Throw

Human beings are meant to throw. Anything. Everything. For fun. For hunting. For sport. Early man threw rocks and spears to kill food. He had to be strong and accurate to hit his target. If he missed, the food might get away or, even worse, charge and attack. Life or death depending on throwing.

Today, we rarely find a need to throw well. Unless we are a throwing athlete like a quarterback, a shot-puter or a professional dart player, we don't rely on throwing in our daily lives. But the potential benefits from adding throwing to our routines are numerous.

Any type of throwing requires a complex interaction of brain, body and hand. Throws start at the feet and energy is transferred up through the body and released into the object being thrown. This action takes mental and physical coordination. To throw things further or more accurately requires a higher level of coordination and strength. One could argue that elite level throwing is the pinnacle of athletic skill.

So how can we incorporate throwing into our training routine? Here are a few ideas:

- Throw for Power - You can throw anything with some weight; a kettle bell, a sledge hammer, a rock, a sandbag, etc. Start with a wide, athletic base. Alternate throwing from both sides of your body as well as underhand (granny), overhand (soccer style) or shot put style. See how far you can throw your chosen item. You can also try to hit a target. Think Braveheart.

- Play throwing games - Think about how many games involve throwing. Baseball, basketball, football, darts, horseshoes, shot put, discus, javelin, . . .hand grenades? Any one of these (probably not hand grenades) can be a fun way to improve your throwing skill. You can play catch with your kids. You can throw a ball for your dog (or cat named Obie).

Here is our workout from yesterday. It was heavy on the throwing.
-We started by carrying a kettle bell to the park, about a mile away. This served as a warm up.
-Once there, we did five rounds of the following;
     -walk up the hill with your KB
     -throw the KB 15 times any way
     -walk back down the hill with the KB held overhead.
     *after each throw, don't just walk. Each round, we travelled to the KB in a different way.
      Round 1 - bear crawl. Round 2 - one legged hop, right leg. Round 3 - one legged hop, left leg.
      Round 4 - standing broad jump. Round 5 - run backwards.
-After five rounds, we carried our KBs back home. This workout was fun and challenging. We did get some funny looks. I guess throwing heavy things in the park isn't an every day occurrence.

Go throw things.

Jack

PS - Throwing a kettle bell or anything else in public should always be done with caution. I did this workout with my girlfriend and we were extra careful to not throw anywhere near each other, strangers, animals or anything else besides soft dirt or grass. Wouldn't want to squash anything by accident.