Upper Body Strength Training For Javelin Throwers

Johannes Vetter 97.76m PR Places a big emphasis on upper training and has been known to bench press close to 500lbs

Upper body training for javelin is something that is somewhat controversial. Often times old school coaches will talk about how "body building" or "power lifting" style of training is bad for javelin throwers due to causing them to be "tight". With new found information we now know that having muscle mass will protect the elbow, and allows the chest do take over and power the throw, rather than smaller ligaments like the labrum or UCL.

This fear comes from the idea that you cannot be simultaneously muscular and mobile. With throwers like Johannes Vetter throwing the second furthest throw in history back in 2020 (97.76m) and Jordan Davis breaking the USA collegiate record in 2024 (84.45m) we now know that this is a false dichotomy.

The important aspect of this style of training for Javelin throwers is that your muscles NEED to be pliable and mobile in order for them to actually do what is necessary for them to work in the throw. If you ignore your mobility and pliability then yes, adding hypertrophy and power training can definitely cause you some movement restrictions that may lead to injury. But that is why getting on a good mobility plan, addressing your muscles with deep tissue work, and practicing the ability to relax under tension is essential. This will allow your body to use its kinetic energy to power the throw, rather than muscling the throw.

My Athlete Nevan Burke (Left) has improved his bench press from 205lbs to 340lbs in 4 years with me taking his Javelin PR from 47m to 67m. My other athlete Jordan Davis (right) has a 405lb bench at 200lb body weight and is the furthest throwing US born collegiate athlete in NCAA history with a PR of 84.45m

You need to have a plan of attack to stay mobile and athletic, if you are going to implement body building and power lifting into your routine.

Strength Through Length

Dan Labbadia the founder of Jacked Javelin performs a skin the cat at 235lb body weight

Strength through length training bridges the gap between mobility and strength training. This helps you get stronger in the end ranges of motion and allows you to move better, recover better, and be stronger in more extreme positions that will help javelin throwing. Traditional weight lifting is great for building muscle, and getting more explosive. But strength through length training is essential to be able to simultaneously improve your hip flexor strength and mobility, adductor strength and mobility, pec strength and mobility, ability to externally rotate your throwing arm, load your rotator cuff, and many more specific joints that are essential to be strong and mobile as a javelin thrower.

Plyometrics

Upper body plyometrics are super important for being able to produce and absorb force. For example when we run and jump

we are accelerating and decelerating very similar to a throw or a medicine ball throw, but training this way with some weight and gravity is also very helpful. Some of my favorite

upper body plyos are clap pushups, hands elevated pushup plyos, drop catch bicep curls, and drop catch skull crushers

Some studies even support that a drop catch bicep curl is better for an overhead athlete because you only get the concentric part of the lift and not the eccentric, as well as catching in full extension.

Anterior Strength / Hypertrophy

Jordan Davis Bench Presses during a lifting Session

Anterior strength is essential to javelin throwing, primarily in the chest. In order to get proper acceleration in the throw you need to develop strong pecs. With having strong pecs and deltoids, this will protect your shoulder socket and take the stress off your elbow and labrum when you are throwing.

In an upper body day I typically structure it so that you will complete your 1 compound movement (bench press) at a heavyweight, medium to low volume, to develop power, then the remainder of your anterior lifts will not be presses, they will be full range of motion (ROM) lifts to work on the chest stretch and strength. Such as: DB pec fly, skin the cat, band pull parts. This also limits the amount of stress on the shoulder socket and avoids forward shoulder impingement, because when you throw you have a lot of the forward motion, so I try to limit that motion in the weight room so the athlete does not get burnt out from forward and upward pressing movements.

Note: Backwards, heavy plyoball throws are also a staple to preventing forward shoulder impingement and improve acceleration of the throwing arm, leading to a healthier arm.

Posterior Strength / Hypertrophy

Training the Rotator Cuff is essential to Javelin Throwing

Posterior strength is essential for deceleration as we talked about earlier, but this is one of the best ways to train it is to LOAD it. A general rule of thumb I like to use is do 2x the amount of volume on the posterior than the anterior. This way we protect the shoulder socket and avoid the forward shoulder impingement. So if we do 2 main chest or shoulder movements, we will do 4 back or posterior exercises.

Note: it is essential to treat your anterior movements like compound movements. Too many athletes will use light DB’s with no intentionality with a DB knee up rotation and never make any progress with body parts such as the rotator cuff.

Javelin Training Upper Body Sample:

Anterior: Bench Press 5x5, Db pec flies 3x8, DB knee up rotators 3x5, Cable face pull 3x12, DB SA row 3x12 ea., DB Chest supported row 3x12

What body parts should you focus on for throwing?

Chest - Accelerate the arm

Lats - Accelerate the arm

Rotator cuff / rear delt: decelerates the arm

Core / obliques - connect the lower and upper half

Isometrics

Isometrics are extremely useful for building tolerance and capacity in certain ranges of motion. Doing a hands elevated pushup iso hold will not only strengthen your chest and triceps, it will stretch it out and build the endurance in that position unlike anything else. Another form of isometric that is great for your upper body is a dead hang where you are able to improve your grip strength and stretch out your spine and shoulders, this also helps forward shoulder impingement especially well. Lastly, another one of my favorite isometrics is a barbell top iso where you improve your top end strength in the bench press by improving your ability to stabilize at the top, and extend the elbow out. This also directly helps your wrist and tricep health a ton as well. All of these will help stabilize the muscles around the elbow in different positions and put stress on different areas without directly tearing down too many muscle fibers and causing you to be extremely sore. These are awesome to do on a light day.

Upper Body Training for Javelin is essential to produce power and Prevent injury

Click here to view the full video on how we train our upper body for speed, power, and muscle mass.

To view our full free javelin course click here.