If I had a hammer

When you live in an apartment building, you really must resist the urge to accumulate stuff. Space comes at a premium and there is so little of it. If you train at home like I do, you are faced with the dilemma of requiring gear and training space with no backyard or basement. I have a huge list of things I'd like to have, but have no space for. This weekend, however, I got a piece of kit that I never thought I would have until I moved out to the 'burbs, a 10 lbs sledge hammer!

"Why, oh why, oh why?" you might ask. Well, $6.93 for a brand new 10 lbs sledge hammer is a bargain (they usually retail for around $30). Besides, how much floor space does a sledge hammer occupy? A lot less than another set of dumbbells I'll tell you. I didn't find a cheap tractor tire to bang away on with the hammer. That'll have to wait until I get to the 'burbs. The point of my new acquisition is grip training. Levering a 10 lbs hammer is a serious workout. With this 10 lbs bad-boy, I'm going to have to choke up on the handle quite a bit.

4-7-11
-Judo class

This was the first day of any exercise since vacation. I found myself breathing heavier than usual during the three bouts of standing randori (3 mins each) and two bouts of groundwork (2 mins each). It's not that much work, because of the small class size, but it's challenging enough for me. Unlike karate, Judo newaza (the groundwork) requires quite a lot of isometric strength endurance. I'll be doing more weighted bent arm hangs and hammer holds in the future.

4-9-11
-20 bw pull-ups
-weighted chin-ups (3x5, 70 lbs)
-kneeling to standing ab roll-outs (3x10)
-bw dips (2x10, 2x30 sec iso holds)

4-10-11
-db snatch (40, 65 lbs, 12 min)
-hammer levering

4-11-11
-50 burpees and 25 pull-ups (5')
-bw dips (2x10, 2x30 sec holds)

I'm not feeling very spry. My stamina seems to have been hit hard by the 1 week lay-off. I think I must concentrate on doing a little something everyday, even when on vacation. Otherwise, as I'm discovering, I lose much hard won ground. Argh!

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