The Might and Brawn of Lumberjacks!!

Lumberjacks have become an icon of true rugged strength and with good reason.  The work was hard, dangerous, and very primitive.  With hours of chopping, sawing, and lugging logs around, their strength was as hard as the trees they chopped and their tendons and ligaments were as tough as tree roots.  My grandmothers first husband was a lumberjack in Lithuania in the early 1900's.  The job was very demanding and eventually it took his life in a logging accident, but she would recant about how physically strong he was.  I have an appreciation for their work and how the work done as part of their profession has carried over into Physical Culture.  Lumberjacks were probably some of the originators of odd-object lifting.  Everday they would lift and hoist logs of different shapes and size. Not to mention, the sophisticated sawmills of today did not exist back then, resulting in the logger having to hold and balance heavy logs while running them through the blade of the saw.  Imagine having to hold the end of a 700lb + log for several minutes...and having to do it all day!  The closet thing I can think of that closely resemebles this would be doing a 700lb deadlift hold for a mintues at a time, over and over again.  Famous old-time strongman, George Jowett, was one of the most strongest and famous strongman to have walked the planet.  One of his most famous feats was to pick an anvil up by its horn and clean it to his shoulder then press it over head.  These anvils would weight over 160lbs.  Jowett posessed extreme grip strength and wrote many books and articles how true strength came from strong tendons and ligaments in the body.  Jowett credited his incredible tendon and ligament strength to working as a Lumberjack in the woods of Canada at an early age.  Brooks Kubik gives an excellent rendition of this in his book Strength, Muscle, and Power and I highley recommend this book to anyone interested in advanced strength training. Jowett explained the lifting and holding of heavy logs created a rugged hardness in the connective tissues and the tendons and ligamnets throughout the body.   Even on page 144 of Arnold Schwarzenegger's The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding Arnold states training for strength and power gives you a certain look of hardness and thickness, which can not be achieved without HEAVY weights. Lumberjacks exhibited this strength through hours of hard physical labor, and though I am not suggesting you go out an become an old time logger, one can implement their style of work into their training.  This can help develop real world rugged brutal strength, which can not be achieved by pumping your arms on a preacher curl or doing cable cross overs.  I am talking about heavy awkward odd-object lifting. 

LUMBERJACK TRAINING Part 1

Log Lifts
Lumerjacks lifted logs and so can you!  Today there are a few places that sell log presses which you can add weight too, but they will run a good amout of doe.  If your lucky enough to live in a wooded area, then go chop a tree down and start cutting that sucker up into smaller logs. Lift them any way you can.  One of the best ways to develop upper body strength is the log overhead press.  The shape of the log will force you to use every muscle in your upper body to stablize and press that monster over head. A couple years ago we had many trees come down in my backyard. I would cut the tree into ten foot sections and pick up one end of the log and try to hold on for several minutes and then eventually try to push press it over head.  It would resemble a lever of sorts while one end remained on the ground and the other end was lifted over head repeatedly.  The challenging part was balancing the rounded end of the log over head, while trying to push the weight up as well. It was a constant struggle to keep that weight over head without it rolling out of my hands. If you do not have access to logs or a log bar, maybe a keg or barrel is readily avaiable.  A keg and barrel can closely resemble the hard, heavy, awkwardness of log lifting.  Fill em up with water or sand and take a stroll with it.  You can shoulder it, which is a workout in itself without walking with it, bear hug it , hold onto the sides ( this will work your grip!), or simply lay the long side of barrel against both your arms in a zercher style fashion.

Chopping!
Anyone who has chopped wood knows how demanding this is on the caridovascular system.  You'll be huffing and puffing in no time.  Lumberjacks used to do this day in and day out!  Even today you see the Timbersport competitions where the loggers are chopping for speed.  They exhibit mass amounts of cardio endurance.  A popular thing to do today is the "hit the tire with a sledge hammer" routine.  This is an excellent way to replicate the chopping movements (and a pretty safe way as well) but for the real thing, nothing beats the old axe.  Hitting a rubber tire with a hammer does not give you the same effect as striking metal into a piece of wood.  The axe penetrates the wood and there is no assisting bounce back as you would receive when hitting a rubber tire. Of course when I talk about this I am talking about attempting to chop through a large log, not splitting logs with a maul for kindling or firewood. You have to continue to work to get the blade out of the log in order to repeat the chop again. John Brookfield wrote an excellent artilce in the June 2011 issue of Milo, were he discussed a workout which consisted of doing 300 to 400 yard sprints to a log and continuing to chop at the log for a minute before breaking into a sprint again.  The individual would do this over and again for about 40 mins.  This is one demanding and brutal workout.  If sprints are not your thing, I recommend doing kettlebell swings or snatches in substitute.   Another great exercise is to hit logs with a sledge hammer.  Due to the blunt nature of the sledge hammer, when you strike the wood, you will know and feel it because it can be painful! This will tax your grip extremely hard as it sends shock waves up your arms! Try doing 30-40 non-stop swings with each arm.  Your grip and forearms will be numb from the force of hitting the wood.  Its more demanding that striking a tire with a hammer, and if you try it you will feel what I am talking about.

This style of training can be fun and exciting!  It is different and the primative ruggedness of this style of training is effective and as old school as you can get.  You will not be seeing the pretty boys doing these kinds of lifts, or the people in the flex appeal magazines either.  This is old school no B.S. training! So throw on your favorite flannel, get out the beanie cap, grab your axe, and go destroy some logs!

The most important thing I cannot stress enough when using logs, axes, and other heavy oblects in your workouts is to be SAFE and TRAIN SMART!!!!  This are demanding exercises and can be dangerous if you do not respect them.  Swinging heavy and sharp tools can always pose a threat to you and anyone around you. Train Smart and be Safe! 

Hope you enjoyed the post.
Stay Strong!
Greg