A Sp Spec ecia iall Re Rep por ortt Fr From om www.sledgehammerconditioning.com
The Leverage Secrets To MA M ASSIVE
Hand Strength A Guide to the Hand Strengthening Skills of World Class Strongmen
Joshua Stiletto 1
Disclaimer The author, producers, and distributors of this book advise that the exercises shown herein may be too strenuous for certain individuals. Consult with a physician or other licensed health care professional if you have questions about the safety of any movement given your personal state of health. The author, producers, publisher and distributors of this book disclaim all liability for any injury or condition sustained during or after practice of any of the exercises demonstrated in this book. Consult your physician before beginning any physical training program and before using any new physical training equipment. All Minors (under the age of 18) must be supervised by an adult while performing these exercises. Read and understand all instructions before attempting the exercise.
A Joshua Stiletto Book / Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Joshua Stiletto Ltd 2
Table Of Contents Disclaimer ................................................................ 2 Table Of Contents....................................................... 3 Chapter 1: Leverage Skills ............................................ 4 Chapter 2: Front Lever ................................................ 5 Chapter 3: Back Lever ................................................. 8 Chapter 4: Sledge Twist ............................................. 11 Chapter 5: Rear Lever ............................................... 14 Chapter 6: Conclusion ............................................... 15
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Chapter 1: Leverage Skills It’s not a new tradition, but an effective one. All of these skills are designed to use the Sledge in a way that puts your body in a position of extreme mechanical disadvantage, and if trained properly over time, your body responds by growing massive strength. Instead of progressively increasing weight, we are progressively increasing torque. What makes this even more challenging is that the amount of torque acting on your body increases as you move through the skill – the lesson here is to gauge your success by your ability to move the Sledge at the very difficult end of the movement and not by the very easy beginning. Some Strongmen like to use these techniques as a way of training for other feats of strength like bending iron rods. Others just focus in on the Sledge maneuvers as a stand-alone feat of strength with progressively larger hammers. Slim The Hammer Man being the most notable example of such a Strongman. However you slice it, practicing these skills will strengthen EVERYTHING in your lower arms. Your muscles will be stronger, your ligaments will improve, and the bones themselves will become structurally sturdier. There is a world of other grip exercises available, but if you focus in on these exercises, they will go a long way to making your grip, wrist and forearm both strong and injury proof. Proceed slowly, give your body a chance to recoup, and enjoy.
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Chapter 2: Front Lever
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The Front Lever: I recommend this with all of the Sledgehammer exercises, but let me add the extra emphasis here. CHOKE UP when you are learning this skill. As you will learn during the slow decent, it is much more difficult to move the Sledge when it is horizontal than it is when it is vertical. The Sledge forms a 90-degree angle with your arm (maintain a locked elbow). 90-60 is relatively easy, 60-30 requires concentration, and 30-0 is a lot of gritted teeth and cursing under your breath. It is this last 30 degrees that dictate how much or little you choke up or down on the handle. This is the lift I personally have worked the most, and as you can see I’m a good way down, but still have progress to make. You might consider making a mark on the handle to indicate what progress you’ve made (so you’re not just guessing the next time around). I keep the lifts to five or less to keep from wearing out my hands. With the handle choked out as much as I do, it touches my shoulder. If I go all the way, it would touch my chin. So I would recommend keeping your free hand nearby incase you need to 6
catch or deflect the Sledge. There is never any reason you should be putting your body in danger of an impact. Remember, gradual progress over time.
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Chapter 3: Back Lever
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You can quickly tell that I’ve focused more on the Front lever than I have the Back Lever. Reason for this is pretty simple; when I was practicing on my own I was using the Front Lever as a finisher for my workouts. It wasn’t until later that I learned about the men that practiced this from other angles to really work their hands in a way nothing else can do. So, now I get to play catch-up. The basic idea is the same. Your grip works differently, and there isn’t a chance of this thing hitting your body if you push your grip to exhaustion. SLOWLY lower it down, and then SLOWLY bring it back up. Keep your arm straight, and as horizontal as you can. Push yourself to be as strict as you can possibly be – better technique gives you a better measure of your progress.
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Chapter 4: Sledge Twist
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Plant your elbow into your ribs for stability – what I’ve been calling the Ready Position. The Sledge begins at twelve o’clock, slowly bring it down to three o’clock. Then slowly bring it back to twelve, and down to nine o’clock. Now return to start. This works my forearm like nothing I have ever encountered before. I’ve been working my way along the handle – but I should note that I’ve never come across anyone who has pushed this much farther than the half way mark on the handle. I don’t say this to say that it can’t be done, only that I’ve never seen it done. If a person were so inclined, I imagine one could, but that definitely reaches into the realm of the ‘feats of strength.’ My interest has always been much more on training for practical uses, but perhaps someone will become inspired…
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Chapter 5: Rear Lever
This isn’t like the other levers, this is much more of a static hold with a little bit of movement. Those that train it tend to have it laying on the ground horizontally, then keep it in that plane as they pick it up (making it more difficult by grasping it farther away from the head). I HAVE seen men pick this up with their hand choked all the way to the end of the handle. Those that do move it, only move it a few degrees upwards, never all the way to the elbow. 14
Chapter 6: Conclusion These exercises are not unknown amongst strongman circles, but are virtually unheard of outside of that. Whatever your fitness goals are – whatever vision you have for yourself – practicing these skills will give you an edge that almost no one else will know about or have ever seen. I’ve already recommended one route to training these moves. Keeping the repetitions very low with a very difficult level of torque (performing a few sets of these). I’ve also had good results with lower torque and going for much higher numbers to make progress. Like most things, there is never the one ‘best’ way to do it. Try them out to see what you like and what you don’t like and what works best for you. Remember to take care of your hands. Don’t over stress them, and practice the recuperative techniques mentioned in the Joint and Mobility guide.
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