Levering Sledge Hammers

[Wade Gillingham]

I just got interested in training this after easily doing an 8 pound sledge back to my nose and feeling pretty good about it. Then I saw the pic of Josh Bigger doing a 20 pound sledge in the cyberpump gallery. For you bending and breaking freaks out there, is anyone else out there doing this kind of weight?

[Emsquared]

I have never tried doing anything like that but it does

sound interesting and a great workout for the wrist

and forearm, I may try some of these in the next few

weeks

Where can i find these sledge hammers at??

and what is a reasonable price??

Matt

Edited March 19, 2003 by Emsquared

[Wade Gillingham]

I bought my 8 pounder at Runnings for $20. They had them up to 20 pounds there.

[Tom of Iowa2]

Josh has actually taped some weight to a 20#sledge...sorry no pics.Axes are lighter-shorter handles too- but more interesting. Visually more impressive-scarier- as more weight needs to be taped to the ax.

For a good wrist test and easier to compare try the Heavy

Hammer II it being shorter of course more weight can be utlilzed.....

Unfortunately for me my front delts?(i guess) are not strong enough to go beyond 35 lbs with the Heavy Hammer...i just can't hold it out there...and 35lbs(total weight including apparatus and clip)is a very brief experience.

This is strange to me as push press and over head smith presses,side laterals and front DB raises(shoulder work in general)are the only lifts that i am still stronger than him at anymore.

Sledges?

We have a place called Farm King...right off the shelf you can buy 20#'s,16#'s,and i believe 12's and 8's.Not expensive at all and the handles are fiberglass or plastice?thus ALL the weight is at the end.......you can duct tape weights or lead and make incremental jumps.

[Gripper42004]

I can do a 16lb. hammer back to my nose.I even let it go over the top of my head.

[Guest wells]

Hammer Leverage Bar work really tests your wrist/thumb strength; expecially in the thumbs up position as well as the side 'hold out' position (palm facing down). I also like twisting a hammer leverage bar around finding weak spots and focusing on these areas with 'hold-outs' and 'negatives'. Wow what a burn.

'Standing Straight-Arm To-the-Side' Hammer Leverage Bar Curls can get pretty boring, so try these other variations for 'change of pace'. I think it was these exercises (and not wrist rolling) that made my grip and holding power stronger especially for my size and build. Leverage Bar training assisted in my weighted dips growth potential, back when I was doing them. Everytime I went up in reps or weight on the leverage bars the next week after recovery I usually added 5 kg on my weighted dips max '4-reps' set.

Maybe all the pull-ups from my military days helped as well but I give credited to the Leverage Bars first.

[RSW]

For you bending and breaking freaks out there, is anyone else out there doing this kind of weight?

How about Slim Farman or Tom Black?

[Tom Black]

RSW, I'm here, give me a minute.

Wade,

It's good to understand torque if you are training leverage lifts. When I first started to do sledgehammers I levered to my nose, but now realize that by doing so that I was not getting the hammer handle strictly parallel to the ground.

Slim Farman has very long arms, thus for him when the hammerhead is above his head the handles are parallel to the ground (see my main Homepage third entry down). But for most people in order for the handle to be parallel the handle would actually need to be above their head. For me, it's the handle about 6" from the hammerhead. If I lever the hammerhead to my nose the handle would actually be about 60-degrees as measured from the perpendicular, which is less torque than at 90-degrees. Josh's 20-pound hammer leverage is a great lift, but the handle is not parallel, so the torque is not Weight * Distance but Weight * Distance * sin(angle), wherein the angle is measured from the perpendicular. I have an article coming soon on my site that explains torque in great detail, I'll let everyone know when it's up.

I have been doing mostly the strict levers lately, with the handle too parallel. My weights have dropped accordingly, but I still throw in an overload at times and do the lift the same way Josh does. Another problem with that method is that it is hard to judge progress, since it would be measured by how severe the angle is, but that's a guess when you are doing it. When you go to parallel it is usually fairly clear that you're doing it right.

[Wade Gillingham]

Thanks for the clarification Tom. I actually think I was doing the lift more closely to what you described the first time I tried it, then last night when I tried it I thought my arm should be parallel to the ground. I'll give it a shot with my arm up some and trying to reach parallel with the handle. BTW, what kind of weight do you use with the strict handle parallel to the ground technique? Thanks.

Wade

[Tom Black]

Wade,

Actually, I was trying to avoid using my poundage’s as a guide too you! You probably would be better to shoot for what Slim can presently do, which is 17.5-pounds with arms out to the side. With the arm out to the front, as Josh Bigger is doing, Slim does 26-pounds per hammer (two hammers 26-pounds each for a total of 52-pounds). As far as my weights to strict parallel, out to the side I can do a 10-pound hammer what I would call “easy” and my best is around 12.5-pounds. Compare this to leveraging too my nose which is 18.5-pounds out to the side and 21-pounds out in front, down about 45-degrees. I also have tried a new lift which is out in front, but the handle comes down to my shoulder. I do a variation of this starting with the handle parallel on my shoulder and lifting it up parallel. This way there’s no question the lift is at the full torque. I have a picture of this, I’ll try and dig it up.

[Wade Gillingham]

The 26 pounds that Slim does out front - is this with his arm parallel to the ground or the hammer parallel to the ground.

Wade

[Tom of Iowa2]

The Sledge hammer stunt Josh does is something him and his uncles do just for yucks and giggles.Its a self taught stunt.He said he could do the 20lb.sledge-as pictured- as a teenager.(he weiged 220 when he was 13 and 240 at 16-his 8 or 9 ?year old half brother-same father- weighs 170)

Interestingly he finds it easier to do a single sledge to the side-to the nose- than the front...thus we sent in the photo of the front leverage(thinking that was the more difficult lift).

I always thought slims sledges were heavier than 26#?obviously you folks would know though.

I am not yet able to bring a 20# sledge to the nose....but i have tried it.Not a great lift to fail at.

His only goal-with the sledge- is to bring one 30#lb sledge to the nose.But I'll see if we can find another 20 lb.sledge to try both to the nose...ala Slim Farman.

Maybe we'll try some of the parallel stuff.

Thanks for all the good info Tom.

Is it OK if I print some stuff off your website and show it to Josh?

[Tom Black]

Wade, when Slim does the hammer out in front his arms are parallel and the handles are about 45-degrees, maybe a little more. When Slim does the hammers out in front, even with his long arms, he cannot get the handles too parallel. While working on this lift a few weeks ago I realized that one hammer could be brought down with the handle to the shoulder. This lift can also be performed with the hammer handle resting on the shoulder and lifted strictly up, keeping the handle parallel to the ground. Here I am doing 10-pounds:

http://www.bigsteel.iwarp.com/Pictures/Pho...ndsParallel.jpg

Tom of Iowa, The 26 pounds is what Slim does now, at 70 years old! His record is 31.25-pounds per hammer. Print all that you like from my website.

[Jonathan McMillan]

Great pic Tom!

This thread is making me want to get this lift in my training again. lifting it off the shoulder sounds like a good training variation. I've started putting static holds in my plate wrist curls after reading your post as well Tom!

Jon@han

[Tom of Iowa2]

BTW....but Josh doesn't know who slim Farman is nor does he know that the Sledge leverages are even a traditional 'test'..he just did em to WOW the guys on the farm or the construction site.He actually introduced them to me and sometimes does them after a grip work out.

His Uncle Joe is much better at the sledges...interesting trivia.Joe is a knife sharpener at a slaughter house.

About Slim's hammers...I had thought i had read that he had done more than 26lbs per hammer....

By no means was i being disrespectful of Slim...I had just thought I'd read he'd done more.

Maybe if he reads about Slim- he'll become more interested in the sledges.

[terryduty]

Here's a link to an article on Slim that Josh might like:

http://www.naturalstrength.com/history/det...p?ArticleID=301

[Guest wells]

Jonathan: A sure way of accomplishing this feat is to have somone help you position the hammer head just above your head or better yet above your face. Prepare yourself, ask them to let go and go for it. You may just do it! The survival mechanism may just kick in! You'll then feel like Slim Farman! or... feel like him while in a coma.

Serious though... try some leverage bar training first, it compliments well with plate wrist curling.

[RSW]

Just to show that it's not so easy, Slim invites any volunteer from the audience to horizontally raise a 12-Lb. hammer - by it's end - from the floor. Needless to say, this is an all-but-impossible feat. But then Farman proceeds to lift a 24-Lb. hammer in the same manner with one hand! He lifts it up until it is at straight arm's length.

Very impressive.