Reading Research: New Concepts in Power Development for the Shot Put

While doing some background research on Geoff Capes, I came across this interesting article in the NSCA journal from 1986, by Stanley Lampert, discussing ways to train for throwing the shot.  It’s called New Concepts in Power Development for the Shot Put. 

You might not have thought about it much, but throwing the shot takes a lot of power.

A powerful shot putter in action – photo by Dirk Hansen

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Anyway, let’s take a look at the article

Lampert introduces his article by summarising the main elements of his approach, which are:

• Isometrics
• Partials
• Heavy singles
• Overweight shot

Lampert explains that the resistance exercises will generate large increases in both strength and power.  These, combined with using an overweight implement, will lead to significant performance improvements.

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The programme

Lampert proposes structuring the weekly resistance training programme as follows:

Day one – partials

• Up to eight compound exercises as appropriate
• Perform one single in two different ranges
• The range of movement should be 4 – 6 inches

Day two – isometrics

• Up to eight compound exercises as appropriate
• Perform one single at two different sticking points
• The length of the hold should be 6 – 8 seconds

Day three – partials

• Up to eight compound exercises as appropriate
• Perform one single in two different ranges
• The ranges should be different from day one
• The range of movement should be 4 – 6 inches

Day four – isometrics

• Up to eight compound exercises as appropriate
• Perform one single at two different sticking points
• The sticking points should be different from day two
• The length of the hold should be 6 – 8 seconds

Day five – rest

Day six – singles

• Work up to a heavy single
• Use a number of key compound exercises

Day seven – rest

Lampert makes some other notes, as follows:

• There is a limit to the utility of resistance training in throwing the shot.  Lifting more than 400lbs in the bench or 550lbs in the squat will not yield substantial improvements in throwing.
• Improvements in strength may not generate immediate improvements in throwing unless integrated into a throwing programme (preferably with an overweight implement).

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My thoughts

It is difficult to comment on a programme like this without having done it but the following thoughts spring to mind (whether these are just my prejudices about volume and intensity is a good question).

Frequency – I like the five-day approach.  I am inherently distrustful of any athletic routine that involves training less than five days a week.  It makes me wonder whether the writer has ever worked with an athlete before.

Partials – I like the idea of training ranges of motion that relate strongly with the sport-specific requirements.  As long as an athlete has a reasonable level of overall strength, then I don’t see why you would want to burden them with muscular bodyweight that didn’t contribute to their sporting success.

Isometrics – I can see that many of the strongest athletes (gymnasts) perform isometrics.  However, I am not certain that I can see why these would translate to throwing events.  Perhaps this is why he uses an overweight implement, to work through a range on the strength-speed contiuum.

Number of exercises – I cannot see that you would get better results out of doing eight different exercises for single reps instead of doing one fundamental exercise (like the squat) eight times.  As Bruce Lee said, “I do not fear the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks.  I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

If you have any thoughts or experience in training for the shot and have time to chime in, please let me know what you think of the above research article in the comments.

Thanks.