Shot put is one of the most popular Olympic games. It is watched by many people around the world. The game requires the athletes to give their best in terms of strength, grit, focus and determination.
Athletes are required to be at their very best while pulling off the throw. Their technique should be perfect and should be combined with right form. The muscles used by the athletes play a major role.
If you know the right muscles to focus on, you can strengthen then to make your game even better. Though overall fitness and a full body strength is needed to perform well, focusing on a selected group of muscles is also vital.
You should know about the muscles which are vital to generate enough power that your shot is able to land as far as it can. In this way muscle strength plays a major role.
Different groups of muscles work collectively to provide the right momentum to the player participating in the game of shot put. There are very few group of muscles that are needed to make your game better.
You should focus on those areas when you practice so that your game improves consistently. It is also vital to know the benefits of improving these muscles and the ways in which this can be done.
So, let us first talk about the benefits of training your muscles and we will then focus on the different areas that need to be worked up on.
Shot Put Exercises & Their Benefits
Before starting with the exercises lets talk about the major muscles involved, to get an idea about the workout that can benefit an athlete. We can know the major exercises that help build muscle mass and adds to the strength of the player.
Pectoralis Major, the anterior deltoid, the obliques and the triceps brachii are the main muscles that are needed to be focused up on, when training for shot put. Pectoralis is the muscle of the chest, often called the pecs. The deltoid muscle is the muscle of the arm. It is a multi pinnate muscle.
What that means is that it has many fibres arising from its point of origin . The anterior fibres are the one that are involved in the game of shot put.
The leg muscles, namely the Gluteus medius and Gluteus maximus are also involved in generating momentum, also known as glutes and are your ass musles. The athlete then shifts the power to the upper body and throws the shot. This requires practice and the right form and technique.
The leg muscles needed to be worked up on too. So the first exercise that is needed for shot put is – squats. A set of 3 squats done till fatigue can help you.
Working Out Your Chest For Shot Put
We now come to the chest. Bench press is the standard muscle training exercise that an athlete should do to make the pecs stronger. An aspiring athlete can do dumbbell bench press at home regularly, to maintain consistency.
Push ups are also a good idea to enhance your chest muscles. Combining these 2 forms can help you in attaining a good chest muscle strength and doing better in the game.
Working Out Your Arms For Shot Put
When it comes to the triceps and the deltoids, you should really focus on them because these are the muscles which would have the maximum impact on how far you throw the shot. These muscles groups are usually ignored by amateur athletes.
Even though the triceps form more than 2/3rd of the arm circumference, it is the biceps that are focused up on. Triceps are equally, if not more vital to focus for a better game of shot put.
Dumbbell raises, 3 second negative triceps press, are some of the exercises that you as an athlete can do to make your triceps more stronger. A good gym trainer will help you practice these exercises with the right form and technique. They would also help you in making a plan and marking out the exact fibres of the muscles that need to be paid attention to. It can be a major boost for your game.
Broad shoulders are not just aesthetically pleasing but are also vital for a good game of shot put. Deltoid is the major muscle of the shoulder and the whole rotation movement that is needed to throw the shot is based around the strength of this muscle.
It is also important that you know about the anterior lateral and posterior fibres of the deltoid before starting any training regimen. This will help you in choosing the right form and working on your weakness.
The anterior fibres of the deltoid can be made stronger by doing dumbbell raises. Keep on putting more wait to the dumbbell bars as you put your arms straight ahead, parallel to the ground. You can superficially feel the anterior fibres of your deltoid.
These fibres are helpful in abduction of the arm till 90°. This makes them very important in the game of shot put, as they transfer the momentum from the body to the shot.
The thing about strengthening your lateral deltoid fibres is that they respond well to overload. And no, we are not talking about progressive overload here. To make your lateral deltoids stronger, do a lateral dumbbell raise with the maximum weight you can.
This will give you an idea about the current strength of your muscle fibres. What you need to do now is add more weight to your dumbbell bar and do the lateral raises.
There is no need to count the reps. It is the overload that we are aiming for. With continuous overload, the fibres will get accustomed to the weight and you would be able to do the same number of reps as you did with the normal weight. This is a great technique to make your lateral deltoid stronger.
Exercises for the abdominal muscles help in making them stronger to transfer the energy from the glutes and quadriceps to the upper body. These muscles also remain rigid while the athlete makes the shot. It helps the arms and legs to stay in the right form. So, they should be trained vigorously too.
These are the different groups of muscles involved in shot put and the ways by which we can strengthen them. We will now talk about the actions in which the muscle groups are used.
Muscles Involved In Getting The Shot Put Moving Forward
There are 2 methods used in shot putting: the spin and the glide. Both need a powerful leg drive. Athletes use their strong quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteus maximus to push off from the back of the circle and generate the initial thrust.
A shot put starts with the athlete placing most of their weight on one leg; therefore, one leg tends to work harder than the other in this event.
Muscles Involved In Transferring Energy
The initial drive from the legs generates a lot of energy, which must be transferred into the upper body. The muscles involved are the obliques, rectus abdominus and transversus.
These muscles must stay strong and rigid to support the efforts of the thrower’s arms and legs. Shot putters use their oblique muscles very strongly to rotate their upper body to drive the shot.
Muscles Involved In Pushing The Shot Put Away
The shot is pushed away, as opposed to thrown like a baseball or football. It is held next to the athlete’s jaw and then driven forward with a powerful shoulder and arm extension.
Pushing the shot away uses the Pectoralis major muscles of the chest, the anterior deltoids, or front shoulder muscles, and the triceps brachii on the rear of the upper arm. The obliques are needed to add a final rotational effort to drive the shot as far as possible.
These are the different muscles involved while throwing a shot put. An athlete should focus on these muscles to make their game even better. With proper exercise and regular practice, these muscles can be strengthened and made stronger, to yield a better result for the athlete. So, start focusing on these muscles and you will see better results in no time!