TRAINING LOG: Eric Clark

Alan H wrote: NICE, Eric!  Hell yeah, 2011 was a big year, those are excellent gains, all around. Besides, the videos are cool! Hehe.... You're gonna be a "B" after Queen Mary, I guarantee it.

What are "good mornings"?

YUCK.  I hope you feel better fast....

1/12/2012

Maximum Bro session.  

Eric, go look at the NASGA newbie forum.  I put up a series of pictures on how to make a relatively cheapo LWFD from plumbing hardware, a u-bolt, and junker 1-inch  2.5 and 5 lb weight.  Beats all hell out of throwing a traffic cone.

However, throwing the traffic cone beats all hell out of not throwing at all!

Alan H wrote: Eric, even if you don' t have time to make the implement that I put up in the Newb forum here and at X marks, you can still make a simple throwing pud.  Howzat? 1.) get two, ten pound dumbell weights... or 4-5, 5 pound weights.  1-inch hole is better than Olympic, but whatever you got, use it...or hit craigslist or something. 2.) Thread a piece of rope through them all.  Rope should be something like 34-38 inches long, more or less.  Then thread a 6-inch piece of garden hose, or even a piece of 3/4 inch pipe over the rope.  This piece of hose or pipe will be your handle. 3.) Tie the end of the rope together  to make a loop. 4.) Duct tape the weights together to make them into one unit. Duct tape the rope together right above the weights to make a figure-8. This will keep the weights a little steadier on the rope. 5.)  Go throw.  It's a lot better than a traffic cone and might possibly take a half an hour to assemble!

In hammer, yeah, relax your arms more. Here a pic you've seen before of some guy we see around now and then who is an OK hammer thrower, though he really needs a new kilt. :lol:



That's at max layout.  You seem to have pretty good layout, actually, but compare the elbows.

I see that you're looking up at the delivery. Excellent.   Thumbs up dude, I bet that added a couple of feet, right there.

That same guy in the red kilt, up there told me something that changed how I throw hammer.

1. feel like your hips are attached to a ramrod, attached to a wheel on a big steam engine. WHAM, WHAM, WHAM...

I actually interpreted that to mean that the ramrod was driving my hips from side to side, so I practiced that for a month. Then I talked to this dude on the phone and he said...uh...no...front to back. So I did that, too. It helped, doing both of them, actually.

2. I didn't "get it"...I didn't really "get it" despite all the words and writing and blah blah blah  and the low point has to e here and OMG until I started practicing point #1 up there, with a WOMENS hammer. All of a sudden I didn't have to worry about the weight of the ball, I didn't have to struggle to keep it under control and I got the "feel".  It was one of the biggest "AHA!" moments I've ever had in the Games.

So many guys get this big wide stance and feel like they gotta lock their bodies down and get strong and rigid and CENTERED and then force that ball around them a mess of times until they finally whale away on it and it flies.  OK, that works if you're freaking Hercules.  But for us mere mortals.... it doesn't.

Ryan told me to narrow my stance. I did, and then I was unstable for about two months until I spen tosme time with the womens hammer and figured it out.   I was unstable until I learned, by winding the womens hammer to give up control to the ball.  Don't dominate the ball, counterbalance and DRIVE the ball.

My hammer mantra?  "Alan, give up control to the ball"... relax. Be long. Easy peasy. Let the hip ramrod drive the ball.  The hip ramrod is NOT relaxed and easy peasy. But the shoulders are.

So Eric...take one plate off of that hammer and RELAX. Especially on the first wind, just relax. It'll go. Then,  Reach. Be long. Be easy.  Your arms are ropes.  You barely need to hold on to the shaft, easy forearms.

-->But  Feel the hips on that ramrod, back and forth, side to side, forwards and backwards.

Finally....reach back on your right even MORE.  Catch the ball behind you even MORE. Sup[er exaggerated.  You're throwing low 80's now. Look for 90 by  Queen Mary.  I might have to throw in the C's on Saturday. You're gonna kick my ass!

You are coming along scary fast, I am damned impressed.

Edited by Alan H - 1/17/12 at 10:57am