G. Martin Bingisser » Training Partners

Training on Sundays

Martin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:32:15 +0000

For most people in Switzerland, Sunday is a day of rest. The labor laws generally prevent anyone from working on Sunday. Therefore, with a few exceptions, all stores are closed. Residents are expected to keep loud noises to a minimum, meaning that even things like laundry and vacuuming can be frowned upon in certain apartment buildings.

But since I work all week, Sunday is the one day where I have lots of free time. It is my biggest training day of the week, yet the only place to lift weights is in the basement fitness studio of a hotel half way across town. Furthermore, I have to go out of my way to pick up an access card from my club on Friday. And the equipment doesn't always fit my needs. This is a stark contrast to America where you can almost always find a gym open and when you can't you know the guy who has the key.

Training Talk: Shot Put With Justin Rodhe

Martin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:33:37 +0000

Bondarchuk is most well known for his legacy as both an athlete and a coach in the hammer. But his greatest success since he began coaching Western athletes has been in the shot put. His star pupil Dylan Armstrong increased the Canadian record to 21.58 meters and placed fourth in Beijing, just one centimeter off of the podium.

Often hidden in the shadow of Dylan is Justin Rodhe, and that's something he hopes to change in the future. When Justin arrived in Kamloops in 2007, he had just graduated Division 3 Mt. Union College, where he was a consistent 16 to 17 meter thrower. During his last meet for the school, he threw 18 meters for the first time and won the NCAA D3 title. Since joining the group he has made quick progress: last year he threw 19.52 meters and this year he expects to be in the 20 meter range. Rodhe also married Megan VanderVliet in 2009, a Commonwealth Games participant for Canada in the hammer throw and is deciding whether to compete for America or Canada in the future. The two recently launched RodheThrows.com. Justin has been kind enough to share some of what he has learned about the shot put from Bondarchuk and others.

2010 Season Review

Martin — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:50:32 +0000

I was looking back at my review of last season today and it is eerily similar to how I feel about this season. However, the two years were world's apart. I not only threw three meters further this year, but I was also more consistent and had almost ten meets over my season's best from last year. But, as always, I want more.

The Good – Like I said above, I threw better than last year. Much better. The highlight of the season was another win at the national championships by a convincing margin. I finished more than fourteen meters ahead of the next Swiss thrower (Björn, a German citizen, also threw great for second place), which by my research is the largest margin of victory at a Swiss Championship. Training has also gone very well. I improved my special strength and set lots of training bests from the 5-kilogram hammer all the way up to the 10-kilogram hammer. If I can get that strength into the throw, I know it will produce something over 70-meters. My technique also improved this year, although it is still not where I want it to be.

Goodbye Northwest, Hello Zurich

Martin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 22:05:06 +0000

Throughout my career as a hammer thrower, I've constantly been traveling to find coaching. I traveled to Harold Connolly's cabin in southwest Virginia, to clinics on both coasts, and across the country to learn from the country's top coaches. As a young college thrower, I went to training camps in Hungary, Belarus, and Slovenia to learn from the world's top coaches. Then, in 2005, I met Anatoli Bondarchuk after he moved to Kamloops. He wrote my training programs while I attended law school in Seattle and after years of making the five-hour drive to visit him on the weekends, I've spent most of my time in Kamloops since graduating in 2008.

Since finding Bondarchuk as a coach, my schedule has essentially reversed. I've now spent the past two years constantly traveling away from him. Since 2008, I have made the five-hour trip back to Seattle for work several weeks each month. And, this week I signed a contract that will move me even farther away from coach Bondarchuk. But while I will be leaving Kamloops, I will be moving close to something I have missed the past few years: routine...

June Training Update: Getting My Groove Back

Martin — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 10:44:51 +0000

When I got to Europe and saw my distances in training and competitions fall by five meters, I was a bit mystified. This happened to me last year, but I thought I had fixed the problems that led to it then. As I posted at the time, I knew that the five meters didn't just vanish. My results were down, but I kept up hope that it would come back with the right adjustments. But after a month, my patience was starting to wear thin. I e-mailed Coach Bondarchuk to let him know how things were going and eagerly awaited his response. I thought he might be able to identify some new critical flaw in my technique, or perhaps alter my training program since things were not going well. Instead I got a short reassuring response that I will reprint in its entirety: "Hello Martin. Continued program. Dont vory. A.B."

He was right. I took his advice, and things got better.

By the end of last week, training had already improved. I was ready for a little breakthrough, but the conditions and the meet were not accommodating to my plans. Since returning to training this week, I have continued to improve every day culminating in a record setting day Saturday. The morning started off with a new personal best with the 8-kilogram hammer (61.90 meters) and a near season's best with the competition 7.26kg hammer (note: this throw would have been a season's best if my training hammer didn't have a diameter nearly as big as a beach ball). After enjoying the warm weather and the arrival of summer between practices, I returned in the afternoon to launch a new personal best with the 10-kilogram hammer (52.95 meters) and another solid throw with the 6-kilogram hammer. Needless to say, it was a good day. The only bad thing this weekend was that both the Swiss and the Americans lost in the World Cup, so now I have to find a new team to root for.