Kibwé Johnson on “The Tao of the Hammer”: Awareness, Reflexiveness, and Individuality in Sport Technique

Today’s show is with Kibwé Johnson. Kibwé is the director of track and field at SPIRE Academy, in Geneva, Ohio, and the founder of FORTIUS performance. Prior to SPIRE, Kibwe coached throws at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for 4 years. In his time as an athlete, Kibwé established himself as one of the USA’s best hammer throwers by being ranked first or second for over a decade, and his personal best of 80.31m/263’5” in 2011 the best mark by an American hammer thrower in over ten years. He also owns the world’s all-time best HT/DT/WT combination of distances. Kibwé has personally worked with some of the most well regarded coaches in the US and internationally. His coach for his final 10 years, Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk, greatly influenced the development of Kibwé’s own methodologies. Kibwé’s coaching philosophy is built on communication and cites his experiences as a husband and father with learning how to become more effective as a coach. In my time as a coach, I’ve learned that technique and skill are more than a set of instructions, or a final “model” to shoot for through a series of drills and cues. Although these instructions can certainly be helpful for lower level performers, once an athlete gets to a more advanced level of performance, drills lose their luster, and we must become more attuned to the actual interaction between the athlete and their environment (implements, the ground, gravity, etc.). On the show today, Kibwé talks about his experiences as an athlete, particularly with Dr. Bondarchuk that helped him develop as a thrower, and in his eventual career as a coach. He talks about the unique, high velocity and cyclical elements of the hammer that demand a particular relationship to the instrument, and things we can take from this relationship that can transfer to other skills, or life itself. Finally, Kibwe speaks extensively about drills, vs. holistic skill performance, and the many “subtle” elements, such as awareness, that go into enhancing holistic performance on the highest levels. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:40 – Kibwé’s evolution as an athlete, and what led him to his philosophy of “The Tao of the Hammer” 10:25 – Kibwé’s experience in working with Dr. Bondarchuk and how the communication barrier actually helped Kibwé to figure out his throw without the use of words or cues 18:20 – How the hammer throw in track and field is unique in respect to other throwing events due to its unique, very high velocity rotational dynamics 21:10 – Kibwé’s take on teaching athlete’s fundamental positions vs. letting them figure out skills in a different manner (or on their own), particularly in context of the hammer throw 26:40 – How acquiring the “feeling” of a good throw is helpful to scale to throws of all distances 32:25 – How people tend to want a “list of things” when doing something, and the battle of getting an athlete outside of a list of cues, and to facilitate them figuring things out on their own 34:40 – How to learn, from a “Tao of the Hammer” perspective, and what awareness in a hammer throw means to Kibwé 46:40 – Examples of elite athletes who have had their mechanics “fixed”, as per a “technical model” and had poor seasons or failed to improve 51:25 – How Kibwé would address a “mistake” in an athlete’s throwing, and portions of an athlete’s technique 56:40 – Where drills fall short in training a complex movement, such as the hammer throw 1:02:40 – Reactivity as needed between the hammer and the athlete, and how to “do less” in the course of a throw from a perspective of actively putting force into the implement “It really came down to trying to find the words to explain how I was feeling when I felt my best; because I wasn’t seeing that anywhere” “It’s pretty typical that a coach will use a whole lot of words, but in all of those words, there is no space for that athlete to fill that with their own natural instincts, or nests. What makes that own individual amazing gets tripped away with a ton of words, in my opinion” “In track and field and the technical disciplines, the athletes who were allowed to grow and evolve and change on their own, are more artists in a way, if that makes sense” “There is an importance to teaching a base level, “how do you move, kind of thing”…. But there is part of me what says, “why not?”” “Hammer throwers who started at 10 or earlier, it is beautiful to watch” “My thing there is when an athlete is essentially connected to that feeling, and they can maintain that through the throw, you can have that feeling no matter how hard you throw” “The next day, the feeling they received from that cue that you gave them (the day prior) is different, for an innumerable number of reasons” “Both are needed, masculine and feminine, yin/yang. Both are needed, but then there are points when one is not needed versus the other, or vice versa, and trying to work that out for yourself” “It’s just being intentional with my movement, and that in itself is meditation. With hammer and movement, it’s as simple as that, and it’s basically opening yourself up to really feeling what’s happening with your body in space.. and your mind too honestly, instead of not knowing how you got there” “We lose so many athletes to (a highly technical coaching system) because we have this one-size-fits-all system that we are thrown into, and some have “success”, but the artists, they just fall off, never to be seen from again” “When I trained with Dr. B I felt like I couldn’t do anything else, but throw a hammer… I found it funny” “The hammer doesn’t go just because you want it to go far. You have to work with it, and you have to be part of it… it doesn’t care how strong you are” “By removing myself, the hammer is free to do whatever it needs to do” “I don’t understand why you would coach everyone the same way, train everyone the same way, everyone’s different” “Between eight and thirteen 80 meter guys, not one of us looked the same, (Dr. B) allowed for everyone’s individual-ness to come through, and everyone threw really far” “When the opportunity is kind of stripped from you, you lose that opportunity to learn about yourself” About Kibwe Johnson Kibwé Johnson is the director of track and field at SPIRE Academy, in Geneva, Ohio. He is also the founder of FORTIUS performance which focuses on track and field throws training. Prior to SPIRE, Kibwe coached throws at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for 4 years. In his time as an athlete, Kibwé established himself as one of the nation’s best hammer throwers of all time by being ranked first or second for over a decade. In that time, he secured 5 US titles, 4 US runner-up, and numerous US national teams. He has personally worked with some of the most well regarded coaches in the US and internationally in Don Babbitt, Bob McKay, Stuart Togher, 4x Olympian Jud Logan, and lastly Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk. Kibwé deeply values his 10 years spent with Dr. Bondarchuk as their time together greatly influenced the development of Kibwé’s own training methodologies. Kibwé’s winning toss and personal best of 80.31m/263’5” at the 2011 USA Outdoor Championships was the best mark by an American hammer thrower in over a decade, making him only the fourth American to ever to go beyond the mythical 80-meter line. Boasting a personal best of 65.11m/213’6” in discus, and 25.12m/82’5” in weight throw, Kibwé is the most versatile throws athlete of all time (All-Time World Best HT/DT/WT combination). Kibwé’s coaching philosophy is built on communication and cites his experiences as a husband and father with learning how to become more effective as a coach.