Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

P U T T I N G T H E S H O T ALTHOUGH putting the shot and throwing the hammer are events usually performed by the same man in an athletic competition, it is a fact, never­ theless, that the two things do not go well to- gether. I he hammer develops the pulling mus­ cles in the back and arms, while the shot, on the other hand, develops the pushing muscles. At one time Hickok, intercollegiate champion from 93 to 95, devoted himself exclusively to the shot, and soon got himself into such form that he could put 45 feet at any trial. Then he started in to practise with the hammer, and found his best throw measured only no feet—his best former record being 130 odd. He kept on systematically working then at both weights, but he soon noticed that the shot went down as the hammer went up, so that in a month he could scarcely do 40 feet. At the next Yale-Harvard contest he put the shot 44 feet, which he considered a lucky performance —and it was—although before training for the hammer event for the same contest he had put the shot over 45 feet.