My usual weight training also includes:- Jump squats, Hypo extensions, Bouncing Split Squats and Sit-ups. I hope to add 20 kg on each lift. I will be lifting my own weight in cleans and above my weight in bench and squats and a little under my weight in snatches. This will also help me in my shot-put. I have been told by my coach that I need to improve on my explosive power at the end of the shot-put. I will need to improve in my bench press, snatch and cleans to do this as its mainly focussed on the biceps, triceps and pectorals.
In my second athletic event the discus. I need to “get down” more in my rotation. This will make the discus feel lighter and make it easier for my arms. If I stay upright then there is more work for my arms and I can’t get the height I need so easily at the end of the throw. If I increase my squats which focus on the quadriceps, gastrocnemius and hamstrings they will get stronger and be able to support more weight and “get down” more in the throw. I throw a 5kg shot-put and my personal best this season was 9. 87 at Braintree on the 22nd of June.
My discus is 27. 36 which was thrown at Braintree on the 1st of August. These two throws may have been my best because of physiological reasons. At other clubs there is a psychological barrier which prevents you from throwing to your best. You have to be extremely focused to overcome this barrier and very experienced. This barrier is created after you have trained at your own club for about 3 weeks. You get used to the wind direction, surface and surroundings. Once you go off to other clubs for example Colchester. I threw an awful 8:30 in the shot-put and 23:43 in the discus.
The cage for the discus is a lot bigger than the one at Braintree, it’s placed on another side of the track, the wind blows South not East like in Braintree and the circle has more grip. The shot-put circle is also facing a different direction. The wind doesn’t effect the shot-put. You are positioned along way from the discus cage and closer to the track. If you throw badly you can’t blame the club or anybody else. This isn’t saying it’s the clubs fault at all. The only persons fault is your own if you throw bad.
You have to take a while to overcome these barriers. I have been throwing for three years and still haven’t overcome them. Sometimes you perform badly because you have missed training because of an injury or holiday. When you get back to training your body may have had reversibility and will take a few weeks to get back to where you were. Some times reversibility doesn’t occur because your body has been able to cope with your absence of training. It can also improve the way you perform if you have a little break from training.
Your body gets well rested and has all the energy it needs to perform better. The other type of fitness I am hoping to improve on is my speed. I sometimes do 200metre sprint to gain points for my club at competitions and my best time has been 26:58. I hope to improve this by attending speed training on Mondays at Braintree leisure centre. (After warming up you sprint as fast as you can against people older and sometimes younger than you. I usually go against Mike aged 30, Holly aged 17, Dave 26 and John 20. The fastest of them all is either John or Dave.
This could be because John is quite young and has a lot of energy. Also he has started training from when he was 16 and his body has grown into a body used to this type of training. Dave is older and not as muscular. He is very light and can run quicker because of his lack of weight. I aim to beat Holly and Mike by the end of this six weeks. Running against faster people will make my body want to push harder to beat them and over a period of time make me quicker. I also hope to make my time of 200meter sprint down to 24 seconds.