Sooooooooo….. I should only learn to spin if I have a coach who can teach me to spin (which I don't) otherwise I should just stick with the glide. You'd think Estonia or Lithuania or Russia would have the knowledge? to figure out the spin, but who knows.
Word is that the Eastern Bloc countries tried to make a government sponsored switch to the spin technique but that the coaches weren't successful. I know Kumberness threw with the spin a couple times but couldn't come close to glide success. I think part of the problem may be that athletes who come up in more systemized, early development, training programs than the U.S. may have a more difficult time switching than their U.S. counterparts who may only start throwing as collegiates.
In the glide the muscle firing sequence in laymans terms should go something like hips, then straightening the legs, then the shoulders come through, then your arm, then flick the wrist, right?
Yes. This is basically the activation pattern for all of the throws.
I have really never used my opposite arm in the shot, disc, and jav, and I don't really know how, should I use it to open my shoulders faster and throw my chest out, or should I use it halfway after I've started opening my shoulders in the shot and disc, and halfway through "unwrapping" in the jav?
It really depends on the throw and the technical philosophy your employing. The free arm block can be very different in the javelin and discus than it is in the shot put. The same goes for long-short and short-long gliders. Or spinners vs. gliders.
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