Styles of Glide

THE SHORT/LONG GLIDE TECHNIQUE

The short/long is similar to the techniques of the tall throwers of recent, such as Tomasz Majewski and David Storl. The shot putter starts on a low bent leg, and picks up their opposing leg high, the upper body is relaxed and bent with the shot over the dominant leg

From the starting position, the athlete will “unseat” by dropping their center of gravity towards the front of the circle, with a push off by rolling to the heel of the dominant leg. The glide is shot, about 2/3 feet in length, with the athlete landing in a wide stance, with the dominant foot facing out at approximately 140-degrees, pointing about 4:30 (0-degree and 12 o’clock are the front of the circle).

From the power position, the athlete will now lift his body and rotate, in contrast to the rotation and long/short technique where the athlete rotates and then lifts their body into the throw. The photo of David Storl below shows the lifting of the trunk, followed by the rotation of the body over the left foot block.

THE LONG/SHORT GLIDE TECHNIQUE

The Long/Short glide is a great technique for the shorter and faster shot putter. The long/short is similar to the traditional thought of a glide, the athlete pushes across the circle, landing in a narrow base in power position, and then rotates and lifts their body similar to that of the rotation.

The athlete will begin the glide, similar to the short/long by having their weight over a bent dominant or push off leg, from this movement the glide is further, about 3 to 4 feet in length with the athlete landing just past the center. The feet are staggered with both facing 90-degrees and 3 o’clock in the circle.

From the power position, the athlete will rapidly push their dominant side hip out towards the toe board. As the athlete is pushing their dominant side towards the toe board, their hips will rise as the non-dominant side provides a simple block, as that side also begins to reverse as the thrower completes the put. The final put and reverse is shown below, notice the athlete continues to have ground contact throughout the length of the put.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse