Made The 20 Minute Mark On The Sledge

[kelby]

i was lazy, but i told my mind i was going to do the twenty minute mark. i started off with five reps on each side alternating back and forth. last ten minutes or 8 minutes i switch to three reps back and forth back and forth. told my mind i wasnt going to quit. and i did it. proud of my self. now my next goal is to do twenty five reps alternating each side for twenty minutes. this is alot tougher, because the hands get so sore and tired and lactic acid burning all over. it will take aawhile.

[superfeemiman]

Congrats! Do you feel you've increased your grip strength a lot?

[kelby]

yup quite a bit. but i still have to do it for sometime before i start reaping the rewards. my wrist and forearms are bigger. and there are muscles coming out above the wrist. looks like a little worm. like slims not that big though. my forearms grew to almost 14 inches 13 and 3 quarters. pretty ripped. my biceps also grew almost half an inch. so it is a damn good strength, endurance and armbuiling. will shoulders and back strong hips. i dont know what to say. it is working wonders right now.

[superfeemiman]

yup quite a bit. but i still have to do it for sometime before i start reaping the rewards. my wrist and forearms are bigger. and there are muscles coming out above the wrist. looks like a little worm. like slims not that big though. my forearms grew to almost 14 inches 13 and 3 quarters. pretty ripped. my biceps also grew almost half an inch. so it is a damn good strength, endurance and armbuiling. will shoulders and back strong hips. i dont know what to say. it is working wonders right now.

Sounds awesome.

[knyaz]

GREAT job , I actualy picked up a sledge hammer myself last week cant wait to really start training with it, seems like your getting good results

[kelby]

are you using the fifty pounder. my hands sure are getting tough. even when i shake hands with people i can feel how much stronger my hands are. before when i shook hands with other people escecially constructions workers. my hands felt weak and can easily bend. now they are just hard. ilove the hammer man.

Edited April 21, 2007 by kelby

[lifesnotfair]

Kelby dude!! I thought about you today.

I only have a 6lb and 8lb sledge, which I use for rotations and front levers.. mostly the 6lb, and grabbing it close to the weight.. I suck at this. However, I went to a hardware store today, and there they were: 16 and 20 lb sledges... My Goodness... those things were hard to PICK UP!! I'm by no means strong and if I were to train hitting car tyres, I would use the 16 or 20.. maybe I'd even start with the 20 just to save the cost of having to buy both the 16 and this one. But I reckon 50 is way out of my league probably for 1 swing, let alone for 20 minutes!! Hah. I actually want to start doing this.....

[kelby]

i actually started out with a 20 pounder, then we kept adding weight to it. then i got it up to thirty and used that for a few months.

[superfeemiman]

i actually started out with a 20 pounder, then we kept adding weight to it. then i got it up to thirty and used that for a few months.

Good idea!

Do you know if you've increased strength in any other lift? It would be nice to hear about any carry-over that resulted from this.

[mbcx6pmw]

Kelby, where do you put the hammer swinging in your routine, is it a session in itself or do you do it as a 'finisher' (as I do sometimes) after doing other stuff?

[Cunny]

Kelby is this hitting a tyre ?

Ok just saw your vids

[kelby]

yup it is hitting a tire. i usually do tire swining on mondays and thursdays. thursday are the twenty minute and mondays i do higher reps on each arm. like 20-25 reps alternate those for five sets each side. whic is about 125 on each side. i like high reps also better cardio and more burn on the hands and thumb pads. i dont know if i lift more weight anywhere else. but i can curl it like twenty times each side. left it over my head by grabbing it in the middle of the handle. my wrestling has improved in terms of strength. must be in the torso. oh, my crushing grip is improving

[anson]

John Broolfield uses a big sledge in his training like what you're doing. It'll make your hands strong for sure. Switch to a stump when you're ready for a shock to the system.

[TelegraphKey]

Kelby, so you do 1-arm swings, is that right? Is this just the same as regular sledge pound only 1-arm?

[kelby]

i am not sure what you mean one arm swings. the vid is on my gallery if you didnt see it yet.

[El Crab Hands]

haha, try doing it for a couple hours at your job!, I still think it's fun sometimes when I feel like doing it, but sometimes it's a pain in the ass...

[TelegraphKey]

i am not sure what you mean one arm swings. the vid is on my gallery if you didnt see it yet.

I can't get it to work right now. By 1-arm swing, I mean just like a regular sledge pound, hitting a tire, except holding the hammer in only 1 hand (the other arm does nothing), then switching to the other hand. Shenandoah (sp?) did/does these, it looks very taxing. Must be fantastic for building wrist strength for bending! (I've tried it once, keep meaning to get back to it, but it's really tricky for me)

[kelby]

it is very taxing, but at the same time when you are done you dont feel dead like you would with weights. you feel great after. the only problem i have is it is a constent burning on your hands, thumb pads. you really have to menatally focus.

[judoboy]

i am not sure what you mean one arm swings. the vid is on my gallery if you didnt see it yet.

I can't get it to work right now. By 1-arm swing, I mean just like a regular sledge pound, hitting a tire, except holding the hammer in only 1 hand (the other arm does nothing), then switching to the other hand. Shenandoah (sp?) did/does these, it looks very taxing. Must be fantastic for building wrist strength for bending! (I've tried it once, keep meaning to get back to it, but it's really tricky for me)

i do 1 hand swing-to-lever with a 7lb sledge and it zaps my forearms, it requires a good wrist and concentration to keep things straight, kind of like when doing a BU clean/press with a kettlebell.

10mins work with a sledge is very good, brutal conditioning for all the body. i normally go for 2-3mins really high intensity with a 7lb or 10lb, swapping every 20. just started doing 4-5mins medium pace with 22lb, swapping every 5. classic 2 hand swing berserking on big tyre

hammers rule

[kelby]

yup, hammers rule. carries over real well to functional strength and grappling strength. weights i dont think give you the fightng strength that is required, not like the hammer. i have grappled people who can bench a ton, or squat,but for some reason they dont have that strength that is needed to grapple. on the other hand i had grappled small skinny men, some of them seem to be strong and hard to move around the ground. weird man.

[judoboy]

yup, hammers rule. carries over real well to functional strength and grappling strength. weights i dont think give you the fightng strength that is required, not like the hammer. i have grappled people who can bench a ton, or squat,but for some reason they dont have that strength that is needed to grapple. on the other hand i had grappled small skinny men, some of them seem to be strong and hard to move around the ground. weird man.

very true, big doesn't equal strong in my book. hammering requires good rotational force and is a multi plane movement, unlike bench or squat.

my old judo coach told me once, 'pushing weights around is easy. controlling a person that doesn't want to be controlled is the hardest thing in the world'. he was a top international judo player, ex-pro wrestler and experienced doorman. weight-training is not 'easy' but i see his point.

[kelby]

i rarely experience arm fatigues anymore too. i can defend agains armbars pretty good. have good wrist controld. awesome stuff.