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Some Throwing Drills
The following are drills mainly to improve technique, but some also mainly for conditioning.
Puds: With a light (handle) weight: Puds are a generic term for ballistic swing-and-release exercises with a heavy handled object. Puds also refer to the object itself. It can be a medicine ball with a handle attached, or it could be an iron weight with a handle.
Most puds are one-handed, but some are two-handed drills. An excellent article on puds, from the Throwfarther website.
Drills for shot and discus:
BASIC DRILLS FOR CONDITIONING, NOT TECHNIQUE:
Overhead shot throw for distance (as in the weight pentathlon).
Overhead shot throw for height (can use a heavier iplement).
Forward underhand shot throw for distance and height.
Throwing a shot discus style (Men: 4K, HS boys: #6-#8, all women: #4-#6)
Throwing a weight plate with rounded rim: (Men: #10, HS boys: #7.5, all women: #5)
Throwing miscellaneous heavy objects: traffic cones, small sandbags and sacs of lead shot with and without handles, bars, e.g. the bar that acts as a weight from inside the base of a hurdle.
Throwiing light or heavy implements: Start out just using the competition weight implement for your age group. If you are a serious, year-round thrower, the fall is the ideal time to buy/add a heavier implement. Second best time is early in the preseason.
TECHNIQUE DRILLS:
Toeboard throw (spin and glide shot): standing throw, but with both toes touching the toeboard, shoulder width. Throw to the center of the sector for distance. This forces you to twist back and place the shoulders behind the hips. Emphasizes separation, using the hips and torso to propel the shot. You will not be able to throw as far as your standing throw.
Standing throw, with and without release (shot and discus): throwing from a stand to check proper mechanics and alignment. In a full throw, you want to momentarily pass through the starting position of the standing throw. However, the big difference is that in the full throw, you will have momentum whereas in the standing throw, you are starting from a standstill. This adds about 20 percent in the distance thrown.
Step and throw (or commonly called step and turn) (spin shot and discus): add the last step to the standing throw. Start with right foot in the center of the circle, and left foot in the back along extension of left sector line. Now wind up by bringing shoulders back behind hips. Pivot around center, lifting left foot and placing down at front of circle, while holding separation. When foot touches down, you should be in the standing throw start. Immediately execute standing throw with rotational momentum gained from the pivot. Work on a continuous transition from pivot to standing throw. Keep the pivot foot pivoting through the start of the standing throw.
South African (spin shot and discus): add the sprint to the step and throw. Start facing the direction of throw with ball of left foot in the circle on the left sector line, and the heel of the left foot outside the circle. The right foot is about 2-3 feet out of the circle. Now sprint down the left sector line, driving the right hip across the circle. Then do a step and throw. The South African is, or course, not a legal throw because you are starting with one foot out. It is the full throw minus the initial pivot in the back.
Partial/full pivots in the back (spin shot and discus): practice winding up, loading the left foot, and pivoting just 1/4 turn, then 1/2 turns, then 3/4 and full turns or more. Keep these pivots long and slow. That is, keep the right foot out and wide to control balance and speed.
Drills with a stick (shot and disc): hold a broomstick on your shoulders with arms draped over. The broomstick will represent your shoulder line. Practice the pivot drills, sningle and multiple step and turns, and other drills above withouth the shot and with the broomstick. This will help you visualize 1) keeping the shoulder line level with the ground at all times (not dipping a shoulder), and 2) separation: observing the rotational advancement of the hips relative to the shoulders in Phase 2, maintaining the separation in the final step in Phase 2, and then firing the hips first to the direction of the throw, then the shoulder line following and overtaking the hips in Phase 3.
Deep lunge to standing throw (glide shot): From the standing throw position, move the back foot back 1 foot and turn to point the toes to face the back of the circle. Go into a deep lunge with the right leg bent at 90 degrees and the left leg almost straight (don't touch left knee to floor as in a weight training lunge).
From there, push with the right leg to lift the body, then step the left foot to the power position, rotating the foot 90 degrees. This drill teaches the rhythm of turning the foot, stepping the foot under, and landing in the power position with the body having both lateral and rotational momentum.
Short glide (glide shot): the full glide is about 3 feet. Start with short glides of about 1 foot and gradually add more length to the glide as comfortable.
Figure 8 and pendulums (discus): Get into the power position by putting weight on 60-degree bent right leg, turn shoulder line to back of circle. Start with pendulum swings, which is holding the discus in the right hand with the rim vertical (discus is oriented as if you were going to do the bowling ball roll). The right arm swings back and forth from the back of the circle to the front, behind and close to the thrower's butt.
Transition to figure 8: At the high point of the pendulum swing behind the butt, push the discus out away from the body to the right side of the circle, using the deltoid muscles. The discus will swing out to the right. Now let the discus swing right to left, coming close to the right knee at the bottom of the swing.
When the discus comes up to the high point at the left of the circle, grab the underside of the disc with the left arm. With the discus in both arms, rotate the discus from the left to the back of the circle--where it would be at the high point of the pendulum swing at the back.
The full figure 8 cycle is thus: start at back, pendulum swing from back to foint behind butt, swing out from front to right, pendulum swing from right to left, move with both hands from left out to back, remove left hand and let discus drop into pendulum swing from front to back, etc.
Hammer/weight drills: throwing the hammer with winds only (no turns) throwing the hammer with one or two turns throwing the hammer with a toe turn plus one or two full turns. Do 5 to 8 hammer turns in control starting very slowly across a longer area of concrete (not confined to a throwing circle) Go into weight turns from a drag start (no winds). This forces you to start slower and work on smooth acceleration. This also improves your entry. Think about pushing the weight across on entry, to eliminate any jerk or dip at the front. Javelin drills: Throwing down at a target 10-20 meters ahead into the ground Javelin balls Throwing from a stand, one step, few steps.
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