What's more fun than swinging a sledgehammer with wild abandon?

I don't know - but if you find out you should let me know so I can work it into a fitness session. :D

So here is what you need:
-The end of the road, with which you can place two markers (Point A and B)
-One vehicle with hitch or other spot for you to attach a rope to for pulling.
-12 ft of heavy duty rope.  I'd say your max tensile strength should = 50% of your GVW at a minimum.  I used a 3/4 " rope from Home Hardware because it was easy to hold/grip, approx $1.50/ft.  I'll find more uses for my rope to make it worthwhile.
-One sledge hammer.  You can get them in 6 lb to 16 lb I think.  I used a 10 lb bugger.
-Junk tire(s).  Should be heavy enough for you to impact with a sledgehammer and not buckle but light enough to throw.  You may have to bring two if you can't throw your impact pad.  Also, they're really tough to find, apparently it's a "safety concern" to give away scrap tires.  Pft, whatever.  I found a place that was more than happy to get rid of them.  If you're looking for them and can't find, send me an email and I'll direct you to a place in Edmonton. 


So I gave it a bit of a whirl yesterday to try 'er out, and apparently I looked so giddy Chandra had to give it a go as well, so we went out again today.  Tomorrow is an OFF day for sure because I'm going to be a little sore in the morning.  Yesterday was a bit of a cailibration - my spot that I picked was a bit uneven, so pushing and pulling were different intensities, that was fixed today. :D

Here is how it goes:

1.) Warm up - nothing too strenuous, just some stuff to get your blood pumping a bit, loosen your joints up and make sure you don't get hurt.  Dynamic stretching, jumping jacks, light skipping, w/e gets you're boat.  Get ready to start your engine (timer?)

   2.) Push that vehicle from Point A to Point B.  Conveniently, where we were someone had recently done some locates so we used paint marks.  Lucky us.  For those of you that have never had to do this, you have to roll down your window, crank your stereo, put the key in the ignition, start it, put it in neutral, and then turn it off.  If you drive an automatic, just put it in neutral and turn on your stereo. 

3.) Pull that vehicle back to Point A from Point B.  It's pretty fun to do if you have your car set up right in the proper spot.  If you're having to pull up ANY kind of slope it is not fun.  Period.

4.) Swing that Hammer!  10-15 blows, then switch grip/side and 10-15 more.  (First time through did 30s-switch-30s @ wild abandon, it was about 10 -15 swings, counting reps is easier than watching time IMO).

5.) Throw that tire hammer throw style minus the circular spinning.  Pretty fun.  Like I said, you may need more than one tire with you, Chandra couldn't throw the big tire without putting herself at a huge risk of injury.  5 times on each side/grip. 

6.) Sprint.  There and Back, wherever There and Back happen to be for you. 

7.) Repeat 2-6 three or five times depending how intense of a workout you wanted.  We did three, and it took Chandra about 23 minutes, and me a little less than 20. 

Whew.  I'm tired just looking at it again. 

It was a good time.  Chandra and I had a lot of people looking at us strangely - they just need to try it once, and I bet they'd have fun too.  Had a half grapefruit, handful of tomatos, a carrot and handful of walnuts after as a snack. 

Hope your weekend is wicked.  Mine has been so far.