{"id":4879,"date":"2026-10-08T17:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T22:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/?p=4879"},"modified":"2026-10-08T17:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T22:16:19","slug":"strength-matters-with-jamie-myers-october-2026-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/?p=4879","title":{"rendered":"Strength Matters with Jamie Myers: October, 2026 edition."},"content":{"rendered":"
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During many years as a strength and conditioning coach, primarily working for the USOPC, Jamie Myers has worked with Olympic and World medalists from a variety of events. In his meat head heart, however, the throws are number one. This is the latest in our series of chats with Jamie on matters of strength.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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McThrows: So 2026 was the first year since the pandemic with no Olympic Games or World Championships. Does the lack of a major international championships affect the way athletes prepare for a season?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: It can in different ways. For example, if you have an injury that you\u2019d try to work through during a normal year, the \u201coff year\u201d gives you the chance to get it taken care of so you won\u2019t have to keep pushing through it next season when there is a Worlds or Olympics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that and other ways, it can be a less stressful year. American athletes, for instance, can go to USAs knowing that if you\u2019re not at your best it\u2019s not going to cost you a spot on a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the break is probably even more impactful for perpetual medalists like Ryan Crouser. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking gold at an Olympics or <\/em>
Worlds every year since 2021 had <\/em>
to be exhausting. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a lot of pressure both mentally and physically when you can\u2019t afford to have a down year or at least do a little mental reset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time guys like Ryan had an \u201coff year\u201d was 2018. I had been working at the Olympic Training Center for nine years at that point, and I knew then that the break was beneficial, but now after seeing him and Joe Kovacs fight for medals year after year, I appreciate it even more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McThrows: How would a training plan look differently in an off year?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: It would give you a chance to focus on improving a certain quality that might raise an athlete\u2019s performance down the line. Let\u2019s say everybody agreed that a particular athlete could benefit from an improvement in their maximal strength. An \u201coff year\u201d would be a good time to push that because you wouldn\u2019t have to work as much on dynamic strength. You could use the “off year” to build a better base of strength that the athlete could draw on in subsequent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chance to shore up different weaknesses and get a mental reset could turn out to be the difference between an athlete making or not making a team in the future, which is big because if you aren\u2019t making World or Olympic teams, you\u2019re not going to last long in this sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McThrows: What are your thoughts on the \u201cUltimate World Championships\u201d? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: It\u2019s for sure not the same as a Worlds or Olympics because all the events are included. To athletes who are left out, it\u2019s irrelevant or maybe even offensive. The athletes I work with who will be competing have not approached it like a Worlds or Olympics. It feels more like a Diamond League meet from my perspective, but that may change if it continues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for sure there is value in competing against the best in an environment that is anywhere close to what you are exposed to at an international championships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One reason so many American shotputters have done well at the big championships might be that they get so much experience against top competition. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a long time, all you\u2019ve had to do to face the best was to show up at an average meet at Long Beach State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McThrows: A quick digression. Mykolas Alekna had an amazing year in spite of not being able to bench press since February. Is bench press an overrated lift?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: It might be for the discus. From a physics standpoint, if you just use your upper body to throw the disc it is not going to go far. I have to point out, though, that his injury was to his left pec and not his right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This also might be another illustration of the importance of learning how to do the movements before you get strong. Mykolas clearly developed a great feel for the throw early on. He\u2019s never been a guy who got by mainly on maximal strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Ryan Crouser, Mykolas knew how to throw far and right before he was considered strong in throwing circles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not saying there is no value in being strong. I love all things meat head. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the first priority in a technical event should be mastering positions and rhythm. It\u2019s easy to add strength later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McThrows: When an athlete suffers an injury that prevents them from lifting in a \u201cnormal\u201d way, how do they keep their nervous system sharp?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: There\u2019s lots of ways to do it. Jumps. Medball throws. It also helps to have special genetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McThrows: I’d like to say I could relate to that, but…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McThrows: So 2026 was the first year since the pandemic with no Olympic Games or World Championships. Does the lack of a major international championships affect the way athletes prepare for a season? JM: It can in different ways. For example, if you have an injury that you\u2019d try to work through during a normal … Continue reading Strength Matters with Jamie Myers: October, 2026 edition.<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8knIb-1gH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4879"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4941,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4879\/revisions\/4941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}