Bent leg blocking advice

[Administrator]

This post could have gone under a number of topics I think, injuries, training, technique.

Basically I am having the same old problem of throwing with a very weak left knee (I'm right handed) and despite working on specific strength in the muscles, I still have the stability of a piece of wet tissue paper in trying to achieve a straight blocking leg.

I have a history of knee problems with ops to try and fix it but the problem is the bone so I am unsure why I cannot keep it straight.

I've seen drills before which include practicing the last 2 strides into a sand pit and stepping the left leg up onto a 6 inchstep. Does anyone have any effective drills that they have used themseves to improve in this area?

At the moment I think this is one of my key downfalls as I feel that there are other problems which derive from this weakness - i.e. Collapsing left side. I am sure I have enought time to try and get this sorted out before the season so would appreciate any help that anyone can give me from their experience.

Please!

[400mguy]

I might have an exercise which could help you in this area although I am not quite sure this is what you are looking for.
You should stand sideways (upper- and lowerbody) with respect to the throwing direction. In your case have your left leg forwards. Have your toes also point sideways and take a nice and easy stance, with your feet about 1m apart and legs straight in a triangel form. Have an equal pressure on both legs. Now hold your jav or ball in your right hand as if you where to throw. Then bent your right knee but keep the pressure on both legs. As you turn your right leg inwards and move your right hip next to your left hip, keep your arm back and pressure on both feet. When performed correct you should stand with your back arched and your left leg straight in the correct throwing position, you might even feel a lot of pressure on your right leg since this can be a though exercise. You can do this 12 times. Remember keep the pressure on your left heel.

I hope this helps!!

[slinger]

good Q, james......

....the left side blocking action is one of the most important aspects of javelin throwing, this i'm sure we all agree with and therefore it's essential that we must be able to perform this skill effectively to throw well.

.......this skill was probably one of my best technical attributes - having the ability of being able to run in on a very fast approach with my right side driving against a solid left thus causing all my gained momentum driving up into the spear......

...i worked on this doing the fixed feet drills outlined in earlier posts and made sure i had very wide and exagerated base width.....just try bending your left knee when your base is almost at splits!!! - you can't! but you can certainly flex your knee if your base is little more than shoulder width. Try when doing your X overs to make your foot contacts aggresive and then really put your left down - don't fall on to it. Other drills that might help are medi ball drills such as ones brian has illustrated...check out post titled "solid man, solid" Something which help my nephew mike was to think about staying tall and not letting your upper body rotate too far forward, another drill we did was to kneel with your right knee on the ground and stretch your left out in front and throw some balls or even javs "javelin" style this gets your body and your mind used to throwing with a very braced left leg, you can even kneel on a 2.5kg med ball to create some instabilty....a point to mention when performing this drill is to twitch the right hip to start the throwing sequence, so that you 'recruit' in the right order.

....remember though, certain movements will effect others - it might just be because you aren't driving your right early enough or your upper body is collapsing...it isn't always about not having the neccesary leg strength to achieve it......or i certainly wouldn't of been able to do it!!!

[Administrator]

Does anyone else have any drills to work towards a more stable block?

[slinger]

...take a look at the above thread for ideas, there is lots of talk about the left leg blocking action, saying it needs to be precisely staight, on Jan Zelezny's WR throw indeed his left doesn't flex more than to 182 degrees [which is more than straight!!!!] but has thrown nearly 100m! i don't think the leg needs to be totally straight, as long as the left hip is blocked and pivots you over it then that's fine........watch vids of yourself and look at your hip aswell as your leg - if your hip stops travelling forward then that's fine........

- as for drills try fixed feet throwing for a few weeks, then test it off your run up to see if it has worked.