Swinging the Big Old Hammer
In the last post I talked about my recent foray into super high reps with a heavy sledge. It’s bad to the bone stuff building super strength, endurance, power, ab and grip strength. If you decide to jump into the deep end of the pool here you should build up to it slowly or already be in great muscular and aerobic shape. Remember anything that you do that you’re not used to could make you sore, but the better shape you’re in the less this bothers you. In fact I’ve found that after my kettlebell odyssey very few things make me very sore pretty much no matter how hard I jump on it. Things like the swing and hammers are so “whole body” that all the muscles get through enough work to stay in fighting shape.
Here are three tips that’ll help you with the big hammers.
1) Find an efficient comfortable form that doesn’t overkill anyone body part or joint. When you go crazy with the reps it magnifies troubles if you over stress one area. Also as you fatigue form gets harder to keep so an efficient one keeps you safer.
2) Probably gonna want to use gloves unless you’re used to the particular exercise enough not to get torn up skin. Even then you’re probably gonna get blisters and torn skin. Part of the game at this level. At one point in my lifting career I would have told you any glove is for sissies, but it aint so if you’re just doing bench presses and it aint 10 degrees then – yeah okay it’s sissy, but there’s no point in making the tough things insane without a clear gain to it. There’s almost no way to toughen the skin completely when you’re dealing with thousands of reps and the loss in training time isn’t worth it. Some gloves in fact make certain exercises tougher not easier. For this (and often kettlebell swings) I usually like cotton gloves with rubber coating in the palms. For me they protect pretty well and have no trade off in grip.
3) I like (and you probably will to) to hit a tire for this kind of work. It’s cheap and almost indestructible and can be done almost anywhere with no damage. You can control with it the height your swinging at and sometimes a very low target can get you very sore with that high of reps. Also the type provides a target with some rebound and its absorption of energy without sending a big shock back up the handle. That can be gotten around if you’re timing of relaxing when you strike it very good but most people won’t have that skill without lots of practice. That pounding adds up to trouble over thousands of reps so the type is a big help.
These tips will help you out when you’re scaring the weights or gym goers with the big sledge and make it easier on you to boot. They may think you’re crazy, but I think it’s crazy not to have that kind of strength, endurance and vitality. If you want more on sledgehammer training this Wednesday we’re bringing back another DVD set that’ll be sure to fire you up.
God bless,
Bud Jeffries
4 Comments
Bud- Did you do the sledgehammer swings non-stop to 2000? Or is it acceptable to do them in sets? Thinking about doing it someday and I just want to know which way to do it.
Thanks,
Sean
Hi Bud,
Congratulations.
I have the same question as Sean. I recently started sledgehammer striking and use 1:1 intervals (36:36). I have found it to be excellent. I know John Brookfield worked continuously. Was your feat achieved without intervals? Also, is this how you train to reach these numbers, or are your training sessions different?
Another question I have.
There is a company around that is selling heavy sledgehammers. From the photos, it looks like the handle is short; at least compared to the ones I have. John Brookfield mentioned that he used this brand and also mentioned that you could add a weight to the hammer. I guess he meant that you could slip an olympic weight plate over the handle? I am wondering what your thoughts are in regards to the length of the handle. How would a shorter handle effect the exercise? What is your feeling on adding plates to the hammer? I guess it is going to change the feel of the movement. Do you think it would have a detrimental effect, or it is just something else to get used to?
Regards
Anthony
I’d like to see some video in regards to various swing technique-I.E. sliding hand grip vs stationary..Thanks agiain for your work in strength building..I move to oregon from washington and jesse marunde was a beast of the sequim area-awesome piece on a solid lifter..Take care and God Bless
I have just done the calculations. 90 minutes, 2 000 reps; that is 1 rep every say 2.5 seconds.
Bud, you are setting the bar very high lol.
All the best
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[...] Jeffries weighs in on the subject of super-high-rep sledgehammer swings and gives three tips that will help you stick at it: (1) find a groove that doesn’t put too [...]