Any discus throwers out there?

[nightshift]

I am wondering if any of you have ever or are still into throwing the discus? Personally, I have not thrown in years, but my young son and I were at a local track meet and were able to watch the discus event. He said he would like to learn how to do it. I showed him some Youtube video of guys like Lars Riedel and Mac Wilkins. These guys are real athletes IMO. He was very impressed. He's only 10 and I don't want to push him into anything, but he is a big strong kid so I thought this might be good for him. I've located a 1k disc, which is the right weight. What do you think?

 

[Neil5585]

I used to throw discus back in high school. By best official throw was only 153' but I did alright working my way up and improving. My first meet I threw a little over 70'.

It's a fun sport. Just tons and tons and tons of drilling technique. Most of the time just drilling and not throwing "heavy", although taking a day or two a week and really tossing them out once technique gets good enough (throwing hard without technique is pointless, IMO).

Snatch, incline press, power cleans, etc are all great lifts for discus.

 

[Vitruvian]

I used to throw back in middle and high school..... miss doing it now too!

If he has interest, I'd definitely start him early on technique. Power is irrelevant obviously if technique and form are not perfected.

 

[nightshift]

Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and bought a 1k disc for my son and a 2k for myself. Got the OK to use the local schools track on Saturdays. As soon as my ankle heels we are going to get into it.