Bowmanthrows

I spent years trying to figure out how to throw farther, but I never felt like I actually knew what I was doing. 

I was always guessing what to do and tweaking my training with something new I found on the internet.

I ended up struggling through years of training wasting my time on:

• focusing on the wrong technical points
• throwing too much
• doing the wrong lifting
• not resting enough
• not preparing for meets right

I really didn’t know what I was doing.

It was like attempting to build a house without the right plans. 

That’s when I’d start looking for something new to add to my training which typically involved trying to reverse engineer videos of professional throwers to help fix my technique. 

Usually, I would end up watching videos of Gerd Kanter, one of my favorite discus throwers of all time. He was a monster in the ring and he threw the discus over 240'!

I’d try to break down his throw frame by frame and try to copy his positions.

I figured discus technique was just hitting the right positions and never considered that there could be a difference between what I was seeing in Gerd’s technique and what he was actually thinking about. 

I found this out when I trained with Gerd Kanter’s coach, Vesteinn Hafsteinson.

I remember during one of our training sessions I asked Coach V about how Kanter didn’t turn his left foot all the way out of the back (I figured he did that on purpose so I was trying to copy it) and Coach V said that was something he wasn’t doing right. 

I just figured Gerd had perfect technique but what Coach V taught me was that there is more to just hitting perfect positions while throwing.

Throwing is just as much about what you are thinking about and what you are feeling during the throw. 

I learned from Coach V that there is much more going on behind the scenes than just what you can see from a video.

In addition to watching videos of the pros, I watched every instructional throwing video I could find.

And to be honest, this was more frustrating than trying to reverse engineer throwing videos. 

I had a really hard time taking what I learned in the video and putting it into my throwing.

I understood what to do but it was like there was a disconnect between my ability to understand it and my ability to actually do it.

In my continued pursuit to throw farther, I also went to throwing camps.

This was another step in the right direction, but once the camp was over it wasn’t long until I forgot what I learned or forgot what it felt like.

Although I was told watching professional thrower videos, watching instructional videos, and attending throws camps would transform my throwing, they never actually gave me the support I needed for long-term growth as a thrower.

I wanted more and I knew it was possible, I just didn't know where to get it. Can you relate?