Hammers, Maces, and Clubs

Posted on Sunday, December 3rd, 2017 by John Wood
Sometimes you will need unusual training equipment if you want to build unusual strength — Here’s a look at a few of my favorite pieces: You’ll see a few unique sledge hammers and various tools along with some vintage Indian Clubs. The two hammers in the foreground have brass and copper heads, respectively which, quite curiously, have a much different feel than traditional steel hammers. The larger hammer just beyond those came off a tank, it was used to wack the treads back in line out in the field. Kinda cool, huh? Most of the time I’ll use this equipment for leverage training like Slim The Hammer Man.

Joe Price

Posted on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 by John Wood

Joe Price the Blacksmith Strongman nails in a notice with a large sledgehammer

Joe Price, of Gloucester, England, is one example of many blacksmiths who were also strongmen. Needless to say — and very obvious in the photo above — the vigorous muscular development due to smithing came in very handy while performing feats of strength. Price was trained by W.A. Pullum and went on to win the British Heavyweight Lifting Championship in 1922 and 1923. In addition to his lifting exploits, Price was also British Champion Farrier in 1928. Price even wrote an excellent “Vulcan” training course on using a sledge hammer to build strength (a copy of which we have been lucky enough to recently come across.) Here, Price nails in a notice with a hammer weighing in at half a hundredweight – not bad!