ThrowFarther High School Season Training Program Introduction

ThrowFarther Introduction:  This 13 week high school training program was designed and written by throws coach Mike Turgeon for the benefit of all high school throwing coaches and athletes.  This program was developed using the principles of the ThrowFarther Training Framework and it is our hope that many high school throwers will benefit from the well rounded approach to throws training that is presented.  Along with the introduction there are detailed training plans for a 13 week high school season along with example videos.  The videos are hyperlinked throughout the program.  To view the index of all of the weekly programs click here.

This program is designed for a 13- week high school season. All facets of the throwing season are covered in the program from the amount of throws per day to the amount of reps for weight lifting. This program is one of many ways to set up a high school season. As coaches, you need to find what works for your style of coaching and training. The rationale for a 13-week long program is because in most states the high school season is 13 weeks long from the first day of allowable practices to the state track and field meets.

This 13-week program is designed for you to print and use as a guide for your athletes. The program is written for coaches to personalize.  Events like meets, practice times, what you are working on each day, and so on can be added to the corresponding weeks. Our hope is that the more detailed the program becomes, the farther your throwers will throw.

Many words in this text will be highlighted and hyperlinked to videos or other documents for your reference. Every exercise on this program has a video associated with it.

ThrowFarther Training Framework:

The act of throwing for a high school thrower is more important than weight training. With a typical high school season normally 13 weeks long, technique is the number one goal for athletes to learn. This program is designed to follow the ThrowFarther Throwing Events Training Framework.

Every throws coach has his or her own specific philosophy, and no philosophy is right or wrong. It just depends on what methods suit the throws coach and the type of throwers he or she works with. A specific throwing philosophy will change over time depending on the level of thrower, type of learner the thrower is, and the dedication level of the thrower.

A great example is a program that only focuses on doing drills. Drills are great, don’t get me wrong, but I have seen many instances where a thrower will work two weeks on the power throw, then work a week on the ½ throw, then the following week and the ¾ throw, then after four weeks the coach will introduce the full throw. As a result, a young thrower will start with a full throw and not hit the power throw, ½, or the ¾ correctly because they are out of place at the beginning of the throw. When teaching technique it is ok to develop the progression of throwing drills but don’t spend too much time on it because the thrower will look like they have never thrown an implement when you put it all together.

An easy way to teach a progression is to start with the full throw movement and work backwards. If the thrower is struggling with a certain part of the throw then break it down with a drill. Throwing is like anything else, the more you throw the better and more efficient you will become.

Videotaping a thrower and showing him or her the video is a great technique to use with a young thrower because he or she may not have the kinesthetic ability to know what his or her body is doing during specific parts of a throw. It is important to note that the use of videotape should be used with caution because as soon as one part of the throw changes, other parts will change along with it. Do not spend your time coming up with ten different things that are going wrong. Instead, pick one and try to fix that technique flaw, and then move on to the next one.

· THROWFARTHER Running Circuit

o Develops body coordination, conditioning, and body awareness. The running circuit is continuous. There is only one long break after the 30 sec sprint. Take about a 5 second break between each exercise to set up for the next one.

· THROWFARTHER Boot Camp

o Targets the overall athleticism in a thrower.

o Incorporates ten different activities that are performed continuously.

o Used to develop throwing conditioning, self-confidence and determination in finishing the circuit.

· THROWFARTHER Lifting Circuit

o The lifting circuit is made up of six excises. Power clean, back squat, push press, front squat, push-ups, and crunches.

o These exercises are done as fast as possible with no break in between each exercise. Depending on his or her conditioning level, a thrower will finish each circuit between 90 seconds to 3 minutes. After the thrower has completed the circuit a heart rate is taken. This heart rate is recorded to show that progress being made. As the thrower progresses through the two weeks, the time it takes him or her to complete the lifting circuit will decrease and his or her heart rate will also decrease.  Recording the athlete's heart rate is a great example of using techniques to monitor and evaluate the progress of the athlete as highligthed in the ThrowFarther Training Framework.

o The weight used depends on the throwing group and the differences between genders (if applicable). The weights listed for weeks 1 & 2 are just example weights. The weight needs to be very easy for the thrower to perform. The goal of the circuit is for the athlete to make it through in the shortest amount of time using correct technique with full range of motion. If you have throwers who want to use heavier weight, just have them go through day one and they will realize how much work the circuit actually is.

· Plyometrics – Ideal surfaces to perform Plyometrics include grass or the final landing into the long jump pit. Softer surfaces will decrease the pressure on the joints between contacts and the final landing. Plyometrics are performed on Wednesdays during the season. As the season progresses distances should improve.

o SLJ = Standing Long Jump

o 2 hops = 2 contacts with the ground

o 3 hops = 3 contacts with the ground

o 5 hops = 5 contacts with the ground

· Sprinting

o Total distance for sprints range from 280 to 360 meters each Wednesday. Sprints are broken up into many types of different sets depending on the peaking cycle we are in. Some examples are:

§ 7 x 40 meters (for a total of 280 meters)

§ 6 x 50 meters (for a total of 300 meters)

§ 5 x 60 meters (for a total of 300 meters)

§ 4 x 80 meters (for a total of 320 meters)

§ 3 x 100 meters (for a total of 300 meters)

§ 3 x 120 meters (for a total of 360 meters)

§ Sprints are never run at 100%. Rather, they should be used to stretch out the body. Sprints are performed on Wednesdays during the season.

· Puds/Medicine Balls

o Puds develop the specific functional strength needed to become a successful thrower. Puds have the ability to target the weak muscles in a throw and make them stronger. A thrower is only as strong as his or her weakest muscles. Please review the pud article and videos on THROWFARTHER for a more detailed step-by-step approach to puds. Puds/medicine balls are thrown during the first two weeks of the season and also thrown on Wednesday’s during the throwing season. View Article 1.  View Article 2

· Overhead Throws

o Overhead throws develop speed and body coordination to accelerate the shot-put overhead. Perform overhead throws by standing on the toe board. Overhead throws teach a thrower how to use his or her entire body to throw far and to maximize their power in a throwing movement.  Overhead throws are performed on Wednesday’s during the season.

Strength and Power Training:

· Strength and power training is needed to develop a basic amount of strength, but the primary reason is for developing speed. The faster a thrower is, the farther the distance he or she will throw. The goal of strength training is to develop a thrower who is really fast and decrease his or her chance for injury. This is why you will not see max outs or lifts at 100%. The track season is not the time to focus on a big bench because the chance for an injury is too high.

· During the 13 weeks of strength training the amount of lifting will change. During weeks 1 & 2 throwers will lift 3 days a week. Starting with week 3 strength training will be 1 or 2 days a week. When the weekly volume (number of reps) is high for strength training, 60% of the volume will be during session #1 and 40% of the volume will be during session #2. If the volume is low there will be only one weight lifting session during the week.

· Overview of the 4 lifting cycles. Click on the following lift for videos of the exercises.

o Conditioning Lifting Circuit – Power Clean, Back Squat, Push Press, Front Squat, Push Ups, Crunches – Week #1-2

§ Focus on conditioning

o Lifting #1 – Hang Clean Pull, Back Squat, Push Press, Standing Barbell Twist, and Abdominals of Choice – Week # 3-6

§ Focus on general body strength

o Lifting #2 – Closed Grip Snatch, Jump Squat, Light Bench Press, Supine Pull-Ups, and Abdominal of Choice – Week # 7-10

§ Focus on developing speed and quickness

o Lifting #3 – Closed Grip Snatch, Abdominals of choice – Week # 11-12

§ Focus on rest and recovery and becoming event faster and quicker

o Week #13 there is no scheduled weight training for this week. Rest and recovery are the most important part when preparing for the state track and field meet

· Abdominals of Choice – Each throwing squad should develop an abdominal circuit that they can do when they have completed their lifting. This will be specific to each squad and can change every year depending on the makeup of your throwers. Allowing the throwers to design their own abdominal workout gives them input on their own lifting program. Keep abdominals to 50 reps or less. Stability ball exercises are great for abdominal work and throwers tend to enjoy these because of the fun movements you can do with them.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

· An easy way to monitor a thrower’s progress is to track his or her progression by requiring journals. This way, as a coach, you can review the journal and see if the thrower is making improvements on throws, overheads, jumps, and lifts. As a thrower, a journal can help you review your throwing throughout the season. A journal can help coaches and athletes correlate when performances went really well and what part of the throw was being focused upon at that time.

· Another monitoring method is for the coach to keep track of each throw in a meet. This allows the coach to see where an athlete throws his or her farthest. For example, if a thrower is consistently having his farthest throw on throw 5, the situation needs to be fixed because at a regional or state competition he may not make finals because his farthest throws do not happen during the first three attempts.

Mental Imagery and Preparedness:

· The best technical and physical thrower at a major meet may not be the event winner. If a thrower does not have the ability to manage anxiety levels and throw far under pressure his or her performance will definitely suffer. Many times, the thrower who can handle the pressure the best will be the thrower who wins a major regional or state competition. Mental imagery is one of the best ways to develop a thrower who can handle these situations. Stay tuned for articles on to develop the mental imagery side of throwing on THROWFARTHER.

· Routines are a great way for throwers to decrease their anxiety levels. Throwers know going into a meet that they will do their throwing warm-up, take a certain amount of throws and understand the type of throw, etc. This routine should be practiced by the time the season is in full swing so your throwers approach each meet the same way.

Overview of the 13-Week Field & Track Season