As the saying goes, ‘there’s more than one way to skin a cat’. This is no more relevant than in the gym where we sometimes get attached to traditional pieces of equipment and forget that there are other ways intuitive to get stronger and more powerful.

The Gym Workout Hammer, also known as a sledgehammer, is a great example of an inventive way to train for strength and power, mixing up your sessions so that they do not become boring.

What is a Gym Hammer?

The Mirafit Gym Workout Hammer is made of solid steel, available in a range of weights, from 4kg to 25kg, perfect for an alternative approach or bootcamp style sessions to allow you to swing, lift and smash to your heart’s content.

It also comes with a matt black powder finish and a knurled grip both at the end of the handle and half-way up for better grip throughout your exercises, which is essential for any high-power movements.

How to Use a Workout Hammer

Smash

First and foremost, the sledgehammer is great for upper body ballistic (explosive) exercises. Simply grab an old tyre and hit is as hard as you can for a great upper body power stimulus.

Swing

Utilising the long handle, you can use the hammer to train through full rotation of your shoulder joint, which is often neglected with more linear exercises, like the overhead press.

Offset

The majority of the weight in the hammer, obviously, resides in the hammer head itself, meaning that the load is not distributed evenly and is always offset. We can use this offset to our advantage to target one side of our body at a time, without the huge stability requirements of a true unilateral exercise, which may be good for beginners or those looking for further help with unilateral strength.

Awesome Hammer Exercises

Gym Hammer Tyre Smash

• Stand feet shoulder width apart, facing a tyre with a workout hammer held in two hands, one hand on each of the knurling grips.

• Place the hammer on the tyre to spot where you are to hit.

• Raise the hammer head to a comfortable height.

• Explosively smash the hammer head back down into the tyre, thinking about trying to ‘break the tyre’.

• Repeat 5-10 times before switching hands and repeating.

Benefits

The tyre smash allows you to perform a true upper body ballistic movement at maximal effort, that is to continue to accelerate throughout concentric phase of the movement, without having to slow down for the tyre.

Hammer Shoulder Rotation Swing

• With your hands together on the hammer shaft, hold the hammer head up on its end in front of you.

• Slowly lower the hammer over behind one shoulder before letting the weight of the hammer swing around the back of your head, and then pulling it back to the start position.

• Do this 5-10 times before swapping directions and doing the same.

• Bring your hands lower down on the shaft or get a heavier hammer to make it more difficult as you get better at the movement.

Benefits

This exercise exposes the shoulder to load in both internal and external rotation, improving strength and mobility for exercises like front squats, bench press and overhead press.

Offset Hammer Front Raise

• Hold a hammer in your hands like a barbell, with palms facing backwards.

• Pull the hammer up, keeping the shaft level, keeping your arms straight, until it is parallel to the floor and in line with your shoulders.

• Slowly lower back down to return to the start position and finish the rep.

•  Hold the hammer further down the shaft, away from the hammer head, or get a heavier hammer to make the exercise harder.

Benefits

It allows you to bias one limb during a lift but, unlike typical unilateral work. This means you’ll be able to lift heavier weights due to the extra stability from both hands holding onto the shaft, reducing side to side strength imbalances, whilst also working your core hard as you reduce the rotational force from the offset load.

Add these Gym Workout Hammer exercises into your training to get stronger and more powerful in new and inventive ways, keeping your training fun and fresh!

Written by guest author Ewan Hammond

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Tags: Exercise Type > Strength