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Basic Technique Tips

This article describes some basic technique tips for the highland games heavy athletic events.

The Pick: Get in a comfortable position with the shoulder on the caber, knees bent at 45 degrees, arms bent at 90 degrees, the fingers interlocked, and the pinkies slightly open a few inches above the end of the caber.

Just before picking, lower your butt by bending the knees further to 90 degrees, slide the shoulder down a few inches, extend the elbows to 45 degrees, and scoot the pinkies to the rounded end of the caber. Maintain finger lock.

Immediately lift the caber to the level of your belt/navel. Use the vertical momentum of the caber to then scoot the still interlocked fingers under the end of the caber, but jeep the pointing fingers on the front face of the cabber.

Control: The first (pointing) finger should still be on the front side of the caber. The pinkies should be on the bottom center of the caber. The elbows should be in at the side, bent 45-60 degrees. left-right control is felt by the side of the head. the right shoulder is slightly in front, and the caber is "pinched" between the right anterior deltoid (shoulder) and the right side of the head (back of right jawbone).

Forward tilt of the caber can be initiated by pushing with the collar bone and pulling in with the hands. If the caber is leaning back excessively, this may be corrected by walking backwards. IT should be natural. Just lean in and put pressure on the caber with the collar bone to accelerate.

The turn: Give the caber a little pressure with the right collar to initiate a firward tilt. The caber comes off the right collar, and the feet are planted with the caber directly in front of the head. When planting the feet, forward momentum must be maintained. At the start of the pull, the feet are in front of the knees, which are in front of the caber end, which is below the crotch. Study the UHA videos using the frame-advance feature of the original Windows Media Player found on every computer with any version of Windows. Search for "mplayer.exe" or "mplay32.exe" and make a shortcut to it. Then film yourself and compare. If your legs are not in front of the caber, then chances are you have arrested your forward momentum in your last few steps. You need to work on maintaining your momentum and planting and transferring that energy to the caber. This is similar to the plant before a javelin throw. The elbows are against the sides, and the bottom of the forearms are against the crease of the upper thighs and lower torso. The elbows remain bent at 45 degrees.

In the pull, hips and knees come over the feet to form a vertical line. Feet go onto the toes. This primarily delivers vertical velocity to the caber's center of gravity, but also adds a little more (but not all) rotational velocity.

The arms leave the side and follow through after the leg and hip drive. The interlocked hands follow through over the head, which imparts the final rotation.

Orbit low point on first wind is off to the right, progresses to front center on release.

Without spikes, elbows need to break slightly around the back. Key is to restraighten the elbows as soon as possible before release.

W/o spikes, the first winds are slower. The last wind is just fast enough not to lift trhe athlete off the feet. On the last wind, you need to prepare for catching the hammer for the release as far back as possible. If speed is high at this point, you should not push the hammer beyond the left foot.

With spikes, elbows are kept straight all the way in back on final two winds. Athlete actually pulls against spikes anchored in ground with hamstrings. When hammer passed around the back, knees are bent forward over the feet. Athlete leans back over more.

All power is generated with hips and torso. Relax arms by visualizing them as merely ropes attached from the shoulders to the hammer handle. Relaxing arms maximizes hammer head radius.

Hand spacing the same as snatch.

Good flexibility on the backswing: if one gets the left arm horizontal (perallel to the ground), the line of the shoulders vertical (left below right), and right arm vertical. Start with legs bent 45 degrees, and have legs almost straght and on toes at the top of the back swing.

Drive left (fork) down to opposite (right) knee before beginning pull. Bend knees to 45 degrees and bring heels down. In the swing, shoulders must be over the fork like the start of a snatch from the ground. In the downswing, there is no force on the ground, and the athlete is bending or maintaining bent legs.

In the pull, knees are straightened, feet go on toes, hips drive forward, and butt is squeezed.

At release, right hand is at middle chest, left arm is straight and horizontal, parallel to ground, at shoulder length. In some techniques, right hand finishes lower, at or below crotch, with elbow less bent.

Fork tines are pointed straight vertical for smooth sheaf release (not back).

One can achieve great heights with the standing sheaf toss. Advanced techniques involve a spin (introduced by Art McDermott), or a shuffle (introduced by myself). The goal of both techniques are to allow a greater acceleration path of the sheaf. In the spin, one spins like the stone or the weight throw for distance, and then land in the standing position with the fork further back than can be achieved with just a standing backswing. In addition, the body and fork have initial momentum and more initial torque. All of this creates the potential to throw increased distances.

The downside of the spin sheaf is that it is more difficult to aim, and there are more misses. Also, it can be difficult to learn, especially if you do not have a good technique foundation in the stone and weights for distance (or if you did not throw spin shot or discus). See video clips of Art McDermott at uhatv.com to see the technique (go to "classics")

The side shuffle technique involves taking a right-to-left parallel side step in order to increase the acceleration path of the sheaf and to get the fork back further. The athlete starts parallel facing away from the direction of throw, except about 3 feet right from where they normally stand for a standing sheaf throw. The sheaf is swung back and the athlete raises on the toes and straightens the legs. Then the athlete jumps up and hops to the left. The feet land about 3 feet left of the initial stance. As soon as the feet land, the downswing starts. The legs bend on the down swing, and the feet straighten on the pull.

Basic Foot Pattern: Practice stepping throught the footwork without the weight. Start facing the direction of the throw with feet placed shoulder width apart, with heels along the back line, with left foot inside the sideline, and right foot outside the rectangle. Feet should be pointed out (at 90 dergees from each other) to allow for better ability to maintain a counter position against the weight for a longer time (see advanced, below). Balls of the foot allow for more power, but flat-heeled allows for more control when needed (esp. heavy weight).

(beginner) The first step is with the right foot, 180 degrees counterclockwise, swinging forward and to the left, landing with the toe near the back line. In the meantime, you have pivoted on your left foot, and now you should have both feet in the throwing rectangle, with your back to the trig, feet shoulder width apart.

The second step is a short, quick, 90-degree step with the left foot, counterclockwise, toward the trig. This completes the first turn. Now you should be standing perpendicular to the trig, facing right, with both feet shoulder width apart, inside the throwing rectangle.

Now begins the second turn. The two steps in the second turn are both 180 degrees, and are in a straight line toward the trig. The first step is with the right foot forward, counterclockwise, toward the trig. Pivoting around the left foot 180 degrees, you should end up facing the left.

The next step is with the left foot toward your back, counterclockwise, toward the trig. This is the last step before release of the weight. You should land with feet perpendicular to the trig, facing the right.

Body Positioning and Actions (intermediate): The weight throw can be separated into three standing "pushes" and three two-stride running turns. After the pendulum swings, we will call the first push is the cast, the second push the sprint, and the third push is the delivery.

Each push involves the following characteristics:
The weight is cranked in a double-support (standing) position, both feet on the ground.
The shoulder line (the imaginary line through the body connecting both shoulder joints) is rotated from behind the hip line (the imaginary line throught the body connecting both hip joints) to in front of the hip line using core muscles.
The weight orbit passes through the low point and is guided upwards along the orbit.
Power is generated by pushing against the ground with legs and hips.

Inbetween the three pushes are the two turns. Each turn has two steps as described above in basic foot pattern. In a full-speed throw, each turn is run--meaning the left foot lifts off the ground (to begin the second step) before the right foot lands (to end the first step). During the turns, the athlete focuses on leading with the right hip so that the hip line cathes up and goes ahead of the shoulder line to create a torqued core in preparation for the next push. The weight passes through the high point, and starts to travel down. The feet land with legs bent in preparation of generating power in the upcoming push. The body is low.

Orbit of the weight: Keep in mind that your job is to guide the weight into its optimal path. Once you start it in its orbit, it is an inefficient struggle to try to significantly alter that orbit.

The weight should be started with pendulum swings across the front and back of the athlete. Hold the weight in your right hand and swing it across the front plane of your body, then out to your side to where your arm is almost straight out, then across the back of your body.

From this point, you are going to move the weight into its orbit. The optimal orbit pattern is to have the weight travel in a plane that is tilted 40 degrees from horizontal, with the high point at the direction of throw, and the low point at the back of the circle. Starting with the weight at the high point of the back pendulum swing, you are going to bring the weight around and up toward the trig. This is where you establish the orbit: early, in the transition from the pendulum swings to the first turn, before the weight has to much angular velocity.

After the weight has built up speed, it's too late to significantly modify either the high point/ low point of the orbit, or the angle of the orbit wiith the ground. You need to be using all of your energy to accelerate the weight, not alter its orbit.

So as you swing the weight from the back pendulum position, up and to the trig, you take your first turn. The first turn is quick, and you try to get back ahead of the swinging weight so that when you land at the end of the first turn, you have your arm holding the weight behind your back. Then you are in a good position to crank the weight around and add velocity between the first and second turns.

The key to gently guide the weight into its orbit rather than fight it: bend your legs and counter the position of the weight. As you swing the weight right from the pendulum swing, gently sit left against it.

Between the first and second turns, you really want to be standing firm and cranking the weight. You will feel heavy as the weight passes its low point. Guide the weight across your body. Then step around to your second turn and get back into that position you were at the start of the first turn: your arm back and standing firm. In this position, you crank the weight around, and release. After the release, your arm follows through across the trig.

Pointers: Don't worry about altering the high point, low point, and orbit after the transition from pendulum to first turn. If the orbit was established properly in the transition, the weight should naturally travel in the proper orbit. You should practice the transition, and follow through with an easy step-through the turns to feel if you were able to establish the proper orbit in the transition.

The orbit in the heavy weight can be slightly flatter in the cast and get slightly steeper on each successive push. If the orbit is too steep early, it is more difficult to have a smooth, circular accelertion. The weight will feel heavier in the double-support positions. On the other hand, if the orbit is too flat, the athlete can lose orientation and step out of the box or drive in the wrong direction. The orbit inclination provides direction.

Advanced body position: To maximize the diagonal, the first step is very short. Some athletes place the right foot in the back right corner of the box where the left foot started, after lifting the left foot (see Sandford video clips at uhatv.com).

In the pushes, the toes are pointed out, and the bodyweight is shifted from the right foot to the left foot. This improves balance and the ability to counter effectively. It is a more powerful position to be sitting against the weight with legs and hip joints at between 60- and 90-degree angles and the torso vertical. Less desirable is to lean away from the weight with the torso and legs in a straight line. The athlete is more able to get into this counter position if the toes are pointed toward the weight. As the weight passes over the right toes, weight is shifted to the left foot, which will be in a good position to counter and apply force as the weight continues.

The advancement of the line of the hips from the line of the shoulders (and vice versa) is called separation. Separation should be less in the heavy weight and more in the light weight.