Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to determine the acute effects of 2 different overweight implements on weight throw performance. Seventeen collegiate and elite weight throwers were recruited to participate. A within-subject design was used to compare the difference between mean and peak distance after warm-up with a regulation weight (STAND), 1.37-kg overweight (OVRWGHT1), and 2.27-kg overweight implement (OVRWGHT2). Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed a main effect for Treatment (p = 0.006) and a significant interaction effect for Treatment by Time (p = 0.041). The means for the OVRWGHT1 treatment (16.08 ± 2.5 m) and OVRWGHT2 (16.08 ± 2.7 m) were not different; however, the mean for STAND was significantly lower than that for the other treatments (15.58 ± 2.5, p < 0.02). Changes in performance between OVRWGHT treatments and STAND were found to correlate to one-repetition maximum (1RM) Power Clean (improvement for OVRWGHT 1, r = 0.536, p = 0.016; improvement for OVRWGHT2, r = 0.548, p = 0.014). The results suggest that in collegiate and elite athletes overweight implement warm-up may improve performance and that stronger athletes may be better suited to take advantage of this effect.