Have events and people in your life contributed to a lot of pent-up frustration?
Had a day where you absorbed everybody’s crap and drama like a toxic sponge?
Unbearable day at work?
Deal with way too many unreasonable people today?
Swallowed a lot of other people’s aggression this week?
Has your significant other just pushed all your wrong buttons lately?
Is walking on that treadmill like a bored hamster just not getting you closer to the body you desire?
Feeling a little chunky wondering why you can’t lose that pesky fat?
Well have I got an incredibly physically productive and mentally satisfying workout that will not only bash all your toxic stress into submission, but unleash your inner Hulks and She-Hulks for some smashing fun and life empowerment!
I like to call this workout the swing and smash workout since it combines the gateway exercise to the world of kettlebells – the kettlebell swing- with the devastatingly effective simplicity of the timeless sledgehammer to accelerate you to your fitness goals. This is a “strikingly” fun as well as a supreme total body workout that will chase the nasty fat screaming from your body, get you lean, tight and strong and improve your conditioning and movement quality without wasting your precious time or boring the hell out of you!
Here’s how to do the kettlebell swing and sledgehammer smash workout:
Perform 30 seconds of sledgehammer smashes immediately followed by 30 seconds of kettlebell swings. This will be considered a round.
Start out by resting one minute between rounds. You may need more or less rest depending on your individual fitness level which is fine, but make sure you stay challenged.
Set the clock for 10 minutes and see how many quality rounds you can perform.
Check out the video demonstration I did with coach Moses Correa to see how this kettlebell swing and sledgehammer smash workout is performed:
Tips And Guidelines
Always do some type of meaningful warmup before ramping up to more intense activity like pairing kettlebell swings with sledgehammer smashes.
Rest as much as you need between rounds, but do challenge yourself
Don’t rush the exercises for the sake of racking up low quality repetitions inviting pain or injury. Instead “own” the movements in a controlled fashion using good form which your body will thank you for!
If your form starts to falter due to fatigue, stop and rest a bit more between rounds to ensure proper connection and technique.
Keep the exercise area free of obstructions, pay attention to your surroundings and keep a safe distance from others who may be participating.
Ladies try swinging a 10KG or 12KG kettlebell and an 8lb or 10lb sledgehammer.
Men Try swinging a 20KG or 24KG kettlebell and a 16lb sledgehammer
* These are only rules of thumb to get you started – adjust accordingly to your own fitness threshold
As you get better, work at increasing the training time to 15 minutes.
Regressions And Progressions With This Workout
If you should have any difficulty with the kettlebell swing getting too tough to perform either regress to doing kettlebell deadlifts or go down a bell size in order to remain productive and safe.
The sledgehammer component to this awesome workout has a lot more variables to consider to either increase or decrease the level of challenge.
If the sledgehammer is too heavy, simply drop down a size.
If an 8lb sledgehammer is too heavy, especially understandable for beginners and some of the ladies, simply grab a baseball bat to perform the same smashing hits.
Keep in mind that what you smash the sledgehammer into has a direct bearing on the difficulty of the exercise.
Driving the sledgehammer into a tire is the most common scenario and the easiest method to learn as the tire will give you that “reverb” or bounce back effect after you hit it helping to contribute to the hammer’s upward momentum preparing you for the next strike and so on.
A harder scenario would be striking the sledgehammer on a tree stump. There is not as much of a bounce upward or “reverb” effect here, so you have to work more to get that hammer back overhead for the next strike
The most difficult and metabolically demanding scenario would be striking the sledgehammer directly into Mother Earth or as I call it – the “ground and pound.” You really have to work to unstick the head of the hammer out of the ground after each swing as there is zero momentum or bounce back to help you get that sledgehammer back overhead.
This method is a true body blitzing smoker so be warned before you attempt this. Oh and make sure you seek out a secluded spot for this method as you will tear up the ground like a roto tiller and leave more divots than a pesky gopher or horrible golfer.
Some creeping whacko actually lectured me about how I was “stressing” the worm population when I utilized this “ground and pound” method once. (Only in New Jersey folks.) This disturbing creep kept trying to interject his nonsense into my workout like an annoying activist desperately trying to get me to buy into his out-of-touch agenda. As this person ramped up their belligerence and creeped into my personal comfort zone, I finally had enough. My response to this intrusive dope was a getback glare with the statement “You do realize I have a large hammer in my hand?” I also serenaded him with some colorful expletives not fit to print here and he got the hint and vamoosed without another word. It’s amazing how even a nut or creep will listen to you when you “speak a language they understand.” Just one more benefit to wielding a hammer during an outdoor workout – it keeps the weirdos at bay! I am not obligated to listen to the conjured up rantings of creeps and crazies and will not let these interactions escalate especially if I fear for the welfare of my loved ones or myself in any way. Oh and on a positive note, I suspect the worms are doing just fine!
Most folks will do just fine striking a tire and get all the metabolic challenge they need, so no need to venture into the other striking surfaces unless your fitness level warrants it and you progressively “earn” your way to these harder methods.
where you grip the sledgehammer makes a big difference in the difficulty of the exercise, also. Holding the hammer high on the handle will be easier than if you grip the end of the handle during the swing execution.
Remember ladies, don’t shy away from this workout and think it is just a “guy” thing. Don’t get psyched out by the weight of the implements or all the smashing going on, but focus on the movements as you can always scale down to a light sledgehammer or baseball bat. As long as you eat in a sane manner like an adult, you don’t want to miss out on the benefits this workout can offer like chasing fat off your frame and getting you lean, tight and sexy in all the right places like your stomach, thunder boomer, and legs a lot of you tell me you desire!
So have at it and kettlebell swing and hammer your way to your ideal body while flushing all that pent-up stress out of your system! Your body will thank you.
Stay Well! Take Action! Be Consistent! Train and Eat Smart! Get Rid of the Drains and Pains in Your Life! Value your loved ones and friends and get out and have some active, safe fun!
Still hammering after all these years,
Mark Mellohusky (Mellow – Husky) Mellow as in laid back and husky like the dog
I Eat T-Bone Steaks And Drive Sledgehammers Through Tectonic Plates!
Seven Stars Fitness