HOW TO TRAIN SHOT PUTTERS & DISCUS THROWERS IN THE WEIGHT ROOM
By Coach Erik Johnson
Olympic lifts, Olympic lifts, Olympic Lifts.
One of the key elements in the ATN® Strength Training Program, found inside the TCR® system, are the Olympic Lifts: Clean, Snatch, and Jerk.
I can’t say enough about Olympic Lifts; they are just fantastic lifts!
They….
- Develop coordination … hell, they REQUIRE coordination!
- Stimulate hormone production for building muscle mass
- Train the nervous system to be responsive
- They work flexibility
- And the list goes on and on and on….
Olympic Lifts are pure athletic strength development, and should be a part of any level of an athlete’s program- especially throwers!
Personally for me, when I was in college at Mt. SAC, UCLA, and then CU Boulder, it was the first time I was exposed to true weight training and Olympic Lifting, especially techniques.
This exposure is where I learned how to do cleans and snatches more effectively.
Most college throws coaches also spend a great deal of time as strength coaches for their throwers. I was very fortunate to learn from some of the top throws/weight lifting coaches in the nation: Art Venagas (who brought in Coach Bob Takano to teach us Olympic lifting technique at UCLA), Ej “Doc” Kries, and my biggest strength training influence, Tony Ciarelli, USAW level 4 to name a few.
This is when I caught the fever to learn more, and I dedicated myself to learning the science of the throws, the details in the details, and the connection of an elite lifting program for the throws…
… and it led me to the finals of the Olympic trials in ’96, and a top 10 US ranking!