How I upgraded my hammer....full photo story!

[fungus]

As promised, here's the full story of how I added extra weight to my hammer

Be sure to let me know what you think!


Update:

I just did my first session with the new hammer. The weights stayed on!

I thought I was being a bit conservative by only adding 1kg to my hammer but the
session turned out to be nearly as tough as my first ever shovelglove workout was.
The old hammer definitely wasn't heavy enough for me....

[Pete]

nice extension the the humble sledge!

I might end up doing something like this myself, I am not super keen on spending $70AUD for a new sledge

[jules]

Fungus, looks very cool. I like the industrial strength ties -- the belt buckle diving weights were perfect for that. Also the shape of the diving weights really help w/ maintaining even weight distrubution. Good job!

jules

[reinhard]

Wow. Very impressive. I will officially stop worrying since you clearly know what you're doing, and am honored that my system is the subject of such an impressive "mod" -- that's a real milestone. Maybe it even warrants a section (or mention) on the home page...

Reinhard

[Marc1]

Thats a really cool idea! I could only find a 7lb hammer and after 2 weeks of using it, I thought I'd really need to upgrade in order to get a decent workout, but there are only 7lb and 14lb in the shop near me. Fortunately over the weekend I found 2 ankle/wrist weights(you know the fabric ones with straps) I taped them to the hammer "head", so I now have a 10lb hammer. The weights are sand covered in fabric so they double up as a nice glove as well!

[fungus]

Hello again, I'm glad you all liked my glove-mod....!

A few thought/comments:

Yes, when I saw the diver's weights in the shop it was an real "lightbulb-over-the-head" moment. I just knew it was the right way to do it.

The hammer works perfectly, absolutely no balance problems. The extra weight feels good in my hands.

I like the look of the new hammer. Before the upgrade it was just a big hammer but now it has real presence and purpose. People were always "dude, why do you have a hammer in your living room?". Now they'll be much more "what the hell is *that*!!" (nb. I use my shovel "naked" - gloves are for wimps!).

Yesterday I started thinking "Mad Max" when I swung it.


Technicalities
---------------
I guess there's many different ways you could fix the weights to the hammer. Ordinary string would do the job perfectly well if you went around the hammer a dozen or so times on either side of the handle (in fact that's probably stronger than the zip ties). If you're a rawhide kind of a guy, use that!

You could probably do it without the glue (but if you do I'd put an extra couple of ties on it - just to be safe!). The main reason I glued it was that I didn't want any possibility of the weights shifting around or rattling against the head of the hammer when I used it. The glue makes the whole thing a lot more solid.

Regarding the weight: I really didn't think that such a small upgrade would make soooo much difference, but it does! Before the upgrade I could get through the entire 14 minutes at full speed without any problems (I usually did two sets of 50sh+32bc+50cw+16lv in that time).

With the extra weight I'm in real trouble after ten minutes or so, I especially feel it in my wrists/hands. Looks like I'm going to have to take it slow and steady for a while. I'm really glad I didn't buy the 1kg weights!

Reinhard: How did you feel when you first started with the 16lb hammer? How about the 20lb-er?

[phayze]

I love it when clever people improvise . . .

Nice work, Fungus!

[reinhard]

Reinhard: How did you feel when you first started with the 16lb hammer? How about the 20lb-er?

In the very beginning, each upgrade felt ridiculously hard, like I'd never be able to do this. But in a surprisingly short amount of time, less than a month, I think, it felt totally normal.

[fungus]

In the very beginning, each upgrade felt ridiculously hard, like I'd never be able to do this. But in a surprisingly short amount of time, less than a month, I think, it felt totally normal.

I've only been using my upgraded hammer for four or five days but I'm getting used to it. I still can't do anywhere near the number of reps I could do before the upgrade but it no longer feels like it's going to break my wrists.

[phayze]

I've been reading quite a bit lately about fitness training, and I've found that it's very common to make gains in strength extremely quickly when you first start with something new (more weight, new movement, new routine, whatever). Apparently, this is mostly caused by neurological development that happens as you practice the exercise and your body learns how to handle the new movement or increased weight in the most efficient way. That's why they say to change up your exercises every few weeks - to keep your nervous system constantly adjusting to new loads.

At first glance, that makes it sound like we're really not getting any stronger even though we're pulling more reps in less time, but you have to remember that huge, powerful muscles aren't worth any more than a slab of raw meat without a well-trained nervous system to manipulate them.

[Kevin]

I may have to join you. My 14 pounder is getting a bit light, but I don't want to buy a 16, then a 20 in another year...

[billyymc12508]

That is an super job on modifying the hammer! Frankly I think it might be too nice to be in the spirit of shovelglove

I like that you can relatively easily melt off the weights to put on heavier ones.

I have an 8 pound hammer, which was way to light for me -- so I used the ankle weight solution that I'm sure others have used -- lay the ankle weights over the hammer head, use the handy velcro strap to strap as tightly as possible, then further secure with ever trusty duct tape. It works -- it ain't pretty, but it works.

[david]

Maybe I'm a sledgehammer fetishist--I just keep buying bigger hammers!

I actually do use them all, though. They certainly aren't rusting in the corner somewhere.

--david