I’ve wanted to try clubbells, but being a student they are a bit too expensive for me. I’ve been thinking of using a sledgehammer in an attempt to replicate the exercises, and was wondering if anyone else has tried something similar and how it worked out for them.
Thanks in advance,
kevin
There is a big difference. If you cannot afford them, then get two plastic wiffle bats and fill them up with sand to 15lbs each. Cheap and effective
Mike Mahler
I have 3lbs. 4lbs. and 8lbs. so far. They are of course not as heavy as the clubbells, but the 8lbs. have a longer lever than the 3, 4, or the clubbells. You can definitely do a lot of replicated exercises with them, plus you stress the entire chain with the longer lever arms. My grip and forearm strength has gone up since incorparating the hammers into my training. Also the hammers are $10.00 to $20.00 dollars compared to the clubbells $84.95 and up, but don’t get me wrong the clubbells are still great and I’m trying to get my boss to get a couple of sets. Work with what you have.
I use both for my GPP work, and both have their advantages. I wouldn’t recommend using a clubbell for actual striking movements, but although many of the clubbell movements can be duplicated with the sledge they are dangerous and a bit akward. Mike’s suggestion of loading a bat is good, (I have a loaded aluminum t-ball bat), and gets you a close approximation of a clubbell, but does not quite have the clubbell balance.
Coach S has some 35lb clubbells set a side for T-Jack reviews so hopefully we all soon have a shot at them.
Many of the exercises that you do with clubbells such as:
arm-pit cast, shield cast, swipes are really not that safe with sledge hammers. Slege hammer trianing is great for other things but not for many of the exercises that you do with clubbells. Either get clubbells or make them as suggested above, but I do not recommend doing a lot of clubbel drills with sledgehammers.
Mike Mahler
Sledgehammers and clubbells are to different animals they both have there pros and cons. Many of the exercises that you can use a clubbell fore you can not safely use a sledgehammer for and vic versa. I think clubbells are useless for strength development (and gimmicky). However they do have there place for speed-strength, muscular endurance, rehab/prehab and GPP training. But remember there not the end all of training only a tool that if used WISLEY can be extremely effective.
Sledgehammers are my all time favorite tool for GPP training and abs development. All my athletes utilize sledgehammer GPP some time in there training cycles. It?s very effective and will help you create awesome abdominal strength.
So what?s my point use both in a properly designed program (if you can?t afford it save your money).
There is only so much time in a day. I like to spend my training time using Barbells, Dumbbells and some odd object lifting. However, every now and then I use a Sledge to beat a strong man tire I have in my backyard. I find this conditioning to be incredible. I prefer the sledge over Clubbells, not even close!
Boss,
Our responses agree for the most part, however I disagree with your statement that clubbells do not build strength. Prior to getting one through T-Jack I thought the same thing, but hands on testing proved me wrong. CBs won’t make your DL or BP go through the roof, but made a great impact on my hand/grip strength and shoulder stability.
to this day I have not seen Coach Sonnon and any of his “people” say/write that clubbells are the only strength training tools we need. most of them train with just about “everything”. So I dunno where the “be all, end all” opinion came from in the above post, but I see that lots.
I did notice that in a week’s time the toy bats, that look like bruisers, sold out fast. Must be some CB-peeps raiding the stores here in Hawai’i. I was laughing because I was there to buy them too for the same cheaper substitute purpose. I don’t need to compare the tools of sledge and clubbell. I understand they serve their own purpose and job. I have more access to a sledge and use it as a sledge. When I get my homemade CBs then I’ll play with those too.
thanks for all the info. i hadn’t thought of plastic bats filled with sand. i’ll be sure to start incorporating them into my training.
Psst…compare the price of a couple of clubbells to one good sledge hammer. The diference will amaze you!
All this talk of sledgehammers has got me interested as I am a boxer and would like to use them for GPP. Anyone got any good links to Sledgehammer workouts?
[quote]Rick Jakubowski wrote:
Boss,
Our responses agree for the most part, however I disagree with your statement that clubbells do not build strength. Prior to getting one through T-Jack I thought the same thing, but hands on testing proved me wrong. CBs won’t make your DL or BP go through the roof, but made a great impact on my hand/grip strength and shoulder stability.[/quote]
I just think there are faster and more effective ways to improve strength (deadlift, squat, bench press, clean, ext., ext.) other then a clubbell, but that doesn?t mean they don?t have a place in a proper training program.
Joe Defranco wrote about training economy a wile ago in his Westside article; that concept applies to club --bells as well, clubbell training is just not that economical compared to a deadlift or squat. Just my two cense.
[quote]chubs108 wrote:
to this day I have not seen Coach Sonnon and any of his “people” say/write that clubbells are the only strength training tools we need. most of them train with just about “everything”. So I dunno where the “be all, end all” opinion came from in the above post, but I see that lots.[/quote]
Most of the clubbell and kettlebell instructors that I talk to, focus entirely on those specific tools. To prove my point all you have to do is read the articles published by some of these so called authorities.
ZEB I agree with both your posts. The DB and BB should be the focus of a strength training program while the Clubbell and kettlebell should be used as auxiliaries ( assistance exercises) only.
[quote]BOSS wrote:
chubs108 wrote:
to this day I have not seen Coach Sonnon and any of his “people” say/write that clubbells are the only strength training tools we need. most of them train with just about “everything”. So I dunno where the “be all, end all” opinion came from in the above post, but I see that lots.
Most of the clubbell and kettlebell instructors that I talk to, focus entirely on those specific tools. To prove my point all you have to do is read the articles published by some of these so called authorities.[/quote]
Nah no need, I just follow Scrapper’s ideas. He suggests the use of DBs, Bodyweight, CBs, sand bags, h2o, etc, in most of his workouts. I also believe he is a Certified Instructor. Most times all you need is one instructor and his intructor too.
Clubbells and Kettlebells are really no different than lifting any sort of odd objects, except they are more expensive because there are men behind each attempting to build a business around them. Nothing wrong with that, it’s capitalism.
In relaity you can get a good workout lifting odd shaped rocks, shoveling dirt or snow, moving furniture etc.
Please don’t get me wrong. I am not stating that Clubbells or Kettlebells are useles. Far from it! All I am stating is that they are expensive ways to train for something that you can get much cheaper elsewhere. Nothing magic about them.
And keep in mind that for overall size and strength no one has yet beaten the good ole’ Barbell and Dumbbell combination!