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Adam Nelson 22.07m and his training |
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Pingleton
Postaholic Highland Games' virtually straight legs Joined: 11/28/06 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 2747 |
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Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:42am |
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I assume that Nelson is rotating the different variations day to day, week to week, and depending on the time of year. Adam generally lifts four days a week using an upper-body/lower-body split, and presumably does squats of some type twice a week. I have copied a number of relevant posts from Adam's site: www.throwclean.com
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JISurfer
Senior Member Joined: 8/31/04 Location: Polynesia Status: Offline Points: 432 |
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I see how nelson does many different squats in his workouts. For time's sake, how can one bring in the other squats into a workout as well? Keep in mind, we don't have all day/every day to lift. We are just given a time slot, usually Mondays, Wednesday, and Friday from 5-6. Fridays are usually travel days too, so it tightens time restraints even more.
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eh...
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Pingleton
Postaholic Highland Games' virtually straight legs Joined: 11/28/06 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 2747 |
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Since there seems to be some interest in Adam Nelson and his training, I thought I might as well add some more observations from Nelson himself to this thread.
I, too, have read the articles that claim there's no real advantage of power clean versus a high pull. Maybe there isn't in theory, but my own experience states otherwise. There is something gratifying, physically and psychologically, about catching a clean. When I high pull, I can use more weight, but my form is never as good as when I catch. Plus, when I catch, my overall bodytiming and awareness improves dramatically. So maybe there are higher risks to catching, maybe there are no true advanatges over high pulls, but the good old fashioned power clean (with catch) leaves me with an overall sense of confidence and strength. And that just makes for good throwing.
I'm not sure what I'm going to say here. I'm not even sure where this message is going. I just thought I'd take this opportunity to share with my friends and fans on the ring what's been going through my head the past year. After the Olympics I was crushed. It was almost the catalyst for a major career change, but for some reason I couldn't leave on that note. A lot of people don't understand why or how I could keep coming back for more after suffering so many public losses, but that's the nature of athletics. That's the nature of sport. Failures, and very public ones at that, are a part of my life. I can't hide from a bad day, just like I won't let a bad performance dictate my future. That's the mark of a true competitor. It also helps to have minor brain damage that results in short term memory loss. At least football was good for something. ;) There's a lot of speculation as to what happened with my sponsorship. Without getting into any specific details, my wife and I decided that it wasn't good for us. I have no ill will towards my former sponsors. In fact, I support their involvement in track and field. Without them, there'd be no money in the sport and I wouldn't be able to make the living I do now throwing. This year I decided to make some changes. It took a few months before the eBay auction came to fruition. My hope was to auction myself off to a company outside the realm of the typical track and field sponsors. Though it hasn't resulted in the long term sponsorship I'd initially hoped for, it was a huge success. There are companies in this country that are interested in sponsoring Olympians/track and field athletes, but they don't realize the opportunities are out there. It's incumbent upon every athlete in track and field to think outside the box. Find new ways to attract new sponsors to the individual. Once a company has a vested interest in an individual, they have a vested interest in the sport. This is something USATF and our agents don't realize. It's time for some serious changes, and they are on the way. Back to throwing...the indoor season began with a personal best. Unfortunately, it was followed by an injury that curtailed all practices, throwing, running and/or jumping from the first of February till the end of the first week in May. Lesson here: Proper diagnosis of an injury will result in the proper and prompt rehabilitation of the injury. In many ways this injury was a blessing in disguise. It allowed me to deemphasize the early outdoor competitions and focus on the time leading up to Nationals and Worlds. Unfortunately, my world ranking will suffer for it, but I'd rather have the medal anyway. My training this year wasn't to different from years past. I will say I spent more time doing those annoying drills that we all despise so much. There's a direct correlation between drill work and technique. More drills generally equals more consistent technique. The drill work also seems to facilitate a more direct relationship between weight room strength and throwing strength. In the past, I spent a lot of time in the weight room, but the extra strength didn't help in the circle. The muscles weren't trained to execute in the circle. They were trained to execute in the weight room. Perhaps some of the bio-mechanists can comment on the importance of establishing muscle memory patterns. I'm speaking on it from an uneducated stand point. Okay, I've run out of time for now. I'll post more later. Adam
After my first outdoor competition I was thrilled. I'd only had three practices since the Milrose Games in February. It's difficult to not get frustrated, but past experience really paid off. I knew it was better not to force it. Still, with less than six weeks before nationals it's a little unnerving to have only 3 practices under my belt. Master of spin I am (no pun intended), I shifted my emphasis from winning, distances, and comfort in the ring, to the fact that it felt great to throw with no pain. So many people focus on the negative. It's debilitating. Focus on the positive and it's liberating. With each passing day my technique improved and so did my distances. Unfortunately, so did everyone elses. Again, experience paid off here. I wasn't concerned about winning all the domestic meets, I was focussed on making the world championship team. Some of you may notice I didn't waste a lot of time competing in Europe. These meets are great for your world ranking and your pocket book, but don't always comply with the progression toward a major championship. In my mind there are three meets during the outdoor season that matter: US Nationals, WC's or OG's, and the IAAF Final. Anything outside those three competitions is unnecessary. If you take a competition outside those three, then it must fill some need for your pursuit to the big three. After Nationals, I took a week off. I didn't touch a weight. I didn't touch a shot put. I think I saw a circle once, but it was from a great distance. I needed to take care of some things in my personal life to clear the path to worlds. Plus, I didn't want to start my build up to worlds early. My world's build up began on July 3. For the next two weeks, I busted my ass in the circle, on the track and in the weight room. I won't get into specifics. Sorry, I have to keep some secrets but I will say I used some of Poliquin's approach in the weight room combined with Simmons' conjugated method. It worked beautifully, and within two weeks I was within 10% of 1rep max. On the track I began my speed programs: lots of running, lots of jumping, and lots of drill work. In the circle I kept each practice short and sweet. Of course, I do that all year round. I took an average of 7-8 full throws a practice three to four times per week. I left for Europe three weeks before the World Championships. I wanted to acclimate to the time zone, the weather, and the food. European food is different and my first few days in Europe are always a battle. Unfortunately for me, extra-soft Charmin is not common in european bathrooms. At this point my lifting volume was cut back, while the other stuff remained constant. I, also, had to be careful with my diet. I didn't want to gain any weight during this time. In fact, I was trying to lose between 1 and 2 lbs per week. Ultimately, I think I left US Nationals (six weeks before worlds) at 268lbs and arrived in Helsinki closer to the shy side of 260. My speed and flexibility are at close to peak level at this weight. That's why I threw well on Saturday. I'm not a power guy, and though my timing still quite isn't there, my foot work was awesome. I'm not bragging here, my foot work across the circle kept me in the game. My timing with my upper body was off. Crazy stuff. So that's about it. I think this post has run its course. Adam
Unlike a lot of coaches, I don't believe it's necessary to throw year round. The important thing is not to lose the timing. Throwing is stressful on the body. Rather than throw year round, spend a month or two doing lots of drill work and visualization. Make sure you drill and visualize to perfection. Don't be sloppy with it. This time "off" from the throwing allows the body--fingers, wrists, shoulders--to heal from the season. As your body "forgets" how to throw with the shot put, it will learn how to throw without one. When you return to a "real" practice, many of your bad habits will be replaced with all those good things you've been drilling and visualizing. Happy "off" season to everyone, Adam
The real difference between practice and competition isn't so much in intensity as much as it is intent. In a meet, I'm focused on throwing as far as I can. In most of my practices I'm focused on finding my rhythm and timing in the circle. Practices aren't as visibly intense as a meet because I'm thinking things through, feeling for positions and such. It's much more internal. As for # of full throws and distance in practice, I take 6-12 full throws in a practice. Only when I'm coming into peak throwing shape will I push for distance in a practice. Otherwise I don't care. Unlike many throwers I practice M-T-Th and Sat. |
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hopefulthrower
Groupie Joined: 11/28/07 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 71 |
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Adam's approach is common sense, he takes what he needs and uses it, he listens to his body, he puts his ego behind him when training, he lifts light weights a lot, and works on the core and flexibillity. Most importantly he emphasises throwing, and everything else is only supplemental to that. He said he can normally VJ 35-36" BUT WHEN DOING POWER TRAINING/PEAKING HAS DONE 39"! He demo'ed some lifts, he is very all round strong, and been world junior and world senior champion, 3 world silvers and 2 olympic silvers, NCAA and US champion indoor and outdoors. A great guy, and fan of highland games as well. His approach to training is probably similiar to all smart highland pro's especially with the strong emphasis on core and squats and flexibillity, not to menting THROWING. I hope this helps, cheers, Leo |
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Leo
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Joel Sim
Senior Member Joined: 9/26/07 Status: Offline Points: 560 |
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It's a new chapter in my bible
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Ryan Stewart
Senior Member Joined: 11/15/06 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 811 |
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That was a great post Peter! . Need to put that in the article section for sure.
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John Gallagher- "MASS MOVES MASS"
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Pingleton
Postaholic Highland Games' virtually straight legs Joined: 11/28/06 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 2747 |
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Adam Nelson is a world-class shot putter and Olympic silver medalist. During 2000 and
2002 he was ranked number one in the world by Track and Field News. Core training is important in every throwing event, and Adam Nelson summarizes his core training philosophy in this article. Going into the fall of 1999 almost one year out from the Olympics, I suffered a minor tear in my right pectoral minor and major. After the doctor diagnosed the tear, he offered me two alternatives: have surgery and miss the Olympics or don’t have surgery, do aggressive rehab, and maybe you’ll make it. I’d just spent three years of my life dedicated to the pursuit of my Olympic ambitions. Hello!!! This was a no brainer. What happened during the next nine months exceeded all of my own expectations. For years I’ve heard how the 21-meter barrier was unbreakable without the use of performance enhancers. I had no idea. I’d never thrown within 30cm of that distance. But something happened as a result of my pec tear, I was forced to change the way I approached my training. Obviously heavy benches were out due to the direct stress on the injury, but so were squats and anything that involved steadying a bar on the shoulders. That significantly limits what you can do in the weight room. My focus shifted from training off the track to training on the track. How could I throw without throwing? (I couldn’t throw at this point either) It wouldn’t be long till I found the answer I was looking for: event specific training. As rotational shot putters, we’ve borrowed a lot of our technical models from the discus. Knowing this, I began to look at what the world-class discus throwers stressed in their training: rhythm, timing, speed, and core strength. Well I already worked a lot on the first three, but the last one I’d overlooked. Sure, I always did my crunches at the end of the workout, but that only scratches the surface. Hammer throwers have known this for years. What’s the biggest difference between hammer throwers and other rotationally delivered throws? The number of turns requires more technical and drill work even at the highest levels. Because hammer throwers spend so much time developing the rhythm of their throw, they work their core more than any other thrower out there. You don’t have to stretch the imagination to far to understand the importance of the core. Just look at Yuriy Sedykh’s drill work and weight work. Anyway, that’s how I came to focus on the core during my workouts. Here are three suggestions you can use to strengthen your core: 1) Save the belts and knee wraps for max lifts only. By using them you are only training your body to squat incorrectly. You’ll have to drop the weight, but you’ll be amazed at how much stronger you’ll feel. And if you ever want to go back to the belt and wraps for the big numbers, it will only take about four weeks to do so. We’re not training to be great lifters, just great throwers. 2) More is no substitute for quality. Train your mid-section just like you would your bench or squat or clean. You don’t get much out of one set to failure in the cleans. Don’t do this with your core. That said, your abs can and do recover very quickly from heavy workouts, so don’t be afraid to do a little weighted abs work every workout. 3) Vary the tempo and movements based on the workout. On upper body days I like to do more static core work. On Olympic lifting days I favor more rhythmic/multi-dimensional core work. On squat days I prefer twisting and stretching core work (I’ll give you a sample below). So I’ve given you some suggestions, now I’m going to give you a sample. Workout 1: Upper body day core work • Hanging Leg Raises with weight • Decline Crunches with weight • Roman Chair sit ups with weight • Stansions (4 ways for 1 minute each) Workout 2: Olympic day core work • V-ups with Med Ball • Side Elbow to opposite Knee Bends with Bar • Candlesticks (a very intense form of leg raises) • Standing Bar Twists • Pull Throughs Workout 3: Leg day core work • Floor touches w/ weight- start with plate above head and do a wind mill-like/side bend movement touching the plate to the floor by your feet while keeping your arms fully extended. • Walking Twists w/ weight- arms at 90 degrees or straight out if you’re a real man (I’m not). Then, step with the left foot and turn your upper body towards the left. Repeat to the right. There are many variations of this workout, but that’s the base. You get the right idea. I like to do 100-150 reps total per workout during most of the season. During the offseason these numbers may be a little bit higher. Going into major competition I’ll cut the volume in half or more with primary emphasis on the twisting movements. Anyway, that’s about it. Though I’ve found several combinations of exercises that work for me, you’ll probably be different. Experiment till you find something that leaves you feeling strong and flexible. Once you find the right combination of core training and plyometric/sprint training, you’ll find you’ll only need to do the weight work to boost your confidence. |
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hopefulthrower
Groupie Joined: 11/28/07 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 71 |
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Adam Nelson is a very nice guy, I attended a training seminar he gave and met him twice since and spoke to him about his training. He is taller and slimmer looking in person than on TV about six one and hard to judge weight, but very athletic. He would be the best person to talk about this I am sure. He primarily emphasises throwing and working on technique, everything else is about making the shot go farther. He emphasises heavy regular core training with lots of moving and twisting against resistance so he can transfer leg power through the core to the upper body, he does individual core exercises and an abs circuit with lowish rep heavy weight. After this he emphasised flexibility telling me he had a trainer come over to help him work on flexibility alone once a week, after this in priority comes squats, full half partial front back wide medium narrow stance with chains bands slow quick all varieties, then comes incline bench pressing and bands and chains. Then Olympic lifts, then sprints and jumps. He has a strength coach called Rob McIntyre and worked with Charles Poliquin. He believes in structural balance i.e. he emphasis barbell curls and leg curls and all kinds of small body building exercises to prevent injury and maximise his strengths. He changes programs every three weeks and very much puts throwing first, i.e. if he is having a good throwing session he will just lift light weights, or will drop plyos lifting for throwing. If he is tired or sore he will skip lifting and listen to his body. He takes pre and post workout nutrition pretty seriously, eating well and is much organised. He was coached by and then Bob Weir and then Don Babbitt and he trains/trained with Reese Hoffa and Breaux Greer. He also used to train with my old friend nick Sweeney Irish discus record holder. Adam said he is a fan of the highland games and thought the guys were great athletes.
He does not always lift heavy ie somestimes 220lb push presses, 70 and 80kg snatches, but also 4 x 5 x 160kg powercleans ! 525lbs incline BP for reps, 39" verticle jump, 700lb plus squats 22.49m PR |
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Leo
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