coach gave me an 8mm film of Harold and had me watch it over and over.  That was his coaching technique because like all US coaches back then they didn't understand the hammer.  It wasn't until I saw Hal judging on the Super Stars that I realized he had a withered arm. 

Roy,

You took the words right out of my mouth.  I was waiting for someone to really get into the true explaination of the hammer.

Steve D

  You are correct I was coached By Bill Sutherland in the OLY hammer.  Bill use to have myself and the other New Haven crew (roy, rob) throw in the games during the summer to take some of the stress away from competing during the season .  As far as the technique goes I found that when the ball gets to dead middle upon the release you loose torque.  Think of it as having more time to activly work the ball if I do not let it go past the right foot.  That technique would be true for the wire hammer where you have 4 turns to activly work the ball and the hammer will move on a tangent to the left.  With the scot hammer you only have 3 swings so you want to makimize the right side as much as possible.  It also helps to have the body turned to the right creating the extra torque needed to get the hip through and get a bigger release.  The hammer swings with the olympic hammer are different especially if you swing flat like I did for 10 years. I always said that Lance Deal could have bee a great scot hammer thrower becasue He was the only guy in the world who used a HUGE pengellum swing in his olympic hammer.  As far as the other events I fould the further I threw the OLy hammer the shorter I threw highland games.  There is more DRAG ( I love saying that word) in highland events much like the discus. Hammer is more about hip torque and square shoulders to the ball.  Hammer and discus are very different techniques.  It was only after I stopped the oly hammer that I was able to throw the highland games further.  All this OLY hammer talk is going to give me nightmares for a week

Dan,

Thanks for the response. Do you see Bill? If you do tell him Steve Dering said hello. It has been a while sense I last saw/spoke to him.

I understand your idea of putting the ball off of your right foot and wind it on your right hip. How does this affect your counter in a positive way versus winding it off of your right then putting the ball through the middle on the last wind? Getting use to staying grounded and not letting the ball pull you out of position at the top has been a bit of a transition for me. I always wound the Olympic hammer with the pendulum wind so that isn’t a problem, its just getting use to winding the piss out of it. I still want to push the ball and get an active right side while letting the ball run long and free. The long stretch in the back is what throws me off balance a bit so I start the winds on my right side then on the last wind push the ball through the middle getting the left to post and drive the right hip. I also find myself approaching the throw like Heinz Wise, using several winds to set the ball up then hitting the last 2 winds like I explained. I also think if you rely on your body to push the ball it slows it down just like dragging the ball in the Olympic hammer. Let the ball work for you rather than you having to do all the work.

What are your/anyone else’s thoughts?

Dan,  please note Steve knows how to spell pendulum, you do not.  But I still love ya.

Whats with all this hammer chinese talk anyway?

In case you were thinking it, yes this is a spelling contest