I compete in the hammer throw. The point of the sport is to hurl a 16 pound ball attached to a four-foot-long wire as far as you can. You might think that the key to throwing far would be strength. You might think that the key would be pounding the weights day in and day out to the point where soreness makes lying down a difficult task. Well, you’d be wrong. Sure, hammer throwers need to be strong, but it is not the type of strength most people think of, and it is not the type of strength training most people are familiar with.
For the past several years, I have had the privilege of working with and learning from the world’s best hammer throwing coach, Anatoly Bondarchuk. Bondarchuk’s name is known throughout the world of sport science, but his legacy is strongest among hammer throwers. Not only has he won an Olympic gold medal himself, but he has coached over a dozen Olympic medalists and several world record holders. When I learned that Bondarchuk had moved to North America in 2005, I immediately sought him out in search of the Soviet secrets. I was looking for whatever secret has put Eastern Europeans on the podium for the past 50 years and kept America from winning a gold medal since 1956. My mind was open and I was ready for anything.
When I first got in touch with Bondarchuk, I was still a student at the University of Washington and we worked together long distance. Bondarchuk would write my training program and I would make the five hour drive to visit him once a month. What I immediately learned is that there is no Soviet “secret.” His training programs were simple and featured a surprising amount of low intensity work and repetitiveness. Through this new training program, I earned two NCAA All-American honors. I have continued that success post-collegiately and am now, by virtue of my dual citizenship, the current Swiss national champion.
For the past year, I have lived in Canada and trained full-time with Bondarchuk in hopes of qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games. Below is a look into a month of training with Bondarchuk leading up to my first big competition of the 2010 season.
Week of March 22nd
On Monday I returned from a pre-season competition in France. We trained through the competition, meaning that we didn’t set it up for me to peak at this meet and I only took an extra day off for travel - but otherwise continued with my normal training program. On Tuesday, I jumped back into training and continued the same training program I had been doing prior to the competition.
| Mornings | Afternoons |
| 8 x 5kg hammer throws | 8 x 7.26kg hammer throws |
| 8 x 8.2kg hammer throw | 8 x 10kg hammer throws |
| Side Cleans – 2 x 5 each side @ 50kg | Hammer Wind and Release – 2 x 14 with 14kg hammer |
| Medicine Ball Throws (Down) – 2 x 6 @ 7kg | Snatch – 2 x 5 @ 70kg, 1 x 5 @ 80kg |
| Sit-up Medicine Ball Throws – 2 x 6 @ 7kg | Front Half Squat – 3 x 5 @ 120kg |
| One leg vertical jumps – 2 x 4 each leg | Sit-ups – 3 x 8 @ 20kg |
| Side Bends – 2 x 8 @ 10kg | Good mornings – 3 x 5 @ 50kg |
I repeated this program on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday during the week. Thursday and Sunday were passive rest days.
As you can see, more than half of my time at each training session is spent with the competitive movement: throwing the hammer. The competition weight hammer is 7.26-kilograms (16-pounds), so I am now throwing a variety of light and heavy hammers that help build special strength and develop technique. We typically average 150-200 throws per week, and in this program I took 160 throws every week. I would say that the average American hammer thrower has three or four throwing sessions a week and takes a total of 100 throws, so this is the first element of our training that sets us apart.
The rest of my training time is spent in the weight room with exercises that fall into five categories: global/Olympic-style lifts, leg lifts, abdominal exercises, back exercises, and twisting/special strength exercises. We normally do one exercise from each group during a lifting session, although sometimes we will include a second special strength exercise. The last category is the most important for us since it has the highest correlation to success in our sport. Throwing heavy hammers builds special strength, but a variety of other exercises help. For instance, in this program I do winds and releases with the 14kg hammer. At twice the weight of the competitive implement, it helps develop the core muscles used to throw the hammer.
Since we normally throw and lift ten times every week, the weight room intensity is fairly low in the other lifts. General strength is one of my weaknesses, but even for me the weights I use are very light. We normally stay in the 70-80% range for Olympic lifts and on bad days I can still easily complete all my lifts in the weight room without feeling exhausted. The afternoon workout is a better example of a typical Bondarchuk workout since the morning workout was designed to be a bit easier than normal.
Overall, the training program may seem easy at first glance, but it will wear on you after ten training sessions each week. Even a strong, well-conditioned athletes take a year or more to adjust to Bondarchuk’s training programs since the volume of throws and number of weight training sessions each week can be exhausting.
I was used to the volume this week, but I had yet to adjust to the eight-hour time zone change. As a result, my results were sluggish at the start of the week with marks about two meters below normal with each implement. I gradually got back into form and over the weekend I was throwing around 77 meters (5kg), 64 meters (7.26kg), 59 meters (8.2kg), and 52m (10kg).
Week of March 29th
I continued the same training program this week, repeating the twice-a-day workout program on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Once again, Thursday and Sunday were passive rest days.
This week was what we call a “down” week. Through the process of adaptation, results will inevitably fall at some point. This point is different for each athlete, but for me it normally comes during the fourth week of a program. Since I began this program at the beginning of March, this was my fourth week on the program and my results fell about 2 meters with each implement (3-5%).
Week of April 5th
I quickly bounced out of the week-long slump and I was just one inch shy of my training personal best with the heavy 10-kilogram hammer (52.80m) on Tuesday. With my next competition still a week away, Bondarchuk altered my training program slightly so that I would maintain my form. Training on Monday and Tuesday was the same as last week, but I took an early rest day on Wednesday and then began a new program Thursday morning. The new program featured some throws with the 6-kilogram hammer and light lifting in the morning followed by the same 7.26kg/10kg workout I have been doing in the afternoon recently. I alternated this workout with my old workout for the rest of the week, doing the new workout on Thursday and Saturday and the old workout on Friday. I rested on Sunday.
By varying my training a little, my body must continue to adapt and that will hopefully allow me to stay in peak physical condition longer.
New Workout:
| Mornings | Afternoons |
| 10 x 6kg hammer throws | 8 x 7.26kg hammer throws |
| Overhead shot put throws – 2 x 8 with 7.25kg shot put | 8 x 10kg hammer throws |
| Russian twists – 2 x 10 @ 20kg | Hammer Wind and Release – 2 x 14 with 14kg hammer |
| V-Ups – 2 x 10 | Snatch – 2 x 5 @ 70kg, 1 x 5 @ 80kg |
| Supermans – 2 x 8 | Front Half Squat – 3 x 5 @ 120kg |
| Dumbbell vertical jumps – 2 x 8 @ 20kg | Sit Ups – 3 x 8 @ 20kg |
| Good mornings – 3 x 5 @ 50kg |
Week of April 12th
After beginning the new workout, my results dipped slightly early in the week. Although the lifting in the new program is extremely light, I still experienced a little muscle soreness due to the fact it was something different and my technique also suffered some as a result. I continued to alternate the new and old program during the week. I did the old program on Monday and Wednesday and the new program on Tuesday. I then rested on Thursday to travel to my competition.
After arriving, I did a quick pre-meet workout on Friday morning. I took six throws with the 8.2kg hammer and did one set of the old lightweight morning workout in the weight room. I threw over 60 meters with the 8.2kg hammer for the first time in this training program, which was very encouraging since I only took a few attempts. After working out, I got a quick massage, stretched, iced, and rested the remainder of the day.
Saturday was meet day and it went very well. The conditions were perfect and I threw 65.88 meters, which is my best result in two years. My last attempt was even better and measured 67 meters, but was out of the sector and therefore did not count. But nonetheless I know there is more to come in the next few months as the season gets underway. On Monday, I will begin a new training program that will lead me into the heart of the season where I hope to break 70 meters.