I don't know if Joe remember but during covid our coach, Taylor McNally, got our small town Montana throws team on Google meet with him and it meant so much to me and has helped drive to my goals.
I've been involved in the Iron Game all my life. I started out much like everyone else, in bodybuilding. And I mean body *building!* I was the puniest kid in my class, as well as being the puniest kid in our whole Boys Brigade company! But they had a set of weights up in the loft in the Boys Brigade hall's store room . . and no one at all wanted to lift them, except me. Most of the other boys were roughly equal in strength, then quite a distance behind them, I struggled to keep up with even the simplest games and events the leaders got us to do. So I'd lift those weights while the other boys did the rest of the activities.Soon enough I caught up the rest of the boys, but by then I was hooked, and I fell heavily into the arms of the Iron Maiden. I loved training the two hands press, but as for the snatch and the Clean and Jerk? Well if I couldn't press the bar overhead, I'd jerk it or push press it. They were just two names for the same lift as far as I knew! Never done a snatch in my life. Quickly I noticed my left arm growing significantly slower than my right arm. I'm extremely and exclusively right-handed, with my left hand pretty useless. I became very concerned about this problem . . and it IS a problem when you are as "unco" as I am. After reading everything in every muscle magazine I could find, the solution presented itself in the pages of Iron Man Magazine. I simply switched over to being left-handed. Everything I used to do with my right hand, I had to learn to do it left-handed. When I was asked if I could spray paint when I worked in a furniture factory I replied with a cautious yes. I had to spray clear lacquer on pine furniture, which I took to pretty easily . . as a left-handed spray painter. I had all these answers ready for when anyone asked me why I signed for my pay with my right hand, but thankfully no one cared enough, even the foreman, who was more than happy with my work! I trained at home in one of the most dungeonesque home gyms you could ever want to see, and I really thrived there. I preferred pressing dumbbells to barbells as I got up there in poundages, and I'd do an extra set with just my left hand to finish off. Same with the one-arm dumbbell bent-over row movement, an extra set with my left hand. In 1980 I thought I'd try my hand at shot putting. I bought my own shot from the local foundry so I could train whenever and wherever I wanted. I got some coaching from a guy from the local athletics club, and I was off and running. I wouldn't carry my shot back to the circle; I'd throw it back left-handed, just to keep the juices flowing in the left side of my body. Unfortunately the overtime started at the factory (well, fortunately for my bank balance) and I couldn't go to training after work any more, so I just practised over on the nature strip between my road and the service road. I'd gone from bodybuilding training to shot put, but I quickly realised that I was full of slow-twitch muscle fibres. At the one track and field meet I entered I was astounded at all these puny specimens who were out-throwing me! My coach broke it to me that obviously these guys had fast-twitch muscles and I obviously had slow twitch. He said he understood it I wanted to follow my heart into Powerlifting, so that's what I did. AND I never looked back!! In addition to all this physical activity I have been a guitarist since 1971. Guitar playing, as far as Blues-Rock playing goes, is all about the left hand. One day, in my local music shop, the store guy asked me to put my hands together in the praying position. To my surprise, my left hand fingers had become longer than my right hand fingers. Pete had noticed the same thing with his hands and wondered if he was the only one. My left hands fingers were thicker as well, as were Pete's. There you go. Just looking at Joe's hands, and the massive difference in size between them. I could not let that happen to my hands. My OCD, all part and parcel with my autism, would drive me insane if I saw that phenomenon happening to me! I'm happy to report that my hands always looked to be mirror images of each other, with them both being hugely thick and uniformly strong. I had to really work on my left side to develop good bi-lateral symmetry . . Good? Nah, perfect, like that old photo of Sergio Oliva after he'd pumped both arms together on Arthur Jones's Nautilus Arm Machines back in 1971. Only mine weren't bigger than my head like Sergio's were. I had something go horribly wrong in both hands in late 2021. It happened on stage. My hands just suddenly stopped working properly, and I couldn't keep playing my guitar. Here we are coming up three years later, and my left hand has atrophied significantly, even compared to my right hand which has only suffered a fraction compared to what has happened to my left hand. The COVID lockdown really set me back more than I could have believed possible, and my health also suffered a nose dive! I'm back to doing weight training, as much as my many injuries will allow, and my left arm is significantly stronger than my right arm . . which I find curious, since the spinal and musculoskeletal doctor said my hands's problems were due to bone spurs on my neck vertebrae pinching the nerves to my hands. By all rights that should mean that my left arm should be weaker than my right arm, but the very opposite is the case! I'm now leaning to the opinions of everyone I know, who all say it sounds more like a mild stroke to them. My doctor won't even entertain that notion. So now it looks like I'll have to go back to being right-handed again.
What does it mean to be in the Rogue family? Joe places orders with Rogue? Or he is sponsored by Rogue? Or he gets a discount? Anyway, glad it's working out for all parties involved.
being a Kiwi...always hope Tom Walsh can win....but with guys like Kovacs and Crouser...you got to throw big to win...these guys and Romani...make it a good watch...big time throwers
When you that big, it has an effect on your breathing. Probably has got a hernia of the diaphragm. And you tend to have a bit of a bloated belly from being that big and doing heavy weights.
This is what the sport needs! Great work Joe. Can’t wait to watch you smash a BIG ONE in the Olympics this week 💪
Yes, Daddy Kovacs!
I don't know if Joe remember but during covid our coach, Taylor McNally, got our small town Montana throws team on Google meet with him and it meant so much to me and has helped drive to my goals.
“During the Cold/ Flu season our coach”
Not only are you ROGUE.....YOU are AWESOME!!!
Great guy, much continued success.
I've been involved in the Iron Game all my life. I started out much like everyone else, in bodybuilding. And I mean body *building!*
I was the puniest kid in my class, as well as being the puniest kid in our whole Boys Brigade company! But they had a set of weights up in the loft in the Boys Brigade hall's store room . . and no one at all wanted to lift them, except me. Most of the other boys were roughly equal in strength, then quite a distance behind them, I struggled to keep up with even the simplest games and events the leaders got us to do. So I'd lift those weights while the other boys did the rest of the activities.Soon enough I caught up the rest of the boys, but by then I was hooked, and I fell heavily into the arms of the Iron Maiden. I loved training the two hands press, but as for the snatch and the Clean and Jerk? Well if I couldn't press the bar overhead, I'd jerk it or push press it. They were just two names for the same lift as far as I knew! Never done a snatch in my life.
Quickly I noticed my left arm growing significantly slower than my right arm. I'm extremely and exclusively right-handed, with my left hand pretty useless. I became very concerned about this problem . . and it IS a problem when you are as "unco" as I am. After reading everything in every muscle magazine I could find, the solution presented itself in the pages of Iron Man Magazine. I simply switched over to being left-handed. Everything I used to do with my right hand, I had to learn to do it left-handed. When I was asked if I could spray paint when I worked in a furniture factory I replied with a cautious yes. I had to spray clear lacquer on pine furniture, which I took to pretty easily . . as a left-handed spray painter. I had all these answers ready for when anyone asked me why I signed for my pay with my right hand, but thankfully no one cared enough, even the foreman, who was more than happy with my work!
I trained at home in one of the most dungeonesque home gyms you could ever want to see, and I really thrived there. I preferred pressing dumbbells to barbells as I got up there in poundages, and I'd do an extra set with just my left hand to finish off. Same with the one-arm dumbbell bent-over row movement, an extra set with my left hand.
In 1980 I thought I'd try my hand at shot putting. I bought my own shot from the local foundry so I could train whenever and wherever I wanted. I got some coaching from a guy from the local athletics club, and I was off and running. I wouldn't carry my shot back to the circle; I'd throw it back left-handed, just to keep the juices flowing in the left side of my body. Unfortunately the overtime started at the factory (well, fortunately for my bank balance) and I couldn't go to training after work any more, so I just practised over on the nature strip between my road and the service road. I'd gone from bodybuilding training to shot put, but I quickly realised that I was full of slow-twitch muscle fibres. At the one track and field meet I entered I was astounded at all these puny specimens who were out-throwing me! My coach broke it to me that obviously these guys had fast-twitch muscles and I obviously had slow twitch. He said he understood it I wanted to follow my heart into Powerlifting, so that's what I did. AND I never looked back!!
In addition to all this physical activity I have been a guitarist since 1971. Guitar playing, as far as Blues-Rock playing goes, is all about the left hand. One day, in my local music shop, the store guy asked me to put my hands together in the praying position. To my surprise, my left hand fingers had become longer than my right hand fingers. Pete had noticed the same thing with his hands and wondered if he was the only one. My left hands fingers were thicker as well, as were Pete's. There you go.
Just looking at Joe's hands, and the massive difference in size between them. I could not let that happen to my hands. My OCD, all part and parcel with my autism, would drive me insane if I saw that phenomenon happening to me! I'm happy to report that my hands always looked to be mirror images of each other, with them both being hugely thick and uniformly strong. I had to really work on my left side to develop good bi-lateral symmetry . . Good? Nah, perfect, like that old photo of Sergio Oliva after he'd pumped both arms together on Arthur Jones's Nautilus Arm Machines back in 1971. Only mine weren't bigger than my head like Sergio's were.
I had something go horribly wrong in both hands in late 2021. It happened on stage. My hands just suddenly stopped working properly, and I couldn't keep playing my guitar. Here we are coming up three years later, and my left hand has atrophied significantly, even compared to my right hand which has only suffered a fraction compared to what has happened to my left hand. The COVID lockdown really set me back more than I could have believed possible, and my health also suffered a nose dive! I'm back to doing weight training, as much as my many injuries will allow, and my left arm is significantly stronger than my right arm . . which I find curious, since the spinal and musculoskeletal doctor said my hands's problems were due to bone spurs on my neck vertebrae pinching the nerves to my hands. By all rights that should mean that my left arm should be weaker than my right arm, but the very opposite is the case! I'm now leaning to the opinions of everyone I know, who all say it sounds more like a mild stroke to them. My doctor won't even entertain that notion. So now it looks like I'll have to go back to being right-handed again.
What does it mean to be in the Rogue family? Joe places orders with Rogue? Or he is sponsored by Rogue? Or he gets a discount? Anyway, glad it's working out for all parties involved.
What a guy ❤
God, he is handsome 😍
He’s mine
being a Kiwi...always hope Tom Walsh can win....but with guys like Kovacs and Crouser...you got to throw big to win...these guys and Romani...make it a good watch...big time throwers
This is the most inspiring shot put videos I have ever watched
Wow great video on a interesting athlete. I’m going to follow him 🖖
This video is fantastic!!!!
Great story !
Great video!
The way Joe Kovacs and Jay Cutler looked when they were starting in their own sport is similar, or i should say, the way they looked is similar.
I swear saw luk stoltman in picture 😂😂😂
Very nice
Good video
It's a graet practice to be athlete✌✌✌✌✌✌✌✌✌✌✌🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
💪🐻
Surely Rogue make a throwing shoe
4:18 why is it so beat up??
When you that big, it has an effect on your breathing. Probably has got a hernia of the diaphragm. And you tend to have a bit of a bloated belly from being that big and doing heavy weights.
hundreds of people want to touch it (or even bite it) and silver is a pretty soft metal
daddy!
Highlight an Olympic wrestler please
Usa shot puters is in top level but in disc throwing isn't very good
Joe, tou know you are probably 50% hungarian on your father's side.