Main Muscles Used During a Shot Put

If improving your shot put distance is the goal, you'll need to focus on more than just one or two muscle groups. The shot put event calls on almost all of the muscles in your body to generate energy, transferring it from the ground up to drive the shot up and out. That means working your entire body and focusing on key muscles used to propel the shot into the distance.

When you throw a shot, the drive you put into it comes from your legs and travels upward. You crouch down and push off, employing your calf muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. Typically you push off onto one leg, but strength in both legs is required.

As you continue through the motions of driving a shot, the force you generate moves from your lower body through your core muscles on its way to the top. Your waist, lower back and abs need to be strong to take that energy and add to it as your entire body engages, preparing to propel the shot forward.

Finally, when the power you've mustered and directed up from your legs and through your core reaches your upper body, your pectorals, deltoids and triceps finish out the job by pushing the shot up off of your shoulder and out. Your core muscles aren't quite done at this point, as you'll call upon your obliques to rotate as you extend your arm to propel the shot as far as you can.

Athletes who specialize in the shot put event train with weights, but the majority of their training time is spent participating in drills to improve their speed, power and distance. Medicine balls in particular are useful for these types of drills. Try throwing a medicine ball for height by holding the ball in both hands, bending at your knees as you swing the ball down and back between your legs, then drive it up, propelling it as high as you can. Let the ball land before catching it and repeating the drill. Another beneficial medicine ball exercise starts with you seated on the ground, your legs elevated so that you're balanced on your glutes. Have a partner throw you the medicine ball at his waist level. When you catch it, bring it behind your right hip, then forcefully rotate it to the left and throw it back to your partner. Switch directions of the ball after 10 throws. To help improve your hip and hamstring power, Outdoor Championship gold medalist Reese Hoffa recommends plyo box hip raises. Hoffa favors this particular exercise because it's a dynamic movement that mimics the muscle contraction that happens during a run, a jump or when crouching and springing up during the shot put.