No 7: The End of Throwing Season 2023 – Did I achieve what I wanted to?
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TLDR
This post details my journey over the last year from relatively slim, out of shape and out of practice thrower, to a relatively competitive athlete in 15 months. I put on 20% body weight, 100% strength gains and 25% increase in discus performance in the last year. Read to the bottom for my plans for next year and my lessons learned.
Backstory
In May 2022 I finally returned to the gym.
Since, graduating in 2015 my physique had taken quite a hit. Working as a junior doctor does not make it easy to train. Then in 2017 I had to get cardio fit. In 2019, I was just about to get back into lifting big time when I managed to tear my left pec tendon and had to have that surgically repaired. Six months of very basic rehab then followed.
In 2020, I was once again about to return to the gym with big plans, when a little virus called COVID-19 swept around the world and closed all the gyms. So, I then spent 2 years doing cardio and home workouts which didn’t really cut it.
In May 22, I was finally ready. My pec wasn’t hurting and I could move my left arm through a pretty full range of motion. My job was under control and I had some time and motivation to get back into shape.
I knew that throwing in 2022 would be a write-off due to lack of training but I had a go anyway and then decided to set myself some goals to motivate me for the next year.
My 2022-2023 Training Goals:
To be the strongest I have ever been.
To throw a shot putt and discus further than I ever have before in competition
To break the Halesowen, AMS and Army records. The Army shot record is 17.04m and the discus is 56m.
Why am I writing this?
Firstly, because I want to reflect on my performance this year and try and draw out some lessons for myself.
Secondly, because without making an effort to record your progress, it is really easy to lose this information and forget about it.
Thirdly, I am hoping this might be interesting, useful, educational for other athletes who might be following a similar path. I hope that you can learn from my mistakes.
I will start with the results and then explain how I got here.
The 2023 Results
Shot Putt
UK ranking 23rd in 2023 with 15.05m
UK ranking 30th in 2022 with 14.36m
However, I did throw 15.52m in Tampere, Finland
My previous best shot putt of all time was 15.94m with a 6kg in 2009.
Power of Ten Target = 16.60m
Discus
Power of Ten Target = 56m
UK ranking 14th in 2023 with 52.67m
UK ranking 56th in 2022 with 42.24m.
Previous all time best with a 1.75kg discus was 50.3m in 2009.
My results in contests this year were:
2nd in Men’s Shot at Welsh Indoors
5th in Men’s Shot at Welsh Outdoors
3rd in Men’s Discus at Welsh Outdoors
Midlands Counties Champion in Shot and Discus
2nd and 3rd in the UK Armed Forces in Shot and Discus
European Masters Games <35 years old Champion in Shot and Discus
New records in Shot and Discus for Halesowen and the AMS.
Did I achieve my goals?
I am as strong as I have ever been, matching or beating all of my lifting records from my previous peaks in 2009, 2012 and 2019.
I threw the discus further than I ever have before and had multiple throws >50m.
My shot fell short and I did not get near the records I was aiming for (17.04 and 56m).
Therefore, I have decided to keep these goals for next season in 2024!
(I did actually throw the hammer further than I ever have before with 39.76m but I am not shouting about that rather poor performance)
What was the journey?
From May 2022 to Aug 2023
Body weight: 102kg in May 22 to 108kg in Feb 2023 to 118kg in Aug 2023 (+16kg)
Bench: 60kg in May 22 to 160kg in Aug 23 (+100kg)
Front Squat: 80kg in May 23 to 190kg in Aug 23 (+110kg)
Deadlift: 100kg in May 23 to 270kg in Aug 23 (+170kg)
Shot: 14.36m in July 22 to 15.05m in July 23 (+0.71m) or 15.52m in July 23 (+1.16m, +8%)
Discus: 42.24m in July 22 to 52.67m in July 23 (+10.43m, +25%)
My previous all time records were set in 2012 with bench 150kg, back squat 200kg and deadlift 260kg.
In 2023, I also managed to hex-deadlift 300kg for the first time.
Throwers Maxims:
Mass moves mass
The 10% rule
Faster, bigger, stronger
Momentum = Force x Mass
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast
You can’t throw off balance
Diet
In May 2022, I was trying to stay slim and trim. Most days I’d only eat 1 or 2 meals and these were low-carb/keto. I used a mix of 16/8 intermittent fasting, with 24-36h fasts on a fairly regularly basis.
Between May 22 and Feb 23 I managed to put on 6kg of relatively useful mass. I am not going to lie and say it was pure muscle (it was not) but I wasn’t too “fluffy”.
Then in Feb 23 a load of throwers said I was being an idiot and too vain and that if I wanted quick improvements in throwing distance, I had to sacrifice being “slim” and go for MASS. Mass moves mass.
I then switched to trying to eat 2g/kg of protein a day, which meant over 200g/day. I started having at least 3 meals a day which were high in fat, protein and carb, plus 2 protein shakes a day at least. I also started taking 3g of creatine a day.
This lead to 10kg of “fluffy MASS” gain in 6 months. My waist ballooned up to 107cm, but I did also throw further.
I am now trying to cut back to 105kg, with the aim of getting back to 110kg but leaner than last year.
Training
In May 2022, I returned to the gym and was starting at a pretty low baseline. So I started with 3x 1 hour full body sessions a week plus intermittent throwing sessions.
By Aug 22 I was comfortably doing 4x 1h gym workouts a week and 1-2h of throwing a week.
Between Aug 22 and 23, I managed to keep up a fairly similar pattern of 4-5 gym sessions a week and 1 or 2 throwing sessions, averaging between 6-10h a week. I tried to make one of these gym sessions a “plyometrics” session, which basically just meant box jumps.
I had decided to try and keep my training strength/power and throws specific. I only had limited time to workout around my actual job and social life. So, I focussed the workouts around pyramids of 5 to 1, with multiple heavy sets after a warm up and about 3 minutes break between sets.
My usual splits were something like this:
Hang snatch, push press, front squat, DB lat raise
Bench, deadlift, BB row or DB row
Jumps, push press, front squat,
These same exercises, heavy, day after day for a year. I had DOMS almost everyday. I would often have a sore back, shoulder or pec and I think I narrowly avoided some nasty injuries.
I knew that I was pushing my body to the limit on an almost daily basis, taking a high risk strategy looking for fast strength and muscle gains.
In hindsight, I would not advise this approach as I was lucy to not get injured and I think I was probably over-training, especially squatting or deadlifting multiple times a week near the 1RM.
I also did not apply any periodisation to the training, and I didn’t reduce it during the competition season either.
My throws training was essentially a session of shot and one of discus a week. A brief warm up followed by standing throws, half turns and full turns. Probably 30-60 throws a session. Most of these sessions were done on my own, without a coach and only using video for feedback.
Again, this is not the most efficient way to train but it was a way of getting back into the groove of throwing. Video analysis of 1/3 throws is better than no feedback at all, but is clearly not as good as having an experience coach on a regular basis.
Books that influence my training in 2022-23:
The Sports Gene: Talent, Practice and the Truth About Success by David Epstein
Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Tim Ferris
Books that have dramatically changed my approach at the start of the 2023-24 season:
Lessons Learn in 2022-23:
Putting on mass is a quick solution, if you want to throw further, but you have to be prepared to sacrifice “looking like an athlete”.
From a low baseline, you can add 100% to your strength in 12 months with 4h/week of gym time.
An athlete is not made in the weight room.
The law of specificity states that if you want to be good at a specific action then you need to practice that exact action over and over again to try the nerves and muscles to do it better. Doing something “similar” in the gym actually won’t cross over. You are better off doing “general” strength and power exercises like squat and deadlift rather some funky variation designed to mimic a throw.
A point that I think I have learnt this year is that straight bar deadline does not necessarily cross over to throwing. I am starting to think that squatting is better or at least a hex deadlift.
A thrower is not a power lifter or Olympic lifter. I tried following a power lifting regime for a few months this year and its volume was too high and it didn’t focus enough on the lifts I think are more useful for throwers.
The triple extension of the snatch and clean is the most useful bit of a thrower, therefore, doing a hang snatch is probably the most useful part of the movement. No need to learn anything else.
There is no secret, golden formula that will work for everyone. Unfortunately, you do need to use trial and error to see what works best for you. I think my approach this year was “successful” but I think I could have done better with a different approach.
The more optimal approach that I intend to use this season is to cut until I am lean, and then slowly put on muscle mass, aiming for 0.5-1kg per month of “lean mass”.
You do need more mass to get stronger. Bigger muscles have more potential.
Its important to try and periodise your training into a recovery phase, bulking phase, strength phase and then power/competition phase.
The 10% rule is essential. If you want to avoid injuries then do not increase your workload / intensity/ 1RM by more than 10% per month.
This year I became bigger and stronger, but I may have lost speed. Focussing too much on strength can slow you down.
1 or 2h a week of throwing is probably not enough if you want to compete at the highest levels. Some of the athletes I was chatting to at events were training 3h a day, every day, including weights and drills every day.
I think that I have proven that a reasonable athlete with an efficient hour a day can perform at a reasonable high level. I got invited to both the indoor and outdoor British National Champs, I probably wouldn’t have made the final 8 but its nice to feel like a “national level” athlete on an hour a day.
I am currently experimenting with regimes from the 4-hour body (4HB) book. In the last 6 weeks I have reduced my gym time from 5h a week to a max of 3x 30 mins (1.5h). And so far, I am packing on quad bulk, pec bulk and these 2 lifts are still increasing in strength.
Last season, my driving goal was to push my 1RM as high and as fast as I could. I was pushing the “ceiling” of my performance. One of the coaches interviewed in 4HB advises flipping your thinking and “raising your floor”. In athletics you want to achieve your best ever performance, but on a weekly basis you basically want a “better average”. So by doing sets of 3 in the gym on a regular basis you will ensure that your baseline is higher and your 1RM will go up with it and you don’t need to worry about it, or risk an injury testing it.
Trust the process.
From the Art of Learning, I have tried to adapt his approach to Tai Chi to throwing. Some people will see this as plain obvious but for the last year I have been trying to throw FASTER. So, whenever I was at the circle I was trying to throwing as best and fast as I could. Josh’s approach is to slow everything down as much as you can because only when you are going slowly can you really understand your body’s position and whether you are balanced and in the right place. Going slower is also harder on your muscles and once you can do the movement incredibly slowly you can then be confident that you will do it faster with balance. To go faster you need to go slower.
Another point he makes about Tai Chi fighting is that they learn the movement in a big way and then try to practice making the same action in a smaller and smaller movement, until for example, then can do a 6-inch punch that floors a heavy weight. This approach may work in throwing, learning how to maximise each part of the power position and throw, until you can thrower harder from a less wrapped position, and then expand it back out to get even more gains.
To aid these lessons I have started practicing on my patio for 10 mins a day, just going through the drills very, very slowly and holding each position at the full range for as long as I can stay balanced.
Lastly, my goal for this winter season is to become more of an “all round” athlete. Next year I want to “look like an athlete” and perform like one. Not just be a big strong blob. So, I am incorporating French Complex power training into a lot of my gym sessions, planning sprints and jumping sessions and working on lean bulking.
Fingers crossed that a consistent winter training without injury and next year I will hit at least one of those records!
Thanks for reading. If you have found this useful then please like and share. If you want to ask any questions then please do get in touch and if you have any tips or book recommendations then please do comment below.
Happy throwing!