Hammer...something that made a difference
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Printed Date: 3/26/26 at 10:26pm
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Topic: Hammer...something that made a difference
Posted By: Alan H
Subject: Hammer...something that made a difference
Date Posted: 10/25/10 at 7:21am
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Over and over again I remember reading about having your low point way over on the right in your first wind, and then the low point moves so that it's more-or-less in the middle, right in front of you on the last one. This never made sense to me. If I just wind the thing, then the low point is right in front of me...what's this stuff about the low point on the right.... Until... ...I thought about it differently. Now, what I work on it not my low point, or the progression of the low point. What I work on "winding on the right" (I'm right-handed). I grossly exaggerate catching the ball way, way behind me on my right side during the first wind. Then my hips get into it...still trying to catch the ball way off to my right side.... but what happens naturally as the winds progress, to the last one, where I hopefully have really pushed my knees out, chest up, and hips cranking back and forth like they're attached to a steam engine.... is that dang, the low point of the orbit has move from way over to the right, to the center point. If I tried to think about where the low point was, I got nowhere. The concept just never got in my head. But if I focus on "wind on the right"... "catch the ball behind me, way way over on the right side"...voila. It happens. I hope this helps someone else, like it helped me. ------------- Alan Hebert Geezer-In-Training |
Replies:
Posted By: BenEdwards
Date Posted: 10/26/10 at 10:30am
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Very interesting points Alan! I'll give them a shot the next time I throw the hammer later this week. ------------- http://goalorientedtraining.wordpress.com/ |
Posted By: Alan H
Date Posted: 10/26/10 at 1:12pm
Ben, go visit YouTube and look at videos of any of the pro's winding hammer. I must have looked at these things a thousand times before Mike P. told me some stuff and I NOTICED what I'd been looking at for two years. The Pro's don't wind the hammer straight in front of them. They wind the thing way the hell off to one side. At the bare minimum, they start winding way off to the side in the first wind....then as they progress and bend their knees more, the winds move towards the center. but START, way the bluidy hell off to one side. Another simple truth I've learned...... don't make small adjustments. That sounds crazy, but here's what's going on with that. How many times have I thought "I'm going to get my center of gravity lower in this next throw"....and think I've done it, only to have someone in my training group shrug and tell me that they couldn't see any difference? How many times? Dozens? Hundreds? If it's not "get low" then it's "catch the ball behind you"...or whatever. I THINK I'm making a big adjustment and it FEELS like a big adjustment but in fact it's diddly-squat. So what I've learned is to make GINORMOUS adjustments, because it's takes what feels like a ginormous adjustment to in fact...actually...make just a somewhat significant one. Once I got the real basics down, every single significant improvement I've made came as a result of trying what felt like a GINORMOUS adjustment in technique, at the time. Truth. Works for me. Your mileage may vary. ------------- Alan Hebert Geezer-In-Training |
BenEdwards wrote:Posted By: KiltBill
Date Posted: 10/26/10 at 10:41pm
| Thanks Alan, great stuff. |
Posted By: Alan H
Date Posted: 10/27/10 at 5:03am
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Bill, I think that when guys get to be **REALLY** good, like 'way better than we are, then the "ginormous" technique doesn't work. For those guys, it's fine tuning. But for me, in the last couple of years as I develop, if I want to make progress I have to try out stuff that feels like huge changes in technique or balance. "Baby steps" solidify what I learn. But to make those breakthroughs, to ramp up to the next level, I have to go the "ginormous" route. so my training/throwing season looks like this. I make a ginormous change one Day One and *whoah*....the implement really flies, or the throw feels effortless. YEAH> I try it a few more times and certify that yeah, this is da bomb. The next three weeks is spent just doing that one thing over and over, to internalize it. During that time I might make small changes, but I'm solidfying what I learned from the ginormous adjustment. The next Games comes....I totally forget what I've learned and throw just the way I was throwing a month ago. After the event is over I kick myself for not putting into practice what I learned. Back to training, working on solidifying what I learned, now five weeks ago. The next Games arrives. It's now been 7-9 weeks since I made that ginormous breakthrough, and I set a PR in that event. At that point, I mostly have "got it" for the rest of the season. That's just how I work. I've seen it happen over and over again. It takes me two Games to show results from stuff I've learned., technique-wise. Other guys might be able to put into practice what they learned, right away. Not me....and I'm the guy who thinks way too much when I get in the trig, as anybody who throws with me will tell you. ------------- Alan Hebert Geezer-In-Training |