STACK spends a day with the world's best shotputter, Reese Hoffa, and gets the scoop on what he's doing to get ready for the '08 Summer Games
About the Video
Reese Hoffa, U.S. Olympic shot putter and world champion, demonstrates and describes his workout in preparation for the Beijing Olympics. Reese also explains how consistency has helped him throw further distances and win the world indoor-outdoor championships.
TRANSCRIPT
Kyle Woody (Stack TV Interviewer):
We are here at the University of Georgia and we are going to see how Reese Hoffa, the world's number 1 shot putter, trains and practices for the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
Reese Hoffa (US Olympic Shotputter):
I'm Reese Hoffa, the world indoor, world outdoor champion. I'm the World's number one for the 2007 year and I'm also a 2004 Olympian. It's a pretty awesome feeling; I knew that when I made the team it would completely change my life, which it has.
A lot of opportunities have come my way. I'm getting chances to talk to elementary schools, high schools, doing a lot of athletics and it's definitely made me an important person.
Reese Hoffa's Trainer:
Reese's thrown at a very high level in the past. He has won the world indoor --outdoor championship and the world indoor championship. He has thrown distances far enough to win a gold medal.
His personal best is basically about equal or just a couple inches short of Olympic records, so he has what it takes and has done what it takes to win any gold medal there is to win. We are just trying to reproduce that for this year, basically.
Reese Hoffa (Us Olympic Shotputter):
My goal is to do the same thing over and over again perfectly with the best possible technique that I possibly can do. That's why I have been doing the rubix cube for about six years now, and it's all about just doing the same thing over and over again, making sure that there is no variation in anything I do. Everything is exactly the same.
Some of the advantages of being a rotational thrower would be that you can be smaller, not as strong, it just lets me use more rotational speed, more linear drive out of the back of the ring and hopefully allows me to put more force in the ball or generate more force in the ball than someone that's taller.
Reese Hoffa's Trainer:
I think for a thrower like Reese, compared to a lot of people that you see in a championship Olympic final, he is on the shorter side. He is around six feet tall.
With that rotational technique he is able to add on probably about 15, 16 feet to his stand throw. It allows him to use the ring a little bit more to his advantage that confines that seven-foot ring with the rotational technique. If he were gliding he would be at a definite disadvantage against a lot of the other top international throwers.
Reese Hoffa (US Olympic Shotputter):
My training pretty much hasn't changed from what I was doing in college. I think that's the secret of my consistency over the years of being able to go year after year and produce big numbers in terms of throws and stay strong.
For the young throwers out there, continue doing what you do well, get out there and train and get on a normal routine. I'm Reese Hoffa and you're watching STACK TV.
