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<blockquote data-quote="Cruz_del_Sur" data-source="post: 1193849" data-attributes="member: 55747">I spend at least three hours this week reading about optimal throw angles for javelin, shot put, hammer, discuss, etc. I find it fascinating. In case anyone is interested here&#039;s the summary.&nbsp; Using high school physics one would guess the angle to be around 45. Then you should adjust a bit for the object&#039;s aerodynamics, wind (if applicable) etc&nbsp; but you would expect not 45, but close enough. The problem is that the angles observed from top tier athletes are considerably lower. Much lower (30-35 in some disciplines). So the question is, why? The answer is that the theory basically assumes something like this: If throw a discuss with X amount of force at 45 degrees the discuss will go further than if i throw the discuss with the same force (again, X) at 40 (or any other angle) degrees. The problem with that is that it assumes that the amount of force the athletes can exert and angle at which the object leaves their hands are independent. It presumes that the athlete can deliver the same amount of force at different angles. That, apparently, is not the case. They throw at lower angles (suboptimal from an force equivalence) because in doing so they are able to deliver more force. So they sacrifice a bit of initial angle but they gain higher speeds in exchange.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cruz_del_Sur, post: 1193849, member: 55747"] I spend at least three hours this week reading about optimal throw angles for javelin, shot put, hammer, discuss, etc. I find it fascinating. In case anyone is interested here's the summary. Using high school physics one would guess the angle to be around 45. Then you should adjust a bit for the object's aerodynamics, wind (if applicable) etc but you would expect not 45, but close enough. The problem is that the angles observed from top tier athletes are considerably lower. Much lower (30-35 in some disciplines). So the question is, why? The answer is that the theory basically assumes something like this: If throw a discuss with X amount of force at 45 degrees the discuss will go further than if i throw the discuss with the same force (again, X) at 40 (or any other angle) degrees. The problem with that is that it assumes that the amount of force the athletes can exert and angle at which the object leaves their hands are independent. It presumes that the athlete can deliver the same amount of force at different angles. That, apparently, is not the case. They throw at lower angles (suboptimal from an force equivalence) because in doing so they are able to deliver more force. So they sacrifice a bit of initial angle but they gain higher speeds in exchange. [/QUOTE]

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