The third stage. accelerations and exercises. All throws have an acceleration phase using the legs, so your archers need some acceleration sprints, albeit over very short distances. They can range from 10-20 meters for the shot and discus, to 20-40 meters for the javelin. Repetitions can be 4-10. Allow good recovery between these exercises.
After acceleration drills, many coaches have their throwers do a series of general drills. With these exercises, the coach is limited only by his imagination and the abundance of books on the subject. Here are some examples of common exercises: lateral walking or running crossovers (without crossing the legs), running backwards, quick leg turns on stairs and other ladder exercises, running cones for agility, forward jumps, lateral lunges, calf walks, jumping jacks, bounds, plyometrics, etc.
The number of repetitions for each of these exercises will vary depending on the length and difficulty of each exercise. Generally, you should expect your throwers to complete each exercise 5-10 times before moving on to the next.
USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at University of Oregon Hayward Field, June 23-26, 2022 Photo by Kevin Morris
Throwers should then progress to more specific throwing drills using basketballs, weighted balls, medicine balls, kettle bells, shot put or discus. Dozens of these drills are available in coaching manuals, from the one-armed throw to the two-handed throw and many others. You don’t have to do all of these exercises in every warm-up, in fact it would be impossible. So just choose a few different exercises for each warm-up to keep it varied, interesting and fun.
Use your more skilled athletes to demonstrate each exercise to the rest of the throwers before they attempt them. Drills should eventually progress to the specific skills of each throw, starting with the movements that make up part of the entire throwing action and then progressing to the entire throwing motion. The total drill phase of a pitcher’s warm-up should take 15-25 minutes, longer early in the season.
Former US javelin champion Duncan Atwood describes this warm-up phase as “Trying to reacquaint the thrower with the neuromuscular movements that make up the throwing action and what the event feels like.” Simple actions such as standing throws help the thrower make this transition, followed by throws with a short upward run or, in the case of the shot put and discus, shortening turns. “But,” warns Atwood, “a big mistake many high school athletes make at this stage is trying to throw too hard. Emphasize throwing far with as little effort as possible.”
A final note. Throwers should not do as many drills or repetitions before competition as they do before their track workouts. You’re trying to do enough exercise to facilitate their neuromuscular coordination without causing fatigue.
After competition, serious throwers often do a moderate weight lift, then take the next day off, throw fresh the next day, then lift or exercise.
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