By April Smith
April Smith is a USATF Central California Instructor and U.S. Olympic Development Coach. She has served on several USA National teams, including the World Outdoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary in 2023 and, most recently, as Women’s Head Coach at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China. She has 25 years of coaching experience at various levels of the sport, including NCAA Division I, youth, and masters, and was an expert panelist for the World Athletics Coaches Academy.
Several factors impact the throwing events, including release angle, release height, and release velocity. However, only release velocity has a muscular training component to increase the power produced. Specific warm-up sequences and medicine ball exercises can improve neural activation that will increase muscle recruitment and release velocity.
Biomechanics play a large role in optimizing positions that create torque and force throughout the throwing technique. Every muscle group plays a role in the chain or sequence from the ground power to the release point. Many throwers overtrain the larger muscle groups and forget to train or activate the smaller muscle groups that connect the transfer of power to the lever. The “core” is often referred to by coaches but is rarely identified or activated properly during training. Figure 1 shows the attachments of the various hip muscles in the lumber spine and the hip joint that make up an essential portion of the core and ultimately influence the potential to produce the “big throw.”
Knowing which muscles control the various body parts enables the coach to prescribe a training program that optimizes movement while protecting the body in order to produce a high power and torque. Throwers have a tendency to experience lumbar spine injuries and often complain of sciatic nerve issues. Notice that these muscles are attached in the same locations that athletes get injuries. If the training stimulus is interrupted due to spinal injury or displacement, muscle activation is also interrupted and the power transfer is lost. Smaller muscle connectors, such as the gluteus minimus and gluteus medius, need to be activated prior to a workout, lest they become subordinated to the larger muscles’ (i.e., gluteus maximus, hip flexors, quadriceps) ability to control the limbs’ movements. When these larger muscle groups perform the technical movements, the thrower’s technique is altered and the stretch-reflex response is induced, which together negatively influence the result. For example, when the thrower opens his or her block side early, it results in a sector foul or caged release.
In all throwing events, the torque and separation through the hips and lever are crucial elements. These movements generate the release velocity. The gluteus minimus, which originates on the lateral side of the ilium and inserts at the greater trochanter of the femur, rotates the femur medially (inward to the spine). This movement can be cued by telling the athlete, “Squeeze the knees,” as shown in the pictures above. Conversely, the gluteus medius rotates the femur distally (away from the spine). This movement occurs during the loading phase of the rotational throw in discus or shot put, and during the block-leg landing in the power position, creating the stretch reflex through the hip. To train this movement of “opening the knees,” coaches can use the “clamshell” exercise with a power band. This exercise can even be used while the athlete lifts weights with the upper body in order to activate and strengthen the glutes.
While this is a great exercise, the acceleration or stretch reflex is unevenly trained and the gluteus medius (opens the leg) can over power the gluteus minimus (closes the leg), resulting in a groin injury. Staying balanced through the extension and flexion of complementary muscle groups is crucial to the athlete’s health. For example, by overtraining the quadriceps, the hamstrings can’t keep up, which may cause a muscle pull or tear. Similar to over stretching the hamstring will ultimately shorten the quadricep, thus causing a hip rotation and result in severe lower or lumbar back pain (L1-L-4).
Optimal training of the thrower depends on the creation of stimuli to activate the different muscle groups. The following exercises focus on the nerves of the lumbar plexus, which is composed of the first through fourth lumbar vertebrae (L1-L4) of the lower back.
Once we have a grasp of the specific nerves that control the movement involved in the throwing events, we can better understand how the spine works and how the athlete can best transfer his or her power from the ground into the release point, once separation has been created. Training protocols need to focus on the areas that control this transfer of power and velocity through the movement in the center or power position of the throws. Here are several warm-up protocols and medicine ball exercise the coach can use to train and activate the important muscle groups. Coaches can create a greater change in the center acceleration by enhancing activation of the femoral and obturator nerves, which activate and control the gluteus minimus, adductors, psoas major, and iliacus or iliopsoas muscles.
Warm-Up Protocols
1) Jogging/continuous movements, including side-shuffles, carioca, and backwards running: 5 minutes, barefoot on grass, if possible
This creates neural activation with direct contact to the ground, avoiding interference from shoes that can affect gait. Warm-up and cool-down practices are crucial to the athlete’s health and recovery, fitness, muscle activation, and flexibility.
2) Core stabilizing movements
This activates the rotational movements needed for the throwing events, which can be performed between different dynamic movements.
3) Joint mobility
Circular movements should be included in the beginning of the warm-up. Focus on proximal muscles (close to the spine) before distal muscles (away from the spine). This allows for the athlete to gain mobility and creates balance that will stimulate the proper nerves in the lumbar spine. The following warm-up sequence includes different variations and positions that will hit those neural sensors to begin the activation process. Supervision is crucial in this process to prevent injury and ensure limb flexion and limb position are activating the proper nerve plexus. If your athletes are not activating properly, it creates an opportunity for injury and interruption of the power transfer in the throwing technique.
1. Knee circles: 10 reps each direction
2. Pelvic circles: 10 reps each direction
3. Hip circles: 10 reps each direction
4. Trunk circles: 10 reps each direction
5. Head circles: 10 reps each direction
6. Seated hip mobility:
a. Swinging leg cradle
b. Bent-leg windshield wipers (advanced athletes can elevate to the knees)
c. Hip thrust w/knee ball squeeze: 10 x 10 seconds
d. Side plank broken clams
e. Copenhagen side plank using short lever w/leg bent on bench
7. High-knee pulls: 10 each leg
8. Monster walk: 10 each leg
9. Lateral lunges with a sway: 10 each leg
10. Forward lunge with spinal rotation: 10 each leg
11. Lying leg swings (pronated and supinated): 10 each leg both sides
12. Lateral forward lunge: 10 each leg
13. Lateral backward lunge: 10 each leg
14. Calf (soleus) stretch on incline: 20 seconds each side
15. Calf (gastrocnemius) stretch on incline with a knee bend: 20 seconds each leg
16. Leg swings forward & backward: 10 each leg
17. Leg-swing catch: 5 each leg
18. Side-leg swing, leading with heel of foot: 10 each leg
19. A-B-C skips: 20 meters each
20. 4 x 40-meter accelerations with walk back recovery
Medicine Ball Exercises (5 sets of 40) – Acceleration/Finish Focus
Here are several exercises that can be used to train neural activation and teach the athlete how to accelerate and create velocity and power.
Seated Russian Twists with 45-Degree Lean
Athlete should grip the bench aggressively by squeezing it between his/her knees, activating the hip-girdle stabilizers, adductors, quads, and hamstrings. Once the athlete has created the 45 degree lean with his/her torso, elbows need to be locked into the lats and obliques with the shoulders rotating 90 degrees (10 o’clock to 2 o’clock). Moving beyond this range of motion can create a deeper stretch reflex and distortion of the lumbar region, causing injury.
Seated Catch and Finish with 30-degree Lean
Athlete should grip the bench aggressively with his/her knees, activating the hip-girdle stabilizers, adductors, quads, and hamstrings. Toss a medicine ball to the seated athlete toward the left or right of the upper chest. Athlete catches the medicine ball with a shot put-style grip, elbows out and thumbs down, while the opposite arm captures the medicine ball as it hits the hand. Allow the momentum of the ball to cause rotational movement away from his/her partner and then push/throw the medicine ball back to the partner.
Standing Weighted Power Position Pop-Ups with Band (10 sets of 3 reps each side)
Athlete is seated on a bench, weighted bar is on the shoulders, the core is stabilized, and the trunk rotates 90 degrees, or from a 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock position, with one leg elevated to meet the opposite hand at the stopping point.
Bar Twists with Leg Raise (advanced)
Athlete begins in a power position with the weight bar across the shoulders. The partner places a power band around the athlete’s waist, applying pressure from the back of the ring in a downward motion (similar to the angle-of-release position). This forces the athlete to stabilize and engage the hip stabilizers and core muscles while performing the technique of the power throw. As the athlete turns and lifts, he/she raises the bar above his/her head, completing the transfer of power. The athlete performs three of these consecutively, under balance and control in an up-and-down, corkscrew-type movement pattern between power position and finish. (Switching to the non-dominant side increases the athlete’s coordination and prevents dominant-side training issues.)
Standing Weighted Power Position Finishes with Band (10 sets of 3 reps each side)
Athlete begins in a power position with a 2.5-5-pound plate (discus)/10-15-pound dumbbell (shot put), which can vary with the level of athlete. The partner places a power band around the athlete’s waist, applying pressure from the back of the ring in a downward motion (similar to the angle-of-release position). The athlete performs the throwing motion of a non-reverse power throw, while the force is applied to maintain core stability. The focus on core contraction is primarily through the midline or medial aspects of the spine and balance through the ball of the foot and big toe.
Neural training needs to be supervised in order to be effective, with exercises performed in the weight room on weight lifting speed days. Athletes used to training large muscle groups and are able to throw far using weight training exercises like squat, bench press, and clean have a tendency to diminish the importance of core training and neural activation, which are necessary to turn up the intensity during competition. The iliopsoas group, medial compartment (adductors and gracilis), and gluteus medius and minimus control the speed increase through stretch reflex. These muscle groups need to be engaged throughout the training process, from general strength in pre-season to specific and peak training elements of the championship season.
References
Zaras, N., Stasinaki, A.-N., & Terzis, G. Biological determinants of track and field throwing performance. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 6:40, 2021.
Hines, A. Exercise Science: The Muscular System. Presentation PowerPoint. 2014, 2025 SlidePlayer.com Inc.
Froeling, M. Muscle-Atlas. muscle-atlas.org/muscle/thigh/medial
Froeling, M. Muscle-Atlas. muscle-atlas/muscle/thigh/anterior
Singh, O. and Al Khalili, Y. Anatomy, Back, Lumbar Plexus. Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing, 2025.
