Article By: Reese Hoffa
Reese Hoffa is the owner of the Hoffa Throws Academy, an elite training facility located in Watkinsville GA. He is a 3-time Olympian, 2-time World Champion, and spent an unprecedented 10 straight years ranked in the top 3 in the world.
In my previous article, I outlined a couple of mistakes I see throwers making with their training. You can check that article out by clicking here. I really appreciate the feedback I got from the Kabuki Strength community, and one of the most common questions was how those considerations actually entered into program design. I thought the most productive way to answer that question was to just open up my old training log and show a sample training week from my final season as a pro. This is my actual in season workout schedule assuming a meet on Saturday.
Monday- Movement Prep Day
5 minutes of easy rowing or skiing on a Concept 2 Row or Ski Erg.
DB Seated Military Press 3×8
Bent Over Fly 2×10
Single Leg Squat 3×6
ShouldeRok Swings 3×10 Double Arm Each Direction
ShouldeRok Swings 2×5 Single Arm Each Direction
Tuesday- Throw and Bench Day
AM Session- Throwing Practice
PM Session- Bench Press 4×3 at 1.0 m/s to 1.3m/s (during the season I wanted to keep the weight lighter, so I used the Squats and Science OpenBarbell device to measure velocity. For more information on velocity tracking, I suggest Brandon Senn’s article found here.
Band Pull Apart superset with DB Upright Row 2×15
Single Arm DB Bench 2×10
Hoffa Rotational Press 2×10
Sprints 4×30 yards
Wednesday-Movement Prep Day
Side Lunges 2×8
Speed Skater Jump 2×8
Bench Glute Bridge 2×10
Hill Sprint 4×2 Sprints
ShouldeRok Swings 2×5 Single Arm Each Direction
Thursday-Throw and Explosive Movement
AM Session- Throwing Practice
PM Session- Banded Trap Bar Deadlift 4×3 (Speed Focus)
TRX Side Raises 2×10
Lateral Arm Raise superset with Seated Clean 3×8
Medicine Ball Twists 2×8 (Explosive)
Friday- Pre-Meet
3 rounds of circuit
Box Jump x5
Bird Dog x5
Single Leg Squat x3 each leg
Plyometric Pushup x5
Saturday- Competition and Squat
AM Session- Throw in Competition
PM Session- Duffalo Bar Squat 5×3 at 1.0 to 1.3 m/s (for speed focus)
Hoffa Super Push-up 2×15
Blackburns 4×20 seconds each position
Woodchopper 2×12
Easy Sprints 4×100 yards
Sunday- Rest
On Sundays I would do some light stretching, possibly followed by treatments like foam rolling, but this isn’t limited to just Sundays. Any day where I felt like it would improve my performance I was going to take the time to take care of myself. If you are serious about your performance you should do the same.
A note on the speed work: The velocity ranges used are the result of research along with knowing my body. I looked at the rate I moved various percentages of my max and along with my strength coach, Corey Davis, decided that this was the range of speed that would be heavy enough stimulate appropriately without being overly taxing. I typically move weight quickly, so I imagine for many people they would want their speed work to be at a lower speed range.
To hear more from Reese, check out www.hoffathrows.com, email him at hoffathrows@coreblendtraining.com, on Instagram as @hoffathrows or his Facebook page Hoffa Throws Academy.
The writing of this article was prompted by all the social media posts I’ve seen talking about men’s mental health. Apparently November is men’s mental health month. That is unless you’re struggling with your own mental health issues. Then, every month, week, and day may very well be an ongoing struggle. Although throughout this article I’ll be referencing comparative data between men and women and differing demographics, the point is not to prop up men's suffering above women or anyone else for that matter. It’s simply there to elucidate the current state of men’s mental health, which is the central focus of this article. “Einstein is quoted as having said that if he had one hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution” (1). This mentality exists in contrast to the current lack of awareness pertaining to the drivers of psychological ill-health. Social media and articles routinely discuss what to do if you’re depressed, anxious, suicidal, etc. But seldom does anyone discuss the complexity of the subject. Unfortunately, without truly understanding the issues that lead to ill-health it’s unlikely to come up with an effective solution and subsequent prevention strategies. Therefore the aim of this article is as follows:
Optimizing exercise range of motion to maximize muscle growth is a popular topic to discuss. As new research emerges, it often leaves you with more questions about the fundamental mechanisms and application of hypertrophy training. Mechanical tension is known as a primary driver of hypertrophy. Therefore it stands to reason that training a muscle through larger ranges of motion will create more tension, resulting in a greater hypertrophic stimulus. Although this makes sense at face value, it’s ultimately an unsatisfactory answer. At deeper levels of analysis, mechanical tension alone (or at least our current model) can not explain some of the observed outcomes we see both in the literature and anecdotally. The aim of this article is to provide a brief review of the topic, provide context to the ROM discussion, and offer practical recommendations to implement into your own training.
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