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nuentes t1_j10bz7m wrote

Leading to the term "Beamon-esque" - a term for outlier performances that just cannot be contended with.

One of my favorite Beamon-esque performances is the Michael Carter HS shot put record. Michael was already the national shot put record holder at 77 feet. On his very last throw of his very last track meet of High School in 1979, he threw the 12-pound ball 81 feet 3.5 inches. The record is so ridiculous, that it STILL has not been touched 43 years later.

Ryan Crouser broke the shot put world record last year. He was one of the closest to ever come to the record during his HS career. From memory, I believe he threw 77 feet in HS. Many believe he would have broken it had he not had an injury that prevented him from throwing for much of his senior year. But that's the thing. Being able to break a record and actually breaking a record are two very different things.

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Traditional-Pair1946 t1_j10i4uc wrote

Some context: I was decently good at a mid range high school. I would win meets with throws around 45 feet.

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Garper t1_j112j8g wrote

Have you tried throwing further?

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10ton t1_j11k3st wrote

Seems like more of a minimum is good enough kind of shot putter.

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SerCiddy t1_j118tkr wrote

I'm unsure of what maths are involved, anyone smarter than me know what the line look like in terms of feet thrown/energy required?

Does it get exponentially more difficult to throw the ball? I wonder how much more energy would have been required of Ryan to throw the ball the extra ~4 feet needed to break the record.

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liammo32 t1_j11ansi wrote

as an average thrower from high school to a year in college- one of the coolest things about throwing is it’s all physics. think of it like a cannon, throwing hard doesn’t exactly move the weight far effectively. moving the weight quickly is what matters a lot more to the distance. the abrupt stop at the end, finish, block, etc. is where the weight gets sped up a LOT for a big throw. ryan crousers instagram has a lot of great representation of this in action. being a great thrower like michael carter or ryan crouser takes doing a lot of very small things right and accelerating through the end of your throw at the right time.

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SoySauceSyringe t1_j11wjya wrote

Yeah, I play disc golf and this is super true for drives. You can “muscle” a disc out there about 300’, but you’re going to hit your limit around there unless you develop good technique. The best throwers don’t throw with any more force, but they whip that thing at the end of the motion. People smaller and weaker than I am can throw hundreds of feet further than me.

The Mountain of Game of Thrones fame plays. I love that he’s into it and posts videos of his rounds, but he’s clearly not a pro player and it’s plain to see that his immense strength isn’t helping him to throw his drives any farther. Paige Pierce could throw farther than him all day without getting tired even though he could probably bench press her all day long without getting tired.

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Tartalacame t1_j13uq3h wrote

It's a quadratic (x^2 ) function. Back-of-the-enveloppe math: 81' is 5% further than 77', it means you'd need (1.05)^2 =1.10, so 10% more energy.

There are definitely a bunch of other factor, but that gives you a ballpark estimate.

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BigL90 t1_j10y0b6 wrote

Ahh, throwing records and stats are always my favorite. They're such an interesting microcosm of athletics at a really fundamental level.

The discus world records, the redesign of the javelin, hammer vs weight, the 12 v 16lb shot. All interesting topics with regards to throwing.

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VeryJoyfulHeart59 t1_j166qr9 wrote

I love this and want to remember it in case I'm ever in a situation where I can use the term. Do you know, is it pronounced bee-man, bay-man, bow-man, or ???

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