Copied from The Ring.  Glenn is a former hammer thrower who coaches at Clemson.

Bands, Chains, Training cont.

Turn and Burn,
Thanks for the post on the use of bands and chains in the training of throwers. I respect your opinion, but I disagree with some key points.

You argue that bands and chains are effective for developping maximal strength, which I think is a very good statement. Simmons has extensively used them in his preparation of powerlifters, and in that sport, the only objective is the improvement of maximal strength and its expression in the squat, bench and deadlift. His results speak for themself: his is the undisputed leader in the field of powerlifting. As such, I think throwers should study his methods and try to determine how his system works for improving sport performance in powerlifting. However, using his methods in the preparation of throwers without adapting them to the very different needs of our sport would be a mistake.

The relationship between maximal strength and improvements in general power (short sprinting and jumps) has been well established with research. At the beginner and intermediate level, gains in maximal strength will show direct correlations with with improvements in those tests, and as the level of performance on general power tests improves, the effect that increases in maximal strength has will diminish. In other words, maximal strength has diminishing returns on the improvement of power.

Having said that, the goal in throwing training is to use a variety of methods to improve the performance in the competitive event. I feel like you are trying to make a connection that high levels of maximal strength lead to improvements in general power tests, thereby resulting in farther hammer throws. I disagree with this line of reasoning, and base my disagreement on the long term longitudinal study of a generation of Soviet era throwers. This research shows that as the throwers approached world class performances in the hammer, the correlation between non-specific measures and distance thrown decreased. The implication is that top throwing results depend on factors that are more specific than performance in any general test. If you are throwing 65 meters in the hammer, improving your snatch and squat can have a big effect on how far you are throwing. If you are throwing 78-79 meters improving your lifting will not have as strong an effect on your throwing distances. In the US, we are better than any other system at getting people to 70 meters in record time. In my opinion, this is due to an over reliance on maximal strength training methods.

In your post, you list the excellent achievements of Coach Logan and his group of Ashland throwers in the hammer and weight throw. I respect Coach Logan, his passion, and his skill at coaching. My post was not meant to discredit him, his hard work, or the hard work of any members of his training group. The results of the Ashland crew speak for themselves. I also think that you believing in what your coach is having you do for training is very important. I am in no way trying to convince you that your views are wrong.

I also wanted to clarify that I do not believe that training fast all the time to be fast is the correct training paradigm. I think the proper mix of maximal strength and maximal power training coupled with a mix of special and specific exercises is the way to go for throwing events. What that precise mix is, I could not tell you, as that varies for each thrower. The goal of the coach is to determine that mix.

I also wanted to clarify that I am not married to the idea that we should all train the way throwers trained in the past. I do believe that we should study various systems that are currently in use and systems that have been used in the past. You are very correct that with a closed mind, we are doomed to fall behind. My mind is open. I am always interested to learn about new systems from any realm that are succeeding. I strive to study those systems and learn what I can take from those systems to use in my system. This is often very challenging.

The sole point of my post is to promote the following line of reasoning:
1. our objective is to throw as far as possible.
2. results at the highest level in our sport are dependant upon specific training adaptions.
3. the force velocity curve of chain or band squats does not approximate that of throwing or jumping exercises, making it less specific than other preparation means and therefore less useful in the preparation of throwers than more specific exercises.

Glenn