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Post by pa247 on Feb 22, 2008 14:54:28 GMT 1
I have been throwing 800G javelin now since September just once a week, I am throwing between 45 and 50m, I cant get into the habbit of using my legs and body before the throw, is there any drills that I can do to get the technique stuck in my head.
I tend to push down on the javelin as I throw so it shakes and does not go very high.
Any advice would be good.
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Post by Caroline on Feb 22, 2008 21:27:15 GMT 1
I would suggest that you get yourself a coach who can watch what you are doing - it's hard to analyse and correct technique on websites like this one, unless you send videos!
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Post by slinger on Feb 22, 2008 22:02:01 GMT 1
hi there pa247,
it's very difficult to comment on the pulling down and the javelin shaking really, it could be a number of things which could stem from all sorts - i won't pass comment on either or for now, as it'd be just stabbing in the dark and it could be totally wrong, the last thing anyone needs especially new people to the event is lots of ideas flashing around your mind [most which which might even be useless] a video of your throwing would be good and useful to anyone wanting to help your throwing technique.
you are not alone with the desire to use your legs and body more in the throw, rather than just relying on arm talent.
let these thoughts pass by you if you will, in my youth i learned to throw sub maximally ie i learned not the use my arm forcefully, as a voluntary action and at first felt odd, but with time it is possible to let the throw be a reaction of what you are doing with your legs and body in the throw and the arm is only a by product what has gone before.
i learned to throw like this from at first only a few strides, with little pace in them, the thought process was "accelerate with each stride hard and fast into a real solid left sided block, this blocking action is basically where you are trying to decelerate the bodies centre of mass in as quick a possible time - basically putting the brakes on. The bodies reaction from this is to actually accelerate, so what happens is you get a stretch - shortening muscle contraction or "stretch reflex" contraction some might say and this is the goal of all javelin throwers, the next goal is to let this action happen over the greatest length of time, in the shortest possible time, but that's another quandary altogether, let's focus on the using the legs bit first ;D
the way you think about the event and the actual thoughts you have will determine alot imo, if you are on your approach consciously thinking "i'm going to throw this as hard as i can" then in my mind this would be a classic case for the arm type thrower. My thoughts are and have been for many years is to not even think i'm holding a javelin at all, almost like i'm not thinking i'm going to be throwing this thing in my hand at all, but more the thinking of running as quick as i can and letting the arm and body just happen, from the above explanations.
i hope i've managed to help a little bit and serve not to confuse further.
as i said a vid, would be fantastic.
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Post by mikejones5 on Mar 27, 2008 22:12:13 GMT 1
am throwing the 800g as well and a drill we do at training we call the backwards C what u do is get the javelin in your hand get in the position as if you were going to spike it into the ground but instead go up on to your tip toes keeping your shoulders level bend back words in to a backwards C bending your needs slightly bring the javelin back as if u were going to throw it but keep you arm straight as u can get it as well as keeping your shoulders square then from that throw your body forward still keeping everything square and release the javelin. once u have thrown it you should feel a stretch in your stomach so intern ur not just trowing with your arm your using your whole body and just your arm to carry it through
its a tricky thing to learn because you tend to loose your balance from time to time but its really help with training yourself to throw with your body not just your arm
i hope i have been of some help
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Post by pembrokian on Apr 21, 2008 17:50:02 GMT 1
pa, the thoughts of an (amateur) coach on the subject.
Your message title betrays a potential problem to me; you don't throw a javelin with your arm, you throw it with your whole body, indeed your arm is possibly the least important part of the process.
I don't know if you've started learning to drive yet but the body is a machine and can be compared, very closely, with a car.
The first gear is the slowest but most powerful and is used to get the car moving. Fifth is the fastest but least powerful and is used to reach top speed.
So it is with the javelin throwers body; the legs are first gear, the arm is fifth and inbetween you have the back, chest and shoulder.
Try starting a car in third, you might be able to do it, but it won't accelerate very much. So you must start your throw with the most powerful gear - your legs, and finish with the fastest, your arm.
It sounds very complicated, to get legs, back, chest, shoulder, arm in that order but, actually, it's relatively easy. It really only needs three things :
(i) some momentum from a run-up (ii) good position (iii) the arm to move last
I've come across two methods for keeping the arm back late; so that the rest of the body moves ahead and the powerful muscles get in first. The techie jargon for this is called "delaying the strike".
The first is based on your sense of timing or rhythm. You introduce a pause just before the final pull of your arm on the javelin of a fraction of a second; just enough to get the lean into your final throwing position. I do this by repeating the word "pause" in my head whilst running up (just before the men in white coats turn up to take me away !).
The second method I've used with other athletes I call the feel method. Here the trigger for the final strike of the spear is the left foot plant. They don't even begin to pull on the javelin until they've actually "felt" their left foot plant on the ground, by which time the right hip should be starting to move through.
Both methods achieve the same end purpose, the correct sequence :
legs - back- chest - shoulders - arm first - second - third - fourth - fifth.....gears in the car analogy.
Of course it also depends on that momentum from the run-up and a good body position- and they only come from practice; lots of it.
One last trick (courtesy of Roald Bradstock, not my idea at all) to help with your alignment problem. All the power in the world is useless unless it's delivered in the right direction. One way to do this is to imagine a small, dough-nut in the sky where you want the javelin to go; visualise it and then try to throw the point of the javelin through the middle of it.
I don't know the psychology behind this but it does work; the concept of trying to throw the javelin through a small hoop does help to throw straight and, most importantly, through the point. Practising this from standing, short run-up and then full run-up will help to improve your delivery. Not only will you get a better flight but it will also help to eliminate any "shake" which usually results from not applying the force along the axis of the javelin.
Hope this helps a little; I have used these ideas with some success on other athletes but, like all things, it takes perserverance.
Good Luck
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