a) "Pick onions" - work your lats.
Hold the hammer horizontally in front of you, one hand at either end of the handle, palms downwards. Feet should be fairly wide apart.
Bend forwards until the hammer is hanging with the head a couple of inches above your foot.
Using only your arms (i.e. without raising your body), lift the hammer up until the handle touches your chest, lower it down again. Repeat. Change sides.
The "hammer above the foot" thing is a good incentive to control the hammer properly and not let it hit the floor (which would be bad - especially if you live in a rented apartment).
Advanced version: Only lift with the hand which is near the head of the hammer - the other hand should stay more or less where it is. This is much harder for some reason...
Variation: Try it with your palms facing upwards.
b) "Toss the apple" - reinforce your biceps.
Hold the hammer with one hand at each end of the handle, palms upwards. Arms should be relaxed with hammer hanging naturally in front of you.
{For the next section I assume the right hand has the head of the hammer}
Throw the head of the hammer upwards with the right hand. The hammer should go up into a vertical position with the handle just below your waist and the head just in front of your face.
As the hammer moves upwards, slide the right hand down the handle until it reaches a position just above the left hand.
The right hand then grabs the handle and the left hand is released. The hammer passes in front of you and the left hand catches it as it falls to the left.
In practice this all happens very quickly. It may sound difficult/dangerous to do but it's really quite easy as you never actually let go of the hammer and the handle naturally guides your hands into the right positions.
Once you've tossed the apple over to the left, toss it back to the right and repeat.
The fact that you have to throw the hammer makes this one quite tough. There's absolutely no way to do it slowly/carefully.
I usually replace "flip the lever" with "apple toss" in my workout as it feels a lot mroe natural to me (and it works roughly the same set of muscles).
c) "Wave the flag" - nice for the front shoulder/pecs.
Hold the hammer vertically in front of you, left hand at the bottom, right hand at the top, palms facing towards you. The handle of the hammer should be slightly separated from your body. Imagine the left hand is holding the base of a long flag pole and the flag is up above your head somewhere.
The left hand should stay more or less in front of your belly during the whole exercise. You'll probably find it moves a little to the left as you swing, that's ok.
Move the right hand from side to side in front of you to wave the "flag". Repeat. Change hands.
notes: When you wave "outwards" (i.e. when the right hand is waving the flag and the flag is going to the right) you should try to go backwards as well as outwards. The further back you go on the outswing, the harder you hit your pecs.
When you go back to the center position you only need to go a little bit past vertical, if at all.
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Enjoy...
