A friend of mine asked me the other day he was interested in
working with Sledgehammers and wanted to know what exercises and weight to
start with on the hammer? I gave him a little bit of it because that was what I
could figure out to say at the time. To me, it’s a lot of fun and has many
benefits in terms of muscle building, strengthening the tendons and building
great lung power; but it’s also very demanding and when you start out too fast
or too much weight it’ll hit you hard.
To give you
some ideas; I've worked with different types of hammers, the ones you get like
at home depot, the Epic Sledge, Thor’s Hammer and others so each one has a
different feel or a different set of ways to move with the hammer. Just the
basic swing on a tire is crazy enough as it is but there are other exercises
that don’t always require striking. When you work with a long implement, the
leverage factor will be a bigger point to look at because the weight shifts and
you have to move your body to where the weight is in order to move it.
Some people
like using the Mace and although it’s very useful in many ways, I like using a
sledgehammer better because it has a better interest in what you can do in
terms of lever work and working with weight at a more odd angle. The Mace has
more of a rounded ball so it has a smoother way of moving, the Sledge has more
of a 4 sided shape like a rectangle or square as the head of the hammer. When
you start out, you want to feel how it works in your hands, how your body
shifts with the weight and try different things and no matter what you try,
your grip will be a factor. If you don’t have a good grip you won’t last too
long.
Start out
with a good 7-10 hammer to get the feel for it. There’s a DVD you can get from
Bud Jeffries that is part of his Monster Conditioning Program specific to
Sledgehammer Training. If you don’t have a tire that’s fine you can still get
great benefit from sledge training. The exercises you can do are nearly the
same as if lifting a barbell or dumbbell but the weight is shifted to one side
so you have to work the stabilizing muscles and your grip needs to be strong
and tight. Here’s a website that shows certain exercises although done with a
Mace you can do the same with a sledge. Play and experiment with various reps
and sets.
I highly
recommend the Sledgehammers from Stronger Grip because if you want to add
weight to the hammer; you can put in shot led or steel shot otherwise if you
use a hammer like from home depot, it’s expensive to buy more hammers and
prices vary depending on how heavy the hammer is. I also recommend you do get a
tire because once you get the ground work for non-tire exercises you’ll
eventually want to strike it. You can find tires at a junk yard that no one
wants anymore or you can get Half Tires that take up less space and have better
strikes to work on.
When you
work on getting good with the sledgehammer, your body will begin to change,
your muscles will have more definition, your tendons will become stronger and
your breathing will skyrocket because it takes strength to use the hammer the
way these guys can show you and the heavier the hammer, the more your breathing
becomes a factor. Your grip will become much stronger and have that crushing strength.
Take your body and mind to Super Muscle level and watch your strength skyrocket
in ways you haven’t had before.
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