1st day fo throwing -FF

Hey not trying to be to critical but you might try tucking the stone against
your neck like a shot I,m afraid youre going to strain your wrist to much,
also hammer trow has no spin to it your feet should remain stationary until
release. Keep up the practice you will get there, the best training is actually
competing lots of guys willing to give advice.

yeah!  I am very new and a mess,,, but I have been lifitng heavy and eating big, and learning about the games.  I am registered for Ocala...

I did a "Getting Started" guide that you may want to check out.

Regarding technique...YouTube is your friend.

Search for Light weight for distance, heavy weight for distance, Scottish Hammer, caber and so on.  Daniel McKim has a nice little caber tutorial up on YouTube.

Also, standing stone throws are for all intents and purposes the same as standing shot put throws, so there you go.

Here's one of my favorites...East vs West...lots of good throwing to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1F6tN95ldg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz3gvqSeMCo

Really, what strong guy goes for a long run?  Lay some names on me.    I think your definition of strong and mine could be different. 

as for running an occasional jogging of the memory on why I hate running is all I go with.....

Sprints of short duration-  yes

longest I can see is possibly 400 meters....

 

So there's a problem here.  If you're big, strong and have arteries clogged by chicken fat, beer residue, and essence of chocolate chip, then you likely die young, displaying immense thigh muscles in your casket.... though you might have a lot of trophies displayed at your memorial service.

I have a hard time telling anyone that doing a bunch of cardio and staying lean is BAD for their sports performance, unless they're professionals making a freaking lot of money doing whatever-it-is.  Seeing as FF is not likely to make a couple mil $ a year doing Highland Games, it seems to me that sure, he ought to maybe tone down the 40 mile bike rides and lift some weights and throw a lot instead, but STOP riding his bike and swimming?  Naww. No way.  Do a good mixture of both.

Besides, "fast" usually equals "far", right?   

What would you rather do... live long and throw pretty far and also be able to hike all day or go out for a 20 mile bike ride for fun, or live a short life, throw a few feet further and need to  get out your walker to make it to the fridge?

Silverback wrote: And this is a board for throwing far, let me know if I am wrong.

Of course it is.  It's just that "throwing", at least to me, is part of "life".  It's PART of life, not the reason for living.  So when I go to the gym, I have two things in mind...B.) work out to stay healthy and vigorous  and B.) work out to throw far.  For me, personally if  got to the point where throwing compromised my ability to do other things...backpacking, sailing, music...all the other things in my life, then I'd have to seriously re-evaluate how badly I wanted to throw.  The same goes in reverse, if somehow backpacking physically impacted my ability to throw, or sail, or play in my band, then I'd have to do some thinking about it.


Anyway, of course you're right about this being a throwing board and strength training being more important for throwing than 40 mile bicycle rides. If your primary goal is to throw far to the exclusion of other athletic activities, then  doing a lot of biking and swimming is not the best way to go about it.  But if your primary goal is to throw reasonably well in addition to enjoying the other athletic activities in your life, then maybe a mixture of activities is not such a bad thing.

If Flying Free had a goal to make his living from income generated by throwing, well...then that's different. I suspect that FF will enjoy throwing for a few years, and good on him for trying it out.  He's lean and fit, that's great. If he replaces some of his long cardio workouts with strength training, then he'll almost certainly throw farther.  You bet.

But how does this fit into the context of the rest of his life?  That's all I'm getting at.

"I'm casual and I fit it in with other activities"....**nodding** .. That is absolutely true and that's exactly what I do.   I lift twice a week and throw twice a week  in season ...maybe throw once a week out-of-season and lift twice, and in another season or two I will stop because my  knees and lower back get beat up real bad by this stuff.  I  hurt, sometimes a LOT most of the time from March through October.

It's worth it for a while, a couple of seasons because throwing is a hoot, and I enjoy it.   The guys are great, the challenge to get better is great, and the satisfaction of seeing myself improve is a kick.  It's not worth it to me to keep it up or do it so hard that I wind up hobbling around on a cane, though, and I have to worry at my age (53)  that that's exactly what will happen.  I started this stuff when I was 50, eh?  I'll enjoy it while I can, and will lay off or stop when it gets to a point where I judge that throwing and lifting adversely affect the rest of my life. 

After the Ventura Games last October I spent two and a half months with intermittent tingling and numbness in my nuts, from a slightly compressed spinal nerve.  That got me thinking  about consequences!  I'm not willing to be so dedicated to throwing and lifting that my nuts and dick go numb, you know?   Anyway, no point in ranting on about it.

Those are the things I have to think about.  FF looks like he doesn't have to worry about those things, yet, and you probably don't, either..
You have entirely different goals and a different perspective, Silverback.  That's cool, carry on..

I expect that FF will find his way, as well.