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NOTE: Physical Concepts has no stake in the product called Heavy Hands, and we are not promoting it. We are recommending the technique, which can be accomplished with two rocks, in principle.
What is Heavy Hands? |
Heavy Hands is the very rapid movement of the hands and
arms (a la boxing) with weights in them. This deceptively simple statement is
actually jam-packed with physics and physiology, creating an enormously powerful
COMBINED strength and aerobics program. And it is virtually equipment-free! (The bad news is that it is so good, you may wind up not buying a HoloBarre!) The legs generate most of the aerobicity, with the arm motion adding to this or taking up some of the slack, depending on how one is running or walking. Simultaneously, weights are being accelerated, generating substantial strength-building forces in the upper body. |
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An Interesting Experiment: How effective is this method? |
When I had my lifetime membership in Jack La Lanne
(conditional upon a lifetime of payments, it turned out!), I did an experiment
with the Heavy Hands method. Already in decent shape, I spent a month of fairly
intense weight lifting on the circuit to make sure all the muscles that could be
addressed with weights were addressed. I did no running with hand weights. (I
was already well trained in the Heavy Hands technique, but had stopped,
presumably because of the weather.) At the end of the month, I went to my usual trail in the park and did a reduced workout with heavy hands. The result? I had a case of DOMS I simply had not expected. Wow! We are talking significant pain over the next couple of days. |
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| The conclusion? | 1. Heavy Hands addresses different muscles (judging from
my DOMS), as well as similar muscles in a different way, than does weight
training. IOW, the old muscles hurt, and new muscles hurt! 2. The quick motions generate VERY large forces, possibly much greater than heavy weights, although not uniformly throughout the range of motion. See Newton's Laws. Thus, it is not just the arms that are benefitting from this upper body strength workout. "Muscles you never even knew you had" are being highly loaded, including difficult "internal" muscles, such as the obliques, intercostals, and others. I have not yet performed the reverse experiment: Only heavy hands training, followed by a sudden weight workout after a month. This would be an interesting comparison. Is there any demand out there for this experiment? e-mail me! |
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The Bigger Picture |
It is my opinion that while certainly not for everyone,
the HH workout (while running/walking) is FAR AND AWAY THE BEST COMBINATION OF STRENGTH AND AEROBIC TRAINING AVAILABLE ANYWHERE, ESSENTIALLY FOR FREE! The closest second is cross country skiing (depending on the size of the weights), which is not to knock swimming and other highly aerobic activities. It is also almost equipment-less (although I do recommend cheap handweights as opposed to rocks or frozen juice cans) and tremendously versatile. Not only does it it develop remarkable aerobic capacity and upper body strength, it develops significant neuro-muscular coordination, balance, and.......one helluva punch! |
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| Hand weights distribute the exercise load | Let's justify this opinion. Marathoners run essentially 26
FIVE MINUTE MILES! Very few people can run ONE 5-min. mile! I never did! I
once did a 6-min mile, and thought I should have received a medal! The point is
is that we have upper aerobic limits defined by our VO2 max (link to come), and
this VO2 max can be achieved with the legs by themselves. So why do we need to introduce hand weights? Well, if your focus is on running and your legs, then maybe you shouldn't. But if it is not, and for most people it should not, then it makes sense to not only distribute the aerobic load, but to do it in such a way as to provide additional training for a different part of the body, simultaneously. In fact, the interplay between the arms and the legs is so exquisite that an experienced HeavyHander, if near his VO2 max, will NECESSARILY slow down with increased arm motion, and speed up with decreased arm motion, keeping the aerobic load constant, while generating substantial strength-building forces in the upper body. |
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Intro to the Technique |
Since I developed my own HH in 1975, I have NEVER seen ONE
person, on the track, in the park, in a gym, in an aerobics class, or in an
aerobics video, use HH correctly!! This, despite the very good 1982 book by Dr.
Schwartz who did a pretty good job of EXPLAINING how to use them correctly! Go
figure. And the few times I would approach someone, and as humbly as I could say, Uh, excuse me, but I read a book that said........ Well, you can guess at the response, especially here in New York City! Moving one's arms while walking or running and merely holding a weight does little except create extra back stress. The weight is irrelevant, almost. It is how you accelerate it that creates the fitness effects. |
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| What you will need | Initially, nothing, as you should start with just closed
fists. Eventually you will need hand weights ranging from 1 to 5 pounds,
initially just one pound. I used the cheapest cast iron weight available and
wrap it in an old pair of socks, so my hands could breathe. Wash the socks
every once in a while. |
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| Principles of the Technique | The fundamental principle rests on velocity and
acceleration, which is what punching is all about. You want to move the
handweight as quickly as possible (safely). Thus, the slowpoke motions you see
in most people is not doing anything. In "snapping" your hand motions, you are starting suddenly, and stopping suddenly. These are two separate accelerations, which act on opposing (different) muscles! It is best to practice the hand motions standing in place, and eventually proceed at a walk, then jogging. The coordination of the hands and feet is important, but hard to describe. Practice! It is critical to warm up adequately: a few laps with no hand motions, and then very gradual |
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| Examples | Boxing:Straight jabs (never lock the elbow!!),
hooks, upper cuts, 45 degree "cross cuts"; short punches to the
midsection (not yours!), "Punching the sky" Martial Arts: Sweeping "blocks" of the groin and face, clockwise and counter clockwise Weight Lifting: Rapid curls up, throw them back down Cross-Country Skiing: Pumping the "poles". Great feeling motion, with added versatility because of the shape of the weights In all of these motions, it is important to launch the punch rapidly, and to stop it just as rapidly. Do not let momentum, gravity, or parts of your body stop the motion: The muscles must stop it. |
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| Indoor HeavyHands | Heavy Hands without walking or running is highly effective. All you have to do to get the aerobic effect is to make sure your center of gravity (belly button) moves up and down a lot, which basically means bobbing, weaving, ducking, and stepping. | |
Another Interesting Experiment |
(Not for the unfit!! And probably only for those with
Heavy Hands experience!! This is very taxing to the upper torso and could
easily cause damage in the untrained. Newton's laws must be treated with
respect!) Just HOW MUCH force can one generate with Newton's Laws, i.e., accelerating a weight? Let's ask a better question: How 'bout with NO WEIGHTS, ie, just your fist:? Did you know you can lift your WHOLE BODY off the ground by simply DE-CELERATING an upward blow (uppercut)? Here's how: Practice throwing uppercuts with both fists simultaneously, stopping them abruptly at around head height, ie, your forearms about vertical and your upper arm parallel to the ground. See if you can feel the weight being reduced from your feet. Keep practicing until you get a a good, jerky "snap" when stopping the blow. That is, you are punching upward as fast and hard as you can, and stopping both hands suddenly at about head height. You should feel the floor shake a little. Now, lock your knees and balance on your heels. Now punch. If you have gotten the technique down, your heels will clear the floor! IOW, you have literally lifted yourself up with a punch! The reason I have you lock your knees is so that you can be pretty sure that the legs are ZERO contributors to this exercise and that the effect is purely the arms and Newton's Laws. This is really an incredible result, that a simple albeit rapid DE-CELERATION of the arms can lift your whole body off the ground. This is why, then, Heavy Hands is so effective, because the induced forces THROUGHOUT the upper body are really extensive. Another interesting fact to this technique is that you are addressing pairs of opposing muscles with each motion, whereas in, say, the curl, you are using ONLY the bicep, whether you are going up or coming down. See Eccentric & Concentric Contractions. When you rapidly curl up and stop, you are using BOTH the biceps and triceps, ie, opposing muscles. A neat two-fer-one. |
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Progressing |
GO SLOWLY!! You should start out with ZERO weights, ie,
just your fists, with moderate motions. There is a lot of coordination going
on here You should learn the motions while WALKING, or even standing still, not
running. As you get coordinated, start with 1 pound weights in each hand.
After years of practice, I got up to 5 pound weights regularly, but I can assure
you it took years. You will find out for yourself what is most comfortable, walking, running, fast, slow, or mixtures. I started Heavy Hands with running, and did that exclusively for years. Then, I tended to mix it up with springs, jogs, walks, and even standing in place. The variations are unlimited, and all of them are interesting . Also note that you are not HITTING anything, so that there is little chance for percussive injury, although it is possible to clonk yourself in the head with a weight. I have done this! But just because you are not hitting anything does not mean you can't hurt yourself. I have done this also. Injuries are really significant set backs, moreso for me from a psychological and behavioral point of view than physically. Finally, in closing, the Heavy Hands technique cannot address everything for everyone. A little HoloBarre workout in conjunction with this SHOULD address everything for nearly everyone! |
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Should Boxers Use Heavy Hands? |
Absolutely. In a sense, they already do. One's fist is
it's own weight, as you saw in the previous experiment. Boxing gloves are
another weight. How about with 5 or 10 pounds? I would certainly recommend it. But here is the catch: Observe that in heavy hands, we are not striking anything. In fact, we are using our opposing set of muscles to stop the punch! A boxer does not want to do this. He wants to not only strike something, but power "right through" it, transferring as much momentum as quickly as possible. Neuromuscularly, Heavy Hands does not do this. But on the other hand, he is also training himself, by dint of the de-celeration, to bring his hand BACK, which is quite important. So from a coordination point of view, the boxer has to make sure he is making the right adjustments, not allowing de-celeration BEFORE impact, but summoning it up again for the retraction of the hand AFTER impact. This is a very powerful technique, which, to my knowledge, is not being used to train boxers. I also mention it lest some of you think you are now ready for some bar-room brawling. You are probably more ready than you were, but by no means ready! Nor should you be. See Violence as a Training Method |
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Do I personally still use Heavy Hands? |
Once in a while, now. Mostly now I am building and
demonstrating the HoloBarre (no kidding!), along with gardening and tree
climbing/cutting/pruning and roof work. I used Heavy Hands on and off from 1975
to about 1995, and religiously for about 5 years from 1985-90. Then I
went to graduate school. Nothing survives that! Heavy Hands is like anything else--it can be the greatest technique in the world, but that does not mean it will be done forever, or at all. Sometimes it just does not fit in, or it simply is not a person's cup of tea. We have to keep ourselves open to find that level at which we function best. It is rarely what an "objective observer" would think is best. But I recommend that everyone, regardless of age, size, strength, or sex, CONSIDER it as part of their routine, and try it. |
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