Sledgehammer Workouts have been around for quite a while and are a great addition for training used by fighters, wrestlers, strongmen and other athletes. They're a tribute to the manual laborers who bust their ass day after day hitting rock, stone and other things to break down and mold or taken out so something can be built. I admire guys like that and are in awe of the natural strength they possess. Slim The Hammer Man is a perfect example of this; worked 12-14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week at a rock quarry, breaking down stone and hauling it out and doing it for decades is a true testament to what real world strength looks like in the flesh.
For training purposes, you really don't need that heavy of a hammer to get in some serious training. I like heavy hammers and use them as a test of strength endurance but the lighter hammers (15-25) will give you a cardio workout that is out of this world and build muscle you can't get from conventional lifting. There are great ways to use the hammer but the most basic exercises the swing & thrust and just the thrust down movements, after one set of repetitions, switch hand grips and repeat the number of reps.
I did a progression system where I would take a deck of cards and use those for reps, once I completed the deck, I would add weight to the hammer. Now, not all hammers allow you to put in lead shot or steel shot and they're just a regular hammer. You can go out and buy a heavier hammer or you can use the same one and see how long it takes you to finish a workout with a deck of cards; my best time with the 30 lb. Thor Hammer is 32 minutes and over 90 minutes with Big Bertha. With a lighter hammer (under 25 lb.), a full deck can be done in less than 20-25 minutes.
Now on the topic of form since there are some Form Nazis out there, certain aspects of form changes the complexion of the exercise from a more strength based to a cardio based. So, if you did a lighter hammer and just do a more thrust down style, that gives off more of the cardio effect because you're just moving the hammer up and down at a fast pace; this is more my style and it makes the workout go by faster. For the Swing & Thrust movement, you can use a heavier hammer or a lighter hammer, either way, you're using more muscles in a rotational pull and thrusting it down which may lead to less reps but more of a strength exercise. With the 59 lber, I can't go anywhere near as fast with the Swing Style but that's not the point, the swing style is not really about speed but more technique based and focused on strength. You still breathe heavily just moving that heavy sucker but it takes more strength to swing a hammer of that size.
This isn't a fancy type of workout and isn't meant to be pretty, it is basic, straight forward and full of bad ass benefits. It can aid in fat loss, build muscle fast, tendons like steel cords, grip strength that of the charts and core strength that very few can match. You'll have endurance and stamina that is very unique and strength nobody would ever mess and more. For this type of workout, if I was serious about it, wouldn't be more than 3-4 days between sessions. If you do it for a living that's one thing but for training purposes, you need to recover efficiently otherwise you can really hurt yourself so do what's possible for you without risking major injury.
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For Sledgehammer Workouts Check Out: Monster Conditioning- Sledgehammer By Bud Jeffries
Get pumped up for this kind of training by this kick ass band.....