Anyone Up for a Little DOMS?

DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) - Delayed onset muscle soreness signals a natural adaptive process that the body initiates following intense exercise. DOMS has been shown to produce a rapid adaptation response, which means that the muscles adapt to exercise intensity.

Too much DOMS, and the required recovery period becomes so long (3 days or longer) that you aren’t able to realize the full benefits of frequent training. Not enough DOMS means you are not getting stronger. It’s another one of those “moderation is the key” kind of deals.

I love DOMS. For as long as I’m throwing competitively my goal is always to either have a little of it, or to just have gotten over it and to be working on getting it again. It’s only by triggering the adaptation response in muscles that they get stronger, and it’s only by regularly triggering it (after sufficient recovery) that they get stronger in the shortest amount of time. Formula: work hard, rest and recover, repeat.
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I lifted weights yesterday after a 6-day layoff, and I’m feeling really good as a result. I was starting to feel a little sluggish, but some hard work in the gym completely eliminated that.

It’s not that I intentionally took a mini-break from working out. The first missed opportunity was due to my allergies flaring up when a cold front blew in, and I honestly felt as if I was getting the flu. After getting that problem under control I went back to the gym and was putting on my work out clothes when I discovered I had not packed a shirt. So yesterday became my next window of opportunity, which I seized with a lot of enthusiasm.

Actually, taking occasional short breaks is a very good thing, and is one of the hardest parts of a training regimen for highly goal-oriented people to adopt. Not practicing, and not exercising are universally recognized as detrimental to performance, but once one develops the will power and motivation to overcome those obstacles, the value of rest and recovery are often overlooked. I’ve run into problems in the past with my performances tapering off late in the season, and I attribute that to an accumulation of insufficient recovery times over the course of my training program. This year I plan to take off 3 or 4 consecutive days every 6-8 weeks as an insurance policy against burn-out toward the end of the season.

During yesterday’s session I was able to move up in weight on bench press, clean, and squat. (Yes, I have a little DOMS today, thank you.) The numbers are still rather ho-hum, but they continue to move in the right direction and should be approaching respectable levels in a few months. One milestone I’m looking forward to is being able to bench press my body weight, a mark which I should reach some time in the April-May timeframe. I only hope that at some point (and it had better be soon!) these increases in strength will start producing performance improvements in my throws.

Throwing practice has been difficult recently due to the weather. Until about 2 weeks ago I had been very lucky this winter to have been able to throw every weekend, but we’ve now entered a weather pattern in which the weather is beautiful during the week and rainy on the weekends. It’s been pretty frustrating, but in only about 3 weeks the days will be long enough once again to allow throwing after work. That will not be a day too soon, as I’ve just entered my last training cycle before the season begins.

Heading South

Yesterday's throwing practice was very disappointing. Nothing seemed to be clicking, and I'm at a loss as to why (maybe too many scotch&waters the night before?). How is it that I can be getting stronger, as evidenced by my imrpovements in weight lifting, but my throwing performance remains the same, or is even on the decline?

With only 8 weeks left until the first meet I really need to get this trend turned around in a hurry.

2005 Rankings Update

Masters track and field rankings for the 2005 season were updated today, and presumably that one will be the last update before the final rankings are posted early in February. Not surprisingly, there were very few changes posted this time, and only one of them happened to be in my events and age group. That so few new marks were posted is not surprising because the number of meets really tapers off toward the end of the year, and one would think that everyone who was inclined to submit a mark has had plenty of time to do so by now. The only update posted in my age and events was in javelin, and I was sorry to see that the new mark knocked my “bud” Jeff Baty out of the top 25 list. It’s a shame that his 142’ 8” throw wasn’t good enough to make the top 25 (this coming from someone whose personal best in competition is 102’ 10.5”). It just goes to show you that there are some folks out there competing who really know what they’re doing.

Which leads me to the subject of the “studs”. Even though making the top 25 is a pretty good achievement, in several events there are some real studs that stand head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.

Jim Wetenhall is one such example. His #1 ranked hammer throw for 2005 of 192’ 6” is no less than 22-1/2 feet further than second place. Ole Jim must be quite a spinner too, because his #1 weight throw of 66’ 10” bested second place by almost 7-1/2 feet.

Another stud in my age group is a guy with the tongue twisting name of Ralph Fruguglietti. What Ralph did with the discus in 2005 is pretty amazing, posting a throw of 193' 1" at the “Team Thor Throws and Pole Vault Competition” in La Jolla, CA, which is almost 30 feet beyond the #2 ranked throw, and which was the longest 50-54 year old throw in my annual ranking lists at least as far back as 2000, which is as far as my lists go. Nice throw Ralphie boy!

But the honors for “Throwing Stud of 2005” in the 50-54 year age group have to go to Mike Brown. Back on April 9, 2005 at the “Spring Fling #2” in Clermont, FL, Mike launched a monster javelin throw of 232’ 0”. Not only was his 232’ 0” throw almost 53-1/2 feet beyond the next best throw of the year, but I show him besting the World Record and the American Record by ~ 3 feet. How sweet is that! (For those statistics lovers out there, Mike’s throw was almost 4 standard deviations away from the mean of the top 25…which is definitely crème de la crème territory. By comparison, the same measure yields Jim Wetenhall’s hamer and weight throws at “only” ~2.3 and Ralph Fruguglietti’s discus throw at 3.5.)

The "Grunt"

Cat Springs, Texas is located about one-hour’s drive west of Houston on the way to San Antonio, and is the home if of the annual thrower’s meet, bar-b-que, and keg party known as the “Cat Springs Grunt”. The event is held during the summer on a ranch owned by a couple of area throwers. All proceeds from entry fees and donations go to fund PUPs (Prevent Unwanted Pets), which is the name of an organization dedicated to spaying and neutering dogs and cats. The meet is very informal, lots of fun, and is obviously for a good cause.

The ranch has 2 permanent throwing rings, and one additional temporary ring is brought out for the annual meet. Some of the landing areas slope a little, but it’s always downhill; discus throwers who throw further than about 140’ risk having their discus hit a power line that runs across the landing area, which is usually only mowed out to about 160’; and throwers are cautioned to watch for snakes when retrieving their implements from high grass. Did I mention it was casual?

Events contested include shot put, discus, hammer, javelin, weight, super weight, 300 lb weight, and the always popular “mystery throw”. As the newsletter says, “All manner of heavy objects will be thrown”, and loud grunting is strongly encouraged. Last year’s mystery throw involved throwing a large, handle-less suitcase thrown for distance. Several creative techniques for accomplishing this were displayed.

The meet is a lot of fun and is a great way to try your hand at new events, in a relaxed setting. The “Grunt” T-shirts or caps alone make it worth attending. Participants come primarily from Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio/Austin, although there is always a contingent that makes the drive over from the Louisiana Cajun country (they talk funny over there). Last year’s field included two age-group World Record holders (one of whom decided to perform all events left-handed, just for fun), two former Olympians, a couple of nationally-ranked throwers, and then there were people like me.

This year I’ll take my camera so I can post some pictures after the meet.

Reality Check

I received an email with a typo in it from my favorite Meet Director last night. In it he stated that the first meet would be in mid-February instead of mid-March. This had me completely rethinking my training program for the next few weeks, and also my first meet goals. It turns out that it was all a false alarm, as he sent out a correcting email shortly thereafter, but the quick reassessment of my progress that he caused was probably a good thing.

All the targets l listed for February represent personal bests for me except for discus, but they should all be achievable. I was on the verge of these marks in hammer, discus, and weight when I threw last Saturday. I threw 3 consecutive hammer throws within 2 feet of 120’, I had 3-5 discus throws in the 125-130’ range, and I had 2 weight throws beyond 40’. Shot put was a little disappointing in that my throws were falling about 1ft short, and a foot in shot put is much more significant than in the other throws. Also, I was having trouble getting the javelin out beyond 105’, and I’m not exactly sure what the problem is with that.

The difference between competing in February and in March may not seem like such a big thing, but those 4 extra weeks will allow some more significant weight training strength gains over my current levels. In other words, 8 weeks is enough time to realize some real increases, but 4 weeks is kind of “iffy”. Also, my technique training has been cut way back due to the shortened winter days, and those 4 extra weeks are the period during which after-work throwing becomes possible again. I will really need those 4 weeks in order to knock some of the rust off of my technique, because it doesn’t matter how strong you are if you can’t apply it to the implement by way of proper technique.

Milestone

I’m at a milestone of sorts. At my next weight lifting session I’ll be halfway to my bench press and squat goals for 2006, and at 100% of my overhead pull goal. That’s kind of cool, given that January is only half over, but I need to keep it all in perspective and not get too worked up about it.

Firstly, since I started my 2006 training season after the last 2005 meet back in November, I’ve actually been working on this year’s program for 2 months now – not the 2 weeks one might have guessed by looking at the calendar. Secondly, it’s normal to improve rapidly at the beginning of a new training program, after which improvements are likely to come much more slowly. Also, although the goals for the year represent significant improvement over where I started, I’m still relatively weak by throwing standards. It will be 2007 before I’m up to where I feel that I need to be. And finally, I’m not a weightlifter, I’m a thrower, and how much I can lift doesn’t mean a thing if it doesn’t translate into longer throws.

Okay, then. I’ve patted myself on the back, and then slapped myself back down to size. That’s my simple motivational strategy.

The Science of Throwing

I used to think that Physics was the “bottom line” in throwing. In all of sport, actually. But the more I learned about throwing, the more I realized that Physics is only one piece of the answer, and that Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology are equal, if not more important components.

Physics can provide useful information about what a thrown object will do once it leaves one’s hand. It can also help one improve throwing performance by providing information about the optimum launch angles for the various the implements, and about optimum angles of attack (for discus and javelin). Beyond those two factors however, the physics is pretty basic – at a given launch angle, angle of attack (for discus and javelin), and launch height, the object that is moving the fastest will go the farthest. (Other factors that come into play when Physics is applied to throwing involve the height of the athlete and the length of his arms and legs, but those factors are not subject to modification by the athlete.) Once one is armed with information about optimum launch angles and angles of attack, how does one go about maximizing the implement’s velocity? That is where Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology come into play.

Biomechanics answers the question: How does one direct the greatest amount of available power toward accelerating the objective to the maximum velocity, while staying within the constraints of the rules of the event being analyzed. This is where things can get very complicated in a hurry. Different muscle groups are capable of delivering different amounts of power, and are limited by being able to deliver this power only through certain planes of motion and through limited ranges. Some of the muscles employed in throwing deliver their power by way of muscle contractions, while others do so through a stretch reflex. In order to maximize their effect these muscle groups must be employed sequentially (from the ground up) so that they contribute in an additive manner to the final velocity of the implement, and precise timing (i.e., technique) of these sequential movements is critical to optimizing performance. (Variations in the timing of these movements is why it’s not uncommon for a weaker thrower to be able to throw farther than a much stronger athlete.) It’s no wonder that it takes years to perfect proper throwing technique, and it’s no wonder that I wish I knew more about this discipline.

Exercise Physiology deals with maximizing the amount of available power that can be employed using proper Biomechanics and in accordance with the optimal flight characteristics as determined by Physics. Generally, “stronger” and “more flexible” are better, but that is something of an over-simplification.

Human muscle is made up of a mixture of so-called “fast twitch” (power) and “slow twitch” (endurance) fibers. Given that the act of throwing typically takes only 2-4 seconds to complete, it’s not surprising that fast twitch fibers are much more important to a thrower than are slow twitch fibers. The ratio of fast twitch and slow twitch fibers in any given person is largely a function of genetics, but studies have shown that these ratios can be altered to a degree by employing certain types of training. In addition to changing the ratio of the fiber types, specific exercise techniques can further serve to enlarge the existing fibers of one muscle type over the other. Much study has been devoted to understanding which types of exercises are beneficial for the development of fast twitch muscle fibers, but generally they include certain specific programs involving weight training, and plyometric exercises. To get the maximum benefits from these programs they must be tailored to conform to the human body’s response to exercise (which varies fro athlete to tathlete).

In order to maximize the available power for throwing the proper exercises need to be performed in the proper manner, and for the proper period of time. The proper resistance exercises for throwing emphasize strength and quickness of the legs, trunk (or “core”), and shoulders and arms. Squats, cleans, crunches, “good mornings”, twists, bench press, butterflies, and overhead pulls should be considered a minimum program for developing strength for throwing. These lift must also be performed in the proper manner. A proper lifting regimen involves lifting certain specified percentages of an individual’s maximum capacity, using an optimum number of sets, and a prescribed number of repetitions within each set. The final component of the lifting program is known as periodization. Lifting programs are designed around nested microcycles, macrocycles, and mesocycles which last from a few weeks for microcycles, up to several months for mesocycles. Within these cycles the amount of weight lifted, the number of repetitions, and the number of sets are varied in order to produce maximum results. Taken as a whole, the combination of the proper exercises, performed in the proper manner, and using a well-designed periodization plan allows maximum gains in strength, adequate rest, and the ability to “peak” to an optimum level of performance in anticipation of significant competitions.

Doldrums

There’s not a lot of throwing progress to report since my last post, but such is the nature of the off-season. I was only able to go out and throw once last week, so the chances of something remarkable happening were understandably reduced. Also, on the one day I was able to get out and throw, I just didn’t feel like I had “it”. Had that been a meet day, it wouldn’t have been pretty. The only bright spot was discus, where I had some success in increasing the speed at which my back leg comes to the front of the circle. This is a very important factor in maintaining rotational momentum through the power position, and some increases in distance resulted. It looked like I was throwing around 135’. Still wimpy, but better.

I continue to see slow and steady progress in the weight room. I think that between now and the first meet of the season (~10 weeks) the benefits from all of the off-season lifting will have produced some noticeable gains in performance. I would like to have achieved the following numbers by then: Bench-175#, Squat-200#, Clean-145#, Overhead Pulls-90#. That would make a 48% average increase since last season in these 4 lifts. Not too shabby, but then I was really, really weak last season!

On an unrelated note – I checked some of my favorite websites to see if there were any additional meets to enter this year, only to discover that several of those that I had planned to attend had been dropped. Some were likely dropped due to conflicts with other meets in the area, and others…who knows?...but it was pretty disappointing. I had planned on entering 12 meets this year, but now that number is down to 8. I may find myself traveling a little further to seek out meets before the year is over. I’m not sure that 8 meets is going to satisfy my addiction.

10 Week Check-Up

It’s just over 10 weeks until the 2006 season’s first meet, which may seem like a fairly long time, but I have lots of improvements to make between now and then and I know the big day will be here before I know it. So…maybe it’s time for a little progress evaluation, and possibly some corrective action.

I’ve been pleased with my recent progress in the weight room, although it doesn’t appear that my efforts have resulted in improved performance in every throwing event. Working on bench press does seem to have paid off in the shot put, and my reclining overhead pull work seems to be just what my javelin throwing needed. I plan to continue “as is” with those exercises, and keep bumping up the amount of weight as rapidly as I am able.

Discus is another story, however. I am not seeing the improvements in my standing throw distances that I would have expected by now. I think one of the problems here (the other being the ever-present need for improvements in technique) is with the strength of my pecs/shoulders. Bench press has undoubtedly improved these, but most of those strength gains are exhibited when the pecs are already partially contracted (i.e., at a point when the forearms are roughly extended directly out to the side). This is great for shot put, but less so for discus. The bench press strength gains may have given me a stronger finish to my throws, but this strong finish combined with relative weakness when my arm is fully stretched back behind me may account for my tendency to throw across my body, and wide of the sector. One thing that is critical to the discus throw is a strong stretch reflex in the pecs/shoulders, which occurs when the forearm is drawn back as far as it can go. This is not a position achieved during the bench press, so I will need to add a new exercise to my program. Beginning with the next weight lifting session I’m going to begin some intense work with “butterflies”. I’m not sure at this point whether I will go with dumbbells or with a weight machine, but the emphasis will be on a maximum stretch of the pecs, and using maximum weight. Hopefully, the new exercise will help, and also hopefully, 10 weeks is enough time for some benefits to be realized. Right now I feel a little bit like a sling shot with a weak rubber band. With respect to technique, I got some good tips on The Ring today, regarding my slow right leg out of the back of the circle. I’m looking forward to incorporating the suggested technique changes that were offered.

My hammer and weight throw are benefiting somewhat as a result of my work on “cleans” and “squats”. Staying with these exercises should continue to provide some improvements, but what is really needed in these events is improvement in my technique. My footwork is slow and awkward, and there’s no cure for that but many, many repetitions.

Ahh...Now I get it.

I got a taste of what it feels like to throw really far the other day. I was a little sore from lifting weights, and I wanted to go out to throw, but I didn't want the soreness to introduce any bad habits into my technique. The answer? I only threw with light implements. I took a 1kg discus, a 4kg shot, and a 5kg hammer and the whole expereience was a real eye-opener.

In shot and discus the light implements allowed me to achieve a whip-like snap at the end of the throws - a movment I'm not able to duplicate (yet) with the heavier weights. 145'-150' standing throws with the discus, and 40'-41' standing throws with the shot were the norm. While none of these distances would be world-class, even with the heavier implements, they represent significant improvements over my typical performances. This was all very encouraging, and was a very good motivator for continued weight training, as the only thing that prevents me from achieving these distances with the heavier weights is strength.

With respect to the lighter hammer, it let me do faster turns without it feeling like I was being pulled off-balance. This can only help to ingrain proper footwork.

All in all, it was a very postive experience and was a practice strategy I intend to use periodically in the future.