Ryan Crouser gearing up for attempt at WR in 2018

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser has big plans for 2018.

Qualifying for the World Indoor Championships is on the list. Winning the U.S. Outdoor title would also be great.

But the primary goal is breaking Randy Barnes’ 1990 world record of 75 feet, 10.75 inches (23.12m).

Crouser, who turned 25 this week, has been working diligently this fall at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center outside of San Diego, stacking up workouts like cord wood in order to get ready for the competition season.

At 6 feet 8 and 303 pounds, Crouser has been focused on building strength and getting more agile.

“For me, it’s a lot of strength-based training,” he said. “As you continue doing it, getting older, it’s that old-man strength you want, to put it that way. Every year you want to start off at a little bit higher level than the year before.”

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On the quiet Olympic Training Center campus, where Crouser lives in a dorm, life revolves around workouts. There are throwing sessions Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with a small group of training partners. There are weight-lifting sessions Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. And there are “strongman” sessions Wednesdays and Saturdays.

To break up the monotony, Crouser has tried to put a little bit of pizzazz into his social media posts. His Instagram account this fall features videos of the usual workout highlights -- but also some fun.

He took a 20-pound sledgehammer and crushed a can of pumpkin filling after Thanksgiving and then asked for suggestions about what to smash next. (Top vote-getter: Gingerbread house).

That 20-pound sledgehammer is a special order. They don’t come that big at Home Depot. He swings it back over his head and brings it down with force against a large tractor tire.

The strongman sessions, geared at building brute strength along with overall athleticism, include “carrying heavy stuff” -- lifting heavy stones overhead, farmer carries with 160-pound dumbbells in each hand, tire carries (250-300 pounds).

There are underhanded 80-pound med ball tosses (for height). Kettlebell swings. Boxing with a 130-pound heavy bag. Weighted dips with anchor chains draped around his shoulders.

“A lot of movement-based things,” Crouser said. “This past year I felt as strong and big as I’ve ever been. But I’m focused (now) on being more fit and a better athlete.”

Crouser’s 2017 season featured consistency over 22 meters (72 feet-plus). He had more 22-meter throws than anyone in a single season.

But the season’s biggest event, the IAAF World Outdoor Championships, did not go well. He made it to the final in London, but finished a disappointing sixth.

“I kind of lost that feeling,” Crouser explained. “Throwing shot is kind of like swinging a golf club. Some days, it’s a piece of cake and (the ball) goes 300 yards. Other days you can’t make solid contact with it.

“Everything felt super good all year and then I had a bad week. Hopefully that goes away, but (it didn't). I had another bad week and it fell on Worlds.”

Crouser, a former NCAA champion at the University of Texas, said the connection between timing, rhythm and power sometimes fails.

“It’s not something you can turn around (in a hurry),” he said. “Obviously you want to always be good, but it kind of comes and goes. Physically I was in unbelievable shape. I had all the indicators of throwing 23 (meters), but the rhythm and technique wasn’t there to let me do it. As I tapered, my rhythm and timing went into a nosedive.”

Barnes’ world record was set May 20, 1990 -- 18 months before Crouser was born -- and some dispute the legitimacy of the record. Barnes was suspended for a positive drug test later that summer, but came back to win a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

In Chula Vista, Crouser said he gets tested by USADA about four times a month. Twice a month, testers take a blood sample, as well as urine.

The testing comes with the territory and Crouser endures it because he wants to set the record without question whether he is clean.

“I take a protein shake, branched chain (amino acids) and glutamine,” Crouser said. “Those are my three. I go to informed-choice.org and check what lots they have tested for banned substances, and then order from those lot numbers.”

In addition to science-based workout plans and nutrition, Crouser also has some technology on his side.

A device called TrackMan uses radar to calculate crucial data points on throws. It records release height, angle, direction and velocity. When that data is input into an algorithm, it spits out a projected distance.

The device is adapted from one used to analyze and calculate golf shots.

“The two big (data points) are release angle and velocity,” Crouser said. “I need about a 37-percent angle for my style of throwing. I have had the velocity to get the record but all those throws have been too low. But I have the potential to get it.”

This week, Crouser touched another nerve in the throwing community when he posted a short video of himself holding a discus and taking spins.

Crouser broke the national high school record in the discus and it could eventually be an event that he takes up on the world stage.

But he cautions that a shot-discus double will have to wait. Both events are strong right now globally and the top throwers are young in their careers.

“I’ve picked up the discus a couple of times and thrown it well,” Crouser said. “Right now, the focus is getting the world record in the shot. (23.12) is really out there.

“If I got the world record, obviously that would be a big goal. But if I got it by one centimeter, I think I’d like to move it out there a little bit (farther). I’d like to get relatively close to my perfect limit and then maybe start picking up the discus. I think it is pretty close to impossible to be on top of the world in two (throwing events).”

Crouser anticipates staying focused on the shot exclusively through the 2020 Olympics and the 2021 World Championships, which will be contested in his home state of Oregon.

“That’s a big one for me, personally,” said Crouser of the 2021 World Championships in Eugene.

By 2021, Crouser will be 28. If all goes according to plan, he’ll be coming into his peak years as a thrower.

“The goal is to keep moving forward,” he said. “I’m always big on setting goals on where I’m going to be in the future.”