Throw Like Youri

1. Introduction

Dr. Bondarchuk explained in his interview with Dane Miller.

"... max strength is what the US always thinks of. A good lifting system is completely different from a good throwing program."

Youri's Technique enables novices to take a different path in training. In the past, when we asked how we can improve our throwing distances, the answer was often "get stronger." This meant spending hours and hours in the weight room lifting heavy and maxing out on basic lifts. Heavier weights were better in this mindset even though we were grinding them out.

Hammer throwers should perform special exercises that have a greater transference to the hammer's main movements. Throwers can avoid wasted energy on lifts, drills, or warm-ups which have little or no value to hammer throwing.

That doesn't mean that basic lifts, for example, snatches, cleans, power cleans, squats, bench presses, presses and jerks aren't part of the program. These lifts can be done at lower percentages of maximums and, at most times, at much higher speeds. A bench press is okay to do, but it isn't going to aid a thrower in the single-support phases nor help to develop lightning speed in the circle.

Anatoliy Bondarchuk explained in his interview with Dane Miller that benching 150 kg at 8-10 m/sec is much better than benching 250 kg at 1-2 m/sec. Slow, maximal training has virtually no transfer to the throws.

Training for the Youri's Technique needs to include drills, exercises, and lifts that have coordinated movement for special strength.

2. Philosophy

Youri explained his philosophy on page 62 of "Art and Science of Hammer Throwing:"

"...I remember an American thrower, who addressed me for technical help. He told me enthusiastically that he had received a super program of general physical conditioning from a coach of the national American team in weightlifting and that he anticipated a tremendous growth in his throwing results due to this program. I had to frustrate him by telling that this super program will help him improve his results in weightlifting but very probably not in hammer throwing."

Strength is important in sports, but what is more important is power, strength over time. It's not about your max weight, but your power developed by performing lifts quickly. The basic lifts are important for general strength and conditioning, but they don't take the place of drills, special exercises, and lifts that have greater transference to hammer throw.

What was Youri interested in?

"When athletes address me for help, I am, first, interested in:

The length of throws of auxiliary hammers of various weights.
The number of throws of hammers of various weights in a week, in a month, and in a year.
The number of throws of auxiliary implements (weights, kettle bells, medicine balls, etc.)

The volume of the load and the results of their weightlifting interest me the least."

In Youri's Technique, the goal of the thrower is to accelerate the hammer. To do this, throwers need to increase the hammer's acceleration path, increase the hammer's tangential velocity, increase their time in double-support phases and obtain an optimal angle of release for the hammer.

When training the following are emphasized:

Speed
Coordination
Timing
Reflexes
Balance
Hammer Throwing Strength

3. Power vs. Strength

Anatoliy Bondarchuk in an interview with Dane Miller made the following comparison of power versus strength:

"Yes, yes. Take a tractor engine vs. a Ferrari. Some athletes have the motor of a Ferrari, others have the motor of a tractor. The athlete must train special strength like a Ferrari, the athlete cannot focus on having good special and good max strength. The athlete must train like a Ferrari and for the shot, it is better to throw like a Ferrari than a tractor."

The distance of a hammer throw depends on two things:

1. The linear velocity of the hammer and
2. the angle of its orbit at the time of release.

Doing a throw slowly with a heavy hammer can be unproductive if the thrower is unable to throw lighter hammers with higher release velocities. Youri's world record throw was released at a linear velocity of 30.7 m/sec. A novice doesn’t need to do only speed work, but it is essential to have training sessions with exercises that promote speed.

In the rotational Hammer-Thrower-System, a wide radius for the hammer ball with a long acceleration path is important for increasing the tangential velocity of the ball. It's not how fast you, as the thrower turns, but how fast the ball orbits in the Hammer-Thrower-System. The faster the ball orbits, the greater the stability and the greater the angular momentum (inertial force) that helps you rotate in the single-support phase. Minimize the drop in the tangential velocity between the single support and the next double support the faster the final release velocity will be.

Throw like a Ferrari, not a Tractor

4. Until it Becomes Second Nature

From 3. Automaticity:

Benjamin Hardy

"Achieving “automaticity” is about making a newly learned skill a part of who you are, as opposed to just a thing you can do."
"Learning something new is all about memory and how you use it. At first, your prefrontal cortex, which stores your working (or short-term) memory, is really busy figuring out how it’s done. That’s the part of your brain involved with conscious decision-making and planning. But once you’re proficient, the prefrontal cortex gets a break. In fact, it’s freed up by as much as 90%; you can now perform that skill automatically, leaving your conscious mind to focus on other things.
That level of performance is called “automaticity,” and reaching it depends on what psychologists call “over-learning” or “overtraining.” Here’s how to over-train your brain to do something so well that you can do it unconsciously–and what to expect once you can."

To paraphrase Benjamin Hardy:

The "Overtraining Process" is pushing you through three stages of developing "procedural knowledge."

1. "Declarative Stage:" Learn to describe the technique and understand it in theory.
2. "Associative Stage:" Think about and perform the technique at the same time.
3. "Automatic Stage:" Automaticity comes at the third and final stage

From 3. Automaticity:

"But over-learning takes us further; there’s some evidence that exceeding automaticity makes the procedural knowledge you’ve just acquired more flexible, explicit, manipulable, and available to conscious access. In other words, you can now do something so unconsciously that it’s become a part of who you are, not just a thing you can do."

The three most important things in learning Youri's Technique, until "it’s become a part of who you are, not just a thing you can do," are repetition, repetition, repetition. Repetition for repetition's sake is not the goal. Drills and exercises should be transferable to the necessary skills for the "modern" hammer throwing technique.

During the Soviet Era of great hammer throwers, the total number of repetitions and total tonnages were calculated for some of their greatest hammer throwers in 1972. These include the great hammer throwing coach and athlete, Dr. Anatoliy Pavlovich Bondarchuk.

The three following tables show the volume of the workload for Bondarchuk, Gamskiy and Khmelevskiy in 1972 for each month and the total repetitions or tonnage for the training year. There are counts for the total number of sessions per month. To get a feel for the repetitions these three hammer throwers performed, there are:

1. Turns with the hammer,
2. Throws of the hammer,
3. Throws of kettle bells and weights,
4. Jumps,
5. Tonnage of weightlifting and
6. Competitions with results.

5. Two Modes of Training

This chapter relies heavily on the Legkaya Atletika article by Honored Coach, V. Petrov, on Technique and Special Exercises for Hammer Throwing. The author of this book translated it from Russian to English.

In the hammer throw, almost all exercises are performed in two speed modes: competitive and training. Hammer throwers, as a rule, reach the competitive mode only in competitions. Most throws are performed at speeds significantly slower than in competition. Training at sub-competitive speed builds reflexive connections to this slow speed, creating a barrier to higher speeds.

The main goal of training is to improve the throwers' results. To do this, it's necessary to perform exercises at a faster rate than is done in normal training or even competition. But how does a hammer thrower achieve this if high-speed exercises are not in the training program? How can a thrower acquire a skill in something that is practically never done? How do hammer throwers overcome this speed barrier?

During training and improving technique, it's necessary to use light implements. And at the same time, it is necessary to convince hammer throwers, from the very first steps, to strive for far results in throwing implements of a specific weight.

Some of the ideas that can be used from the example below of the Soviet System are:

1. Throw light hammers to do speed training.
2. Include throwing training in every stage and period of development.
3. Vary the ratio of general and special exercises depending upon the purpose of the routines.
4. Throw standard weight hammers more frequently to develop special endurance.

Example of the Soviet System:

"To develop the necessary rhythmic characteristics of the throw for children to achieve a result of 75-80 m. In our group, for example, we introduced “our classification” - an international class master of sports (ICMS) - categories 1, 2, 3 and 4. If a trainee throws a 4-kilogram hammer 75 m, this is the norm for an ICMS of the 4th category, throwing a 5-kilogram hammer 75 m is the norm of an ICMS of the 3rd category, etc. This “classification” helps children to be more interested in classes, they see concrete, realistically achievable goals and strive to reach them. At the same time, children learn not to be afraid of far results, and will boldly go to the frontier of the international class. The process of the transition to the adult categories becomes smoother and easier.

But the main thing is that this system helps throwers to overcome the speed barrier, gives them a real opportunity to feel how and at what speed they need to accelerate the hammer to throw it 75-80 m. After all, for a hammer of any weight to fly 75 m, it needs to be given an initial delivery speed of 27 m/s. But since, due to his physical abilities, the young man is not able to accelerate the 7-kilogram implement to the required speed, then you need to choose a hammer for him on which he can use his physical abilities. In fact, this is why our “classification” system was created.

So, for example, the European Champion and the World Record holder among juniors Igor Nikulin, at the age of 15, threw a 3-kilogram hammer 75 m, and a 2-kilogram hammer 80 m. At 17 he threw a hammer weighing 2 kg at 118 m and a 4-kilogram implement 85 m, and at 18 years old surpassed this line, throwing a 5 kg hammer 88.70 m. At 19, Nikulin reached 95 m with a 5-kilogram hammer, and with a standard hammer threw 80.08. All this speaks of his incredible sense of rhythm and speed in throwing a hammer of any weight.

Of course, throwers like I. Nikulin do not come along very often. But our many years of practical experience allows us to state: if athletes specializing in hammer throwing, after 2-3 years of training, cannot throw a hammer of any weight 75-80 m, then they are unlikely to overcome these boundaries in the future with a hammer weighing 7.257 kg. Perhaps by training for a long time, they will be able to become masters of sports and even world-class masters, their results in throwing light hammers will also improve, but they have not reached record-making milestones. Therefore, in a group of young throwers, it is necessary to select young men with an inclination toward natural speed, with well-developed coordination and a sense of rhythm. And the increase in results in the first years should be such that at 15-16 years they could throw a light hammer 75 m.

The use of exercises that are diverse in terms of technical content, using at the same time different hammers in weight, creates the prerequisites for a systematic increase in the level of technical readiness and for increased results when moving from one age category to another.

Throwing training should go on practically throughout the entire training period, but it changes in accordance with the tasks of individual stages, reflecting the ratio of general and special training. At the same time, each exercise undergoes changes depending on the orientation of the training work as follows:

"At the stage of increasing the level of special endurance, the number of throws of the standard hammer increases.
At the stage of development of a special strength (depending on training experience), a weighted ball of 9 and 13 kg on a cable of 80 cm is used.
At the stage of development of speed, as I said above, is carried out with light hammers."

6. Exercises and Transference

Anatoliy Bondarchuk from an Interview with Dane Miller:

"As an athlete I knew everything could change and for proper progression, things needed to change. I knew the system of training had to change and the technique itself had to change. As an athlete I realized over time, the technique and system needed progression. Average athletes in 1972 had no acceleration with the hammer. Maybe this was because they had no special strength for the hammer. From 1970-1976, I believed the athlete (me specifically) needed to train maximal strength. After this, I recognized the athlete only needed a base foundation of strength. Before I thought athletes would need a 300k full squat for 80-84 meters, now I know that they only need 200-250k quarter squat. Before, I thought athletes needed a 150k+ snatch for 80-84 meters, now I know they only need to snatch their bodyweight for this throw. Before I thought the athlete needed a 3.50 meter standing long jump, now they only need a 3.00 -3.15-meter-long jump. This is because the specific throwing training has progressed over 30 years. Now, I realize that the athlete does not need maximal strength but special dynamic strength. Special strength is much more important and has a much higher rate of transfer into the specific throw. In the 1960's, I had a friend that squatted 320k, cleaned 200k, had a fast 100m but only threw 17.20 in the shot put. Later I realized that the maximal strength training does not have a high rate of transfer and my friend was one of many examples for this."

What we have learned from the dynamic change in hammer throwing technique in the 1970s is the maximum speed of the hammer ball became the focus and not maximum strength of the hammer thrower. As Youri explained to me in 1975, "Americans (hammer throwers) are too strong."

In learning Youri's Technique, your focus is on special training drills and exercises that have a high rate of transference to the technique. Exercises and drills need to have a remarkably high correlation between them and the dynamic movements in the circle. Drills and exercises that closely mimic the Youri's Technique are the key.

Exercises and drills need to be tailored to the throwers' goals of improving technique and competitive performances. Explosiveness is preferred over slow grinding brute strength. Heavy maxes in bench presses and back squats in the weight room don't correlate to improvements in Youri's Technique.

It's not to say that basic strength isn't needed in hammer throwing, but this kind of strength can be gained relatively quickly in training periods early in a thrower's season and at lower intensities during regular training. Dynamic drills and exercises are necessary, so you don't do dynamic movements while only throwing in the circle. In all periods of training, do drills and exercises that include highly coordinated motor skills.

7. Light vs. Heavy Implements

From: Reflections of a Master: An Interview with Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk, By Dane Miller

"The thrower must use and have explosive muscle, not maximum strength. ...There are many, many programs of training. Some coaches have athletes throw heavy, some throw light and some just competition weights and some throw all weights. If the athlete needs strength, they may throw heavy and give more volume. If the athlete needs explosive muscle, give them light weights. There are many exercises and programs to help with these problems."

Excerpt from: Methods & Technique, Training Variations. L. Ivanova, I. Palamapchuk, Legkaya Atletika,

Summary by the author of this book.

Variations in the weight of the hammers used in training can be immensely helpful over the length of a training period. Always using the standard competition weight can result in diminishing results. Varying the weight of the hammers allows for training for speed with lighter hammers and for strength with heavier hammers. The variation in weights of the hammers below the weight of the competition hammer should be small, -0.5 to -1 kg. If the variation is too large the results can be less.

For speed workouts, throwing light hammers should be 65% to 80% of the total throws.
For strength, heavy hammers should be 73% to 79%.
These percentages are based on training sessions which include 30 to 40 throws.

Training Variations

The problem of improving and optimizing the training process of high-level throwers is somewhat complex and has a high level of variability. At this time, scientific study has concluded that there are specific tools and methods present to train elite athletes, but these methods are based on specific training periods, and they depend on the athletic ability of an athlete.

Furthermore, optimization of the structure of the workload process helps to solve the task of determining the effective length of the use of different training variables and their relationship to the complexity of the exercises that athletes are doing at the same time.

It is exceedingly difficult to produce the right solution to solving this task, but the benefits of finding the right solution is important and the following examples will prove it.

In the training of L. Ivanovoi, A. Bondarchuk, and V. Vinychika (1970) there was a study done to determine distance improvements in throwing the shot overhead based on the weight of a shot.

In 1st group athletes threw 2 kg shots, the results improved by 11% in 6 weeks.
In 2nd group athletes threw 7 kg shots, the results improved by 13% in only two weeks.

In both groups coaches were monitoring at what point athletes stabilized, then started to decrease in performance results.

It appeared that athletes, who threw heavier implements, improved their results faster and more effectively, but the training effect period decreased by a factor of 3 compared to the 1st group.

It is important to note that the longer use of heavier implements should be significantly less as opposed to the lighter ones as positive training improvements will eventually diminish. It is important to know and use not only the most effective tools and methods of preparation training but also correctly plan the length of their use, and the rational of use of different implements.

Lately, as scientific research points out, the common wisdom of each increase in weight is regresses and the tempo of the improving results are increasing with each weight increment.

But in theory, it is important to know an old saying of “Repeat, without repeating,” which means that the large variation of the training's structure needs to happen by athletes repeating the same motion repeatedly to learn technique successfully. When athletes learn the shot-put technique, they need to use the same weight shot, in which case the best weight to use is standard competition weight. In the worst-case scenario, the beginner will struggle with the technique, and it will be hard to correct the mistakes, and if student makes mistakes a lot, it will be hard to establish the correct pattern of the putting movement.

In 1971 there was a special 3-month research type experiment developed, whose results were supposed to show how the standard environment and significantly small and large levels of variation effect the increase in the results of shot putters’ distances. People were divided into 3 groups where separate training methods were used for each group. Each group had 5-6 young athletes (junior athletes) and 1 senior athlete.

Group #1 was the standard group, no variation in the training environment. This group only used the regulation shot in their training. They used the same shot for learning the technique at first and then they used the same implement for improving their technique.

Group #2 used the small variation training method. This group used standard weighted shots, as well as shots that were 1 kg lighter than the competition weight. The training was as follows:

1st set of 6 standing throws with competition weight, 6 throws with light weight.
2nd set 6 full throws with the competitive shot, and
6 full throws with the light one.
3rd set was 14 full throws with a standard shot and 12 with light one: and
Last set was 6 full throws with only the light shot.

Group #3 used the large variation training method. This group did not use the standard weighted shot put, but instead they were using 1 and 2 kg lighter shot puts, and 0.5 kg and 5 kg heavier implements.

The training method was as follows: the number of throws athletes took with each implement didn't exceed 6-8 reps (which is scientifically proven the perfect number of reps needed for an athlete’s body to develop “explosive force”). The characteristics of each implement and their combination must aid an athlete in developing a “special speed” and “specific strength.” This is what the training series under this method would look like:

1st set is 6 standing throws with + 0.5 kg shot and 6 standing throws with - 1 kg shot.
2nd set is 6 full throws with + 0.5 kg, and 7 throws with - 1 kg shot.
3rd set is 6 standing throws with + 5 kg, 7 full throws with + 0.5 kg and 7 full throws with - 1 kg shot.
4th set is 6 standing throws with - 1 kg shot.

The training parameters for volume loads were leveled out for this experiment. Athletes spend 3 times a week on working on technique and they worked on physical development twice a week.

On the technical days, the groups were tossing the shot anywhere between 59 - 61 meters.

For the strength exercises, athletes were doing bench presses, back squats and they were doing 75% of their maximum weight on bench press and 85% of their maximum weight on squats. Athletes did the same number of sets and reps.

To accurately track the athletes' improvements, athletes did specially organized competitions before and after the experiment.

Group #1 showed the smallest improvements in the throwing competition and heavy weight shot put.
Group #2 showed slightly better results.
Group #3 showed the most improvement due to the large variation training methods.

This experiment became a basis for developing a new training method in 1972 where most of the focus was concentrated on building large variation in the specific training work. The strength and speed training methods were developed where they would be applied together in athlete’s training session. In strength building, training with heavy implements was used (+ 4, + 5, + 1 and + 0.5 kg), standard and light implement (- 1 kg). The number of throws with light implement was 16 (22%), with the standard implement no more than a few throws (5%), and (73-79%) of work was done with heavy implements. In the training sessions where speed was addressed, the workout was done with the light implements (- 1, - 2 and - 3 kg), standard and heavy (+ 0.5 kg). The volume of work with light implements was about 65-80%.

It is important to notice that the volume of work with different implements in a yearly cycle was very dynamic. There was one strict training principle: athletes should throw within or around 90% of their best personal record with each implement. When the results with lighter implement decreased, then the volume of throwing with that implement would be increased immediately. This way athletes were ensured to have a concentrated and variable effect, as well as keeping both high and moderate levels of training intensity. As the result of this experiment many elite athletes were switched to this new training method.

At this time, many years of experience and supporting studies were used and analyzed to determine practice and competition distances performances using different weighted implements ranging from 4 kg to 12 kg.

Before the variation training method was implemented in 1972, scientists and coaches found a positive correlation, which supported the claim for successful variation methods, in only 6 studies out of 21 that were done during that time. A year later, coaches saw 18 successful positive correlations and a year after that 20.

This way, we can conclude, that the method of using the main principles of variation, helps to develop coordination and motor functions of the body, which results in a cooperation with each other. What needs to be taken in consideration is that in a specific period the competition results are constantly improving. That the variation method shows an excellent rate of special preparation development based on lowering the workload of specific preparation for each element, which would lead to a constant growth with standard and supporting weight implements.

To build the models which were dependent on the competition results of the athletes who were throwing different weight shots. The regression model was built to track the performances of different masters of sport caliber athletes.

It is not hard to notice that all models are somehow different from each other. That difference is the level of physical, mental and experience preparation of the athletes in a yearly cycle which leads to figuring out new technical elements and training them.

The biggest influence on training was due to results of throwing light (5 & 6 kg) and standard implements. The very light implement (4 kg) and heavy implement (12 kg) did not have any positive effect on training. In our opinion, throwers who threw implements that were far apart from each other, like (12 kg & 4 kg), had remarkably high regression coefficients.

8. Training Sessions

The main method of training for the hammer is multiple repetitions of special and general development exercises. These exercises are aimed toward the development of crucial characteristics and skills and the improvement of technique and specific movements.

The number of repetitions or volume of exercises for each individual athlete is not the same. For young and not so technically developed athletes, it's necessary to include a variety of exercises. The number of repetitions and training sessions should be varied in their training plan. And each training plan should be unique.

When an athlete is transitioning from intermediate to advanced or master’s level or the athlete’s physical abilities are advanced, it's necessary to pay greater attention to those attributes and skills that are more closely related to the main movements and elements of hammering throw.

The workload of athletes is comprised of 3 main parts:

Volume (in tonnage)
Intensity (in percentage)
Coordination difficulty (as a rating)

Studies show that the percentage composition of these parts in the year-round training process should look something like this:

1. Weightlifting exercises:
30% in the preparation period and
15% in the competition period.
2. Hammer Training:
40% in the preparation period and
70% in the competition period,
3. Throwing kettle bells and weights:
30% in the preparation period and
15% in the competition period.

Perfection in technique and improvement in physical and mental attributes is attained by performing systematic exercises which can be divided into 3 major groups:

1. Hammer throwing exercises.
2. General development exercises which include:
a. Speed work jumps and jumping exercises, cross-country running, exercises with weights, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and acrobatics.
b. General preparation exercises with/without various implements.
3. Special preparation exercises.

With the help of specialized preparation exercises that are aimed at developing physical attributes, athletes can also work on perfecting different elements of hammer throwing technique at the same time. When athletes do multiple repetitions of specialized exercises, which are aimed at mastering hammer throwing technique, their development of physical attributes is also happening. This training method, when development of physical and technical mastery is addressed at the same time, became widely known as the "Method of

Concentrated Preparation."

Specialized exercises are a part, element or whole sequence of hammer throwing movements. There are also exercises with medicine balls, sticks, dumbbells, barbells, kettle bells, weights, sandbags, and exercises with a partner.

Physical preparation of a thrower is divided into general and special.

General Physical Preparation, GPP, is training which includes:

1. Exercises that are aimed at the development of physical attributes,
2. Formalization and perfection of “movement” skills,
3. Making learning of technique easier and
4. Increasing functional capabilities of the entire body.

Special Physical Preparation, SPP, supports:

1. High level development of specific muscle groups and parts of the nervous system that are used in hammer throwing.
2. Development of movements that are necessary for reaching the highest levels and results in hammer throwing.

Exercises, that play major roles in GPP and SPP, develop:

1. Strength,
2. Speed,
3. Agility,
4. Flexibility, and
5. Special and general powers of endurance.

Rest plays a significant role between exercises. Rest time depends on the individual fitness level of an athlete and the lifting load (or volume). Athletes with a well-developed fitness level should take about 3-4 minutes of rest and athletes with less-developed fitness level should take about 6–7 minutes between sets with a high number of repetitions. Shortening the rest time between sets often results in overloading a thrower's cardiovascular system and leads to a decrease in the athlete's capacity to do work.

9. Developing Hammer Speed

It's well known that major factor that determines how far a hammer will travel is its release velocity. Hammer throwers need to perform their movements quickly to generate angular momentum that transfers to the hammer's tangential velocity. Therefore, developing hammer throwers' quickness must be a crucial part in training. Quickness is more important, in many ways, than the development of strength.

Quickness in hammer throwing is event specific. There are athletes who can sprint 100-meters in blazing fast times. However, they can’t use their speed in the hammer circle. An athlete needs technique-specific timing. The thrower needs to know when, where and how to apply force to the hammer to have the greatest effect in increasing the velocity of the hammer.

The ability to coordinate the application of forces that increase the hammer's velocity was called “feeling of acceleration” in the Soviet Union. This "feeling" is dependent upon many traits of an athlete such as age, height and weight, physical readiness, and mastery of the technique.

Experience shows that the best improvements in quickness happen when speed-development exercises are included in each training session at all levels of the preparation phase. This is not dependent on a thrower’s level of development.

The ability to contract muscle fibers quickly and react to the hammer is developed through accelerating exercises:

Throwing light hammers
Drilling at high speeds
Throwing shots of different weights
Throwing from different body positions
High tempo weight training

10. Developing Endurance

Many international level competitions are designed to be contested in one or two days with lofty qualification standards. A hammer thrower must endure high levels of physical and mental stress. The only way a thrower can excel in these situations is by developing high levels of general and specific endurance.

General endurance is developed through many physical exercises that are related to a lengthy workload such as cross-country running, cross-country skiing, playing basketball, volleyball, or swimming. Finishing your training session with an easy slow jog allows your body to develop general endurance, fast recovery and relieve stress on your nervous system. After each training session with the hammer, it is necessary to run about 2-3 laps around the track.

Specialized endurance is developed by:

Throwing high volumes with hammer, up to 40-50 throws per session,
Throwing kettle bells and weights, up to 150-200 throws and
Throwing shots of different weights, up to 80-100 throws.

These types of long training sessions should be performed more often in the preparation period.

11. Soviet Era Periodization

The following relies heavily on a Soviet era textbook on track and field.

In the Soviet Union (in the 1970s) it was common to have periodization training plans which were divided into in three periods:

Preparation
Competition
Transition

Many coaches design training plans for beginners with two periods. This way, after the competition period is over, they can go straight into the next preparation period.

The third, the transition period, is necessary for hammer throwers who had many competitions, especially major ones, throughout the year. This period is necessary for those throwers who placed heavy demands on their nervous system.

Timing of transition period should be intricately connected to the competition calendar. It should begin after throwers compete in their final competition. Duration of the period should be about 30 days, but it can also be longer or shorter depending on throwers' health, goals for the next season and other factors.

Throwers, who are constantly striving to improve their results and who want to have substantial progress, need a coach who can plan out their next year's training plan to the smallest detail. To create an extraordinarily successful and perspective plan, a coach needs some information about the thrower including:

Age,
Height,
Weight,
Physical condition,
Technical development,
Life and work situations,
Training basics,
Competition calendar,
Best results of past competition periods.

Planning for an elite hammer thrower is done at the individual level.

12. Preparation Period

The entire structure of a 4-year period for elite caliber throwers, who are preparing for national championships of USSR and the Olympic Games, must be determined within context of the time frames of their upcoming competitions.

The preparation period for hammer throwers is divided into two stages: November-January and February-April. In these stages, the goals of increasing strength development are addressed.

On average, the preparation period in the USSR begins in November and lasts till May. This period should be divided into two three-monthly stages: fall-winter, November-January and spring, February-April.

Since the hammer can't be thrown indoors, there are no competitions for hammer throwers during winter here and in Europe.

During the preparation period, hammer throwers have the following tasks that they need to accomplish:

Increase of all-around physical development which is based on increase of one’s health.
Development of special physical qualities.
Perfection of the hammer throw technique.
Increase in psychological preparation and
Increase in the level of theoretical understanding.

At the end of this period, throwers should be able to demonstrate their improvement in basic exercises which support general and special development preparation. In a weekly cycle of 8 training sessions, 4-5 sessions are dedicated to lifting weights and kettle bells, and 3 sessions are dedicated to perfecting their hammer throwing technique.

Throwers should continue working on reinforcing correct technical elements, and focus on correcting technical flaws, especially ones that are almost impossible to correct during a period with competitions in it.

13. Preparation Period - 1st Stage

Types and number of exercises must be strictly individual. The number of repetitions and the weight of barbells and kettle bells should depend on the level of preparation of each thrower. Throwers, coaches, and doctors must strictly observe this requirement.

Preparation periods are characterized by large volumes of exercises of weightlifting, where first level and masters of sport can reach up to 12-18 tons in individually dedicated training sessions. During training sessions throwers do 20-30 sets of 3-5 reps in each. When practicing outside, throwers can do 25-30 hammer throws depending on the weather conditions. When working with kettle bells, throwers must do 10-15 sets of 10 reps each.

Starting in November, a thrower does a large volume of weightlifting (70-80% of maximum and maximum body weight) with some intensity. The number of repetitions in one set varies from 3 to 5 reps. When repetitions are increased, then the weight is decreased.

From the middle of December, the volume of weightlifting is progressively decreased, and the intensity is increased.

At the end of January 3-4 training sessions, a week, the training volume of one session must be 8-10 tons and intensity should be at 90-100%.

At the end of this stage, it's necessary to perform a few control competitions to rate the athletes' GPP (General Physical Preparation) and technical preparation as well. GPP exercises include snatch, jerk press, squats, hammer throw, kettle bell throw (16 kg) with 1 turn, 30 meter runs from a starting position and standing triple jump. Grading of technical readiness happens through competition of separate elements of hammer throw: preliminary winds, entry into first turns, turns, comparison of turns to the final turn finish, final turn finish.

Grading of GPP is done in seconds, meters and kilograms and technique exercises are graded by a 5-grade system (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Coaches and throwers take into consideration both strong and weak areas of preparation to plan their future training and decide which ones can be used to fix weaknesses in the athletes' GPP and technical preparation.

14. Weekly Cycle - 1st Stage

This is an example from the Soviet Era Textbook. If you decide to use this as a template, take into consideration your time available to train and restrictions from your other responsibilities. A general rule of thumb has been to cut a Soviet Era weekly cycle in half as a start.

Monday:

Morning session: 16kg. 44,5-60 cm (long handle) weight throws (40-50 throws)
Evening sessions: warm-up, exercises with barbell: wide grip and close grip snatch without catching bar under, snatch pull with and without boxes, front and back squats, kettle bell hammer winds both sides (from 16kg to 32kg, depends on preparation levels).

Tuesday:

(Indoors). Warm-ups. Winds and entry swings with the hammer after each turn (number of turns can vary). Various weights shot put throws, medicine balls, bags with sand, kettle bell, or weight (16kg) from various starting positions and from one turn. Jumps and Jumping exercises. Start sprints and acceleration runs. Cool down run.

Wednesday:

Morning: warm-up, hammer throws (25-30 throws) of 1 or 3 turns.
Evening: warm-up, exercises with barbell: Power Clean exercises, deadlifts with and without boxes, squats, and half-squats; exercises on the gymnastic wall working on back and abdominal muscles.

Thursday:

Rest

Friday:

Morning (outside): warm-up, hammer throws of 1 or 3 turns, light running or dodge ball game, shower.
Evening: warm-up, exercises with barbell: wide and close grip snatch, good mornings, squats.

Saturday:

Warm-ups. Exercises with kettle bell (from 16 to 32 kg depends on preparation level): one- and two-handed snatch, jumps with kettle bell, kettle bell winds with one and two hands (just like hammer winds). Exercises with barbell: squats and half squats. Core exercises. Banya (Very Hot Sauna), massage.

Sunday:

· Rest (cross country skiing or ice skating, swimming)

15. Preparation Period - 2nd Stage

The spring period of the training plan takes place in February through April. In this period, which is a period before the competition period, throwers must reach an extremely high level of strength and speed-strength preparation. At the same time, perfecting hammer throwing technique is being worked on even more in this stage than in the first stage and is the major focus of the thrower.

The quantity of general development exercises in this stage is getting smaller, but the volume and intensity of special exercises is increased. Total volume of weightlifting in one training session shrinks to 8-10 tons, but intensity goes up to 80-90% of the maximum weight.

The number of throws in one training session increase to 30-35 reps. Out of that number, 30% of throws are done full speed. Kettle bell, weight and shot throws go up to 80-100 throws in one training session. These kind of training workloads at this level, along with work on perfecting technique will give the throwers the opportunity to demonstrate superior results already in April.

A hammer thrower spends 2-3 training sessions with the hammer, 3 training sessions are dedicated to exercises that deal with strength, strength-speed, and technical preparation and 2 training sessions weightlifting.

During weightlifting sessions, a thrower needs to follow the same system that was done in the November-January stages. When doing larger weightlifting workloads in February (15-18 tons in one training session), the intensity should be about 75-85%.

In April, the volume is decreased to about 8-10 tons, but the intensity is significantly increased to 95-100%.

In hammer training sessions, throwers should not be primarily concerned with throwing far. They should focus mainly on mastering different elements of technique and throwing the hammer.

In addition to 2 lifting training sessions, hammer throwers do half of the 2-week cycle during periods of preparation for serious competitions. In this micro cycle of preparation for competitions, it is necessary to dramatically decrease volume and increase intensity.

By the time the competition period begins, technical elements of form, in whole, and in small details, should have been established and then systematically reinforced in training sessions.

Evaluating a thrower's ability to have mastered technique takes place during competitions and mock practices, which usually happen in March-April.

Throwers don't need to do any special preparations for this kind of competitions. The competitions need to be contested without changes to the training plan (volume or physical workload). They're used as a form of check points for how well training is progressing.

This kind of competitions give throwers an opportunity to compare their success and their problems with their level of preparation. It's necessary to do a deep and detailed analysis of strength, technique, and physiological preparation levels after each controlled competition.

In depth analysis will help in creating a forward-looking path to technical perfection. When analyzing technique of a hammer thrower, it's useful to watch videos or look at photos of training and competitive throws. If throwers see deficiencies in their movements, they will have a better chance at correcting those flaws faster. When making an analysis, close attention must be to pay to throwers' behavior, their “focus” and ability to “focus,” and their reactions to other competitors and crowds.

16. Weekly Cycle - 2nd Stage

This is an example from the Soviet Era Track and Field Textbook. If you decide to use this as a template, take into consideration your time available to train and restrictions from your other responsibilities. A general rule of thumb has been to cut a Soviet Era weekly cycle in half as a start.