2 Good Uses 4 a Big Hammer

Every Man Needs a Sledgehammer

I bought a sledgehammer a couple of days ago. In the process of using it, I discovered quite unexpectedly an additional bonus use for the tool. I was so happy about it that this blog seemed to popped out.

Use 1:

I bought this sledgehammer to solve the difficultly I was having splitting wood from the tree in my backyard that was trimmed last spring. I’ve never split any wood to make firewood before, but I’ve seen it done in the movies. I remember the little girl in the last Jurassic Park movie doing it with ease. And then there was Captain America who was ripping firewood apart with his bare hands in the last Avenger movie. With his bare hands! Granted, lots of your typical Hollywood special effects, but I had no idea how hard it actually was to do it until I tried it.

My first mistake was in buying the least expensive axe I could find. They had bigger, heavier, and much more expensive axes at the local home improvement store. I just didn’t see the need until I came home with my basement bargain wood handled axe and went to work. I don’t think I got a single piece split that day. I went back to the store a day or so later still not suspecting it was the poor choice of the axe that was the problem. I thought that maybe the wood wasn’t dry enough yet, and what I needed was a wedge to get the splitting started. So, I bought a 4 pound wedge and used the flat side of the axe to hammer it into the wood. Slow going, tough, and frustrating is probably the best way to describe my results thus far.

I have skills and experience though. Frustration made me decided to fall back on some of my more practical advice learned in the real world: If it doesn’t move when you hit it, hit it harder. I went back to the store looking for the biggest, baddest, heaviest hammer I could find. Came home with a 10 pound sledgehammer. I banged the wedge into the wood with the axe, and then used the sledgehammer to pound it though. It wasn’t a whole lot easier than what I been doing with just the axe and wedge, but it was a whole lot more effective and much more satisfying. Splitting wood by pounding a 4 pound wedge with a ten pound hammer is really satisfying. Use number 1 for a big hammer: use it for hitting stuff that needs to be hit hard.

Use 2:

A few years ago when I was living in Thailand, I decided that I wanted to try macebell training. A macebell is a big iron ball on the end of a big iron rod. These things are fashioned after the medical mace weapon. Something very primitive about swinging one of these things. The only one I could find in Thailand at the time weighed 10 kilos (that’s like 20.2 pounds). I was routinely tossing up 100s of pounds back then, so a took a mere 20 pound macebell lightly. It didn’t take me long after trying to swing that thing to change my mind though. You have to be able to manhandle a mace bell, and that 10 kilos was definitely manhandling me. I put that thing down and decided to make me a lighter version, or I would never be able to learn the technique. I ended up taping a couple of 2 litter bottles of water on the end of a bamboo broom stick to simulate a macebell. This worked and allowed me to learn the mace bell 360 and 10&2 moves. I loved using that macebell, once I could handle it. Real warrior training. I never thought about just buying a sledgehammer when I was making my bamboo water bottle mace trainer. It did when I was splitting wood last weekend. Use number 2 for a 10 pound sledgehammer: use it as a learning aide/warmup for macebell training.

96 Days Out from the Charolette Cup

Today was the first week back on my somewhat normal lifting routine. My 20 kilo kettlebell is the center piece of the day. Picked up my new sledgehammer and used it as a warm-up for the kettlebell lifts. Worked great. I didn’t realize how much I’ve been missing my macebell. May look to replace the one I left in Thailand. Great work. I’m feeling a little sore as I type this, but I think that’s a good trade.

The AM Workout

PLANNED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Start/Finish – 4:30/6:00am	4:45-655am	Going to set my wake-up time 15 minutes earlier.
Daily Min. (Feet)	long version
Ab roller	10 reps
Sledgehammer Swings	2 minutes	360s, 1 minute to the left, 1 minute to the right, no rest in-between
20 kg Kettlebell	as planned	Goblet Squat 10 reps Australian chin-up 4 sets of 5 reps Double Arm Swing American style 10 reps Dive Bomber Push-up 10 reps Snatch 10 reps each arm
Mandatory Poses	as planned	looking to streamline this to save a little more time

PM Workout

Will post update afterward.

PLANNED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Start/Finish – ? before dinner
Jump Rope Tabata
Tai-Chi
Stationary bike