Episode 106 - What Events To Throw And When: How to Break Down Training Session Days Based on Athlete Goals - a podcast by Charles J. Infurna, EdD

In this episode of the Forza Athletics Life and Coaching Podcast I share a few different strategies I've incorporated over my coaching career that are focused on how many training sessions to complete per week, per event.  In this episode I discuss the training breakdown Dylan and I incorporated last season that led him to finishing the season ranked 4th overall in the discus in Division III.  I also share thoughts about how Luis and I and Brandon and I planned out their training programs based on their unique goals.  In the 2015-16 season, Luis' goal was to be a double national champion in the 35lb. weight throw and hammer throw.  Brandon's goals were to also qualify for nationals in the discus or shot-put, while also qualifying for our regional meet in the discus, hammer, and shot-put.  Luis won the 2016 DIII 35lb. weight throw national championship and finished 3rd in the hammer throw during the same season.  Brandon is Nazareth College's school record holder in the discus and indoor/outdoor shot-put.  He was a 16m+ weight thrower, 50' shot-putter, and 44m discus thrower during the 2015-16 season.  At Fredonia, Julia won the 2009 DIII 20lb. weight throw national championship.  She was a 5x All-American in the weight throw and hammer throw.  Her training program was much different than Luis', but similar to the program that Monique Hardy followed as a high school thrower that won the 2019 New Balance Indoor National Championship in the 20lb. weight throw.  Monique is also ranked #2 all-time for high school female weight throwers with a personal best over 19m+.  All of these athletes had similar goals (compete at nationals), but their training programs reflected those goals.  

In my humble coaching opinion, I would recommend an indoor thrower to train their main event (weight or shot-put) 2x-3x per week with their second event another 1-2x's per week.  Again, this depends on the athlete's unique goals and what they want to accomplish.  Luis didn't throw the shot-put in 2015-16, so our focus was primarily on the weight.  Last outdoor season, Dylan trained the shot-put maybe 10x between March and May because his goal was to throw the discus and hammer at nationals.  He finished the season with a personal best discus throw of 52m+, 54m+ in the hammer, and 14.50m in the shot-put.

Training would be different during the outdoor season.  I would suggest 2x-3x a week for a thrower's main event followed by 1x-2x for their second and third events, respectively.  Dylan is coming back this season for a COVID 5th year with a focus on competing at nationals in the discus and hammer throw.  Dylan currently trains the hammer 2x per week and the discus 2x per week with our first meet coming up in early April, 2023.

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