Interview – Damien Birkinhead
Thanks for joining me for a quick chat Damo. I am sure that a lot of my patient’s at SportsMyo will appreciate the insight into your current training and goals for the upcoming 12 months. For those not familiar with Damien Birkinhead he is the current Australian Champion in Shot Put.
We might start off the interview by getting you to tell us a little bit about your training in general at the moment and how a typical week look’s for a Shot Put athlete?
Thanks for the opportunity. A typical week for myself involves usually around 6 or 7 training sessions at the moment. 3 or 4 of those sessions (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and sometimes Monday) consisting of throwing where I have anything over 40 throws in total using a 7.26kg Shot put. The goal of these sessions is mainly to improve technique and get more consistent throwing. The remaining 3 sessions (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) are focused on building strength, speed and power generally in the gym. Doing Bench press, squats, snatch, core and other general conditioning exercises. During the off season this is where most the attention is placed.
Out of all of your training what is your favourite session for the week?
My favourite session of the week would have to be my Thursday Throwing session at Nunawading, its only a two minute drive from my house and there are a great bunch of people who train down there at the same time.
Shot Put athletes are known for being some of the physically strongest athletes around, what sort of number’s would you be expecting to hit in the gym within the next 5 or so years?
haha well if was one day to be considered one of the strongest athletes going round then I would be very happy because I am one lazy athlete haha. In talking numbers its probably hard to say exactly because it is different for every athlete but my goals for my two main lifts (bench press and squat) Would be benching close to 250kg and squatting at least 250kg if not more.
Whats been the biggest change to your training program since transitioning from junior’s to now competing in the senior ranks?
Being a junior and being a senior is a completely different thing in my opinion. I find the biggest difference is how serious everything has become, training gets harder, longer and a lot more specific. If you want to be competitive on a senior level you just cant it on your ass and do nothing. It becomes tough and challenging at times but I guess that’s why I love it so much.
What is the competition program like for you for the upcoming season, and what are your goals for the season?
Hopefully its going to be a good season is all I could probably tell you haha. The dates and the where abouts have not been determined for my comps as of yet but will be having one or two comps in early December and then will wait for the Australian series to begin early next year I think. My goals for the season would be to throw over 20m for the first time and to qualify for the Commonwealth games in Glasgow in July next year. To qualify for that I will have to Throw at least 18.15m during the season and finish top 3 at nationals which are held early April in Melbourne.
How did you come to get into the sport of Shot Put?
I feel like I have told the story of how I started shot put so many times, feel like I should spice it up a bit some day because its not too interesting. I was just the biggest kid at school and handled the shot better than most. My uncle was a president of an athletics club and asked me to come down and give it a go. So at 14 I joined a club and started competing which then I met my old coach Alex Gusbeth. A man who I wouldn’t be the same athlete I am today without, he taught me a lot of what I know today and I couldn’t thank him enough for everything.
What has been your top 3 career highlights to date wether it be results, trip’s, making team’s etc?
Top three career highlights, took me a while to think of these actually. One of my highlights would be the first international team I made which was world youths in Italy 2009. Was the biggest learning curve in my career and was a great achievement for me to make it there. Still to this day one of the most amazing looking places I have been to and I one day wish I could go back. Another highlight would be my competition at world juniors in Spain last year, it would be the funnest competition to date and even though it would be my biggest comp, it would also be the comp I was most relaxed. I finished with a personal best and a bronze medal, couldn’t ask for anything more! The last highlight would just be all the people I have met over the years, I have met some interesting people and made some friends I will know for a long time. Possibly the best thing about doing athletics.
You have been coming into the clinic for treatment for around 12 months now, How do you feel Myotherapy has helped out and assisted with your training?
I don’t think I could go back to not having Myotherapy really haha. As I said earlier, I have really stepped up the training and was getting to a point where I was getting so sore and tight it was really affecting my training. Myotherapy allowed me to recover better and get a lot more movement in the muscles. It not only has reduced my soreness but now I can get into better positions when I throw due to more movement. I recommend it to any athlete because I don’t think I could train as hard as I do without it.
What are some of your interest’s when your not training and competing?
Being a thrower the only real thing I do when I’m not training is eating. haha I participate in a few eating challenges around Melbourne and ‘m currently sitting on top of the leader board at the Knox “Outback Jacks” for the 1kg steak challenge. weighing 130kgs its always good to find a way to gain the few extra kilos!!
Now i have had a quick browse through your twitter account to try to come up with a bit of a left of centre question for you to finish off and have come up with this one for you.
To quote one of your tweets
‘You know you have a good life when you can watch a Geordie shore marathon all day’
This has got to be a joke surely doesn’t it?
haha Yeah sometimes I wish that statement was a joke but I do secretly have a love for Geordie shore. I think anyone who denies it should take the time to sit down and watch it and I bet you’ll love it. It may seem like a bunch of rubbish but it is bloody addicting to be honest haha.
Thanks for taking some time out to have a quick chat with me and all the best for the rest of the season.
For anyone interested in following Damo’s progress you can follow him on Twitter @D_Birkinhead