Standing Power Throw

How to not suck at throwing a ball (and be an explosive FREAK)

Today we discuss the standing power throw, an Army specific event. Why should you listen to me about improving the ball throw? I’ve scored a 600 on every ACFT I’ve ever taken in the Army and throw a 14+ meter power throw. If you are not in the Army, the below is well worth the read if you’re looking to improve athleticism and explosive power!

The standing power throw seems to be the biggest thing holding people back from maxing the ACFT. It’s just a ball bro throw it amirite? My favorite comment on one post about improving is “have you tried being 6 foot and 220 lbs?”

There’s a little bit of truth to that. Mass moves mass and longer arms create more mechanical leverage to crush the “overhead yeet” event. But that doesn’t matter to you. You only care about being an absolute freak and crushing any event thrown at you.

For those unfamiliar, the Army recently rolled out their new physical fitness test, the ACFT. It’s composed of 6 events including a hex bar deadlift, standing power throw (overhead yeet), max reps of hand release push ups, a sprint/drag/carry event including a sled drag and farmer’s carry, plank, and a 2 mile run. Quite a few months back I wrote a post (Link) explaining how to max the ACFT, but in the future worth an update so coming soon!

From my experience working with every level, whether in special operations or big army, from PFC to Majors, the biggest struggle is with maxing the points for the ball throw, which now requires a 13.1m throw for 27-31 year old males. It is understandable why. Every other event is fairly intuitive. If you want to be good at deadlifting, you deadlift more. But I have yet to see a solid implementation of training that improves an individual’s standing power throw dramatically across all of the resources online.

When approaching this event, I must first remind you my rule about ACFT training: you should be able to max the event at any time based on your day to day training. You shouldn’t have to do a specific ACFT “train-up”. Your training should be well rounded to the point that any physical event you come across you are successful at, whether it be an ACFT, Ranger School, or Special Forces Selection.

That being said, an ACFT specific plan may be hugely beneficial to you, your squad or platoon to help shape your overall training plan. If you are a leader in the Army, my first reference would be to FM 7-22, known as H2F, to get accustomed to the way the Army is trying to move all physical fitness. There’s a ton of good information in there, especially around periodization. Now, let’s get to the main topic!

The power throw can be broken down to a single factor: triple extension. This is the simultaneous extension of the ankles, knees, and hips to drive explosive power for events like the clean and sprinting. I find prior football players excel at the power throw. Why? Partially because of their size, but also the emphasis in their sports career on explosive power, largely due to effective triple extension during movement. Other movements that exhibit triple extension are snatches, kettle bell swings, plyo box jumps, broad jumps, and trap bar jumps.

Another way to look at developing explosive power is developing athleticism. So your training should include athletic movements like the ones above, as well as specificity, mobility, and overall strength. In working to improve all of these factors some realism should be accounted for. If you’ve only lifted and/or run your whole life, set reasonable expectations to see improvements in your power throw.

To sum up, we must combine triple extension movements (explosiveness), mobility, strength work, and specificity in our training.

Explosiveness

In training, I would slowly start to implement 2-3 of the above movements each week. An example could be power cleans, broad jumps, and trap bar jumps. For the cleans and trap bar jumps, I would start only with the barbell and work until your form is perfect. For the cleans, there are plenty of resources on youtube to improve there. But the emphasis should be on form and connecting the triple extension so you can slowly start to add weight over time. FORM FORM FORM. I would add these movements into a weekly training plan including 3-5 sets of 3-5 power cleans, 3-5 sets of 10-20 broad jumps and 3-5 sets of 5-10 hex bar jumps. Keep it simple and focus purely on form.

Mobility

This one is fairly straightforward. If you train the typical “army” way, I can almost guarantee your mobility is off. I would push to get 1 yoga session in per week (either in person or youtube video) and make a concerted effort to work on mobility in your ankles, hips, shoulders, and back. All of these are limiting factors on the standing power throw and pains me to watch people barely move their body when they attempt the event. Again, all of these parts of your body are easily searchable on youtube (“[insert body part] mobility” on youtube, look for 5-20 min sessions). In addition to the yoga, look to add in a mobility session for these body parts at least 2-3 times per week. All in you’re adding 1 yoga session and 2-3 mobility sessions, which should only take 5-20 min.

Strength

Again, a straightforward topic. Improving your strength will allow you to throw a ball farther. Simple. I would focus on compound movements that train the legs, trunk, chest and shoulders, and back. These can either be barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell or machines. Each of these muscle groups look to get 2-3 movements with 2-5 sets of 6-20 repetitions. An example:

• Legs: Hack Squat: 3x12-15, DB Lunges: 3x15-20, Hand Supported DB Box Step Ups: 3x15-20. Done

• Examples of movements for other body parts:

  • Trunk: RDLs, Reverse Hyperextensions, GHD sit-ups

  • Back: Deadlift (barbell or hex bar), Unilateral machine row, seated cable rows

  • Chest and Shoulders: Chest press machine, chest flies, Seated DB Shoulder Press

Strength can come in many forms, and the above is just an example you could implement in only 2 days of training: trunk + legs, back + chest. The body line is you must improve your strength via compound movements and progressive overload.

Specificity

Simply put, specificity is doing the thing. If you want to be good at deadlifts, you gotta deadlift! The same applies to the power throw, but doing power throws alone will not greatly improve your score. You must combine the previous topics with the specific training to be an absolute animal. My favorite way to train specificity is to do 3x3 max distance heavy ball throws with a 20 lb med ball, then do 3-5 sets of single max distance ball throws at 10 lbs. This is an excellent way to consistently work on form and become more comfortable with the triple extension you’re now implementing! Another way to train specificity is heavy ball throws against a wall (back against wall) with 10-20 lbs, for 3-5 sets of 3-5. The bottom line is you MUST add in specific training 1-3 times per week to bring everything together and build the mind-muscle connection from the triple extension training you’re now doing!

Conclusion

The above are things I’ve implemented in my training for years. That’s the timeline I recommend you look at as well. When you implement these training methods, it is almost sure you will see rapid improvement. But true strength and explosiveness takes years and years to develop. Although it’s great to score the max on an Army fitness test, I care more about your longevity and ability to be an athlete for life. If you have any questions feel free to drop a comment, email me, or DM on IG!