Is Hammer & Chisel available yet?

[catcrazy]

Originally Posted by momofcha

They're here - with the extras!

Impressions please as soon as you are able!

[athompson10]

Sue, I'd love your impressions too, especially the deluxe DVDs.

I finished previewing the rest of the Hammer workouts. DVD 2 has Max Hammer Strength, Total Body Hammer and Beast Total Body, plus the 10 Min Ab Hammer that's on every Hammer DVD.

Max Hammer Strength is 37 minutes long. Sagi says the concept behind the workout is to pre-fatigue the working muscle, then hit it with one set of "mass" (heavy) weight. The pre-fatigue set is 60 seconds long and uses only bodyweight. The mass set is 8 reps and you go as heavy as you can. You do the pre-fatigue set and mass set once, then move on to the next pair. Exercises:

• reverse lunge - weighted reverse lunge
• pushup - bench press
• squat - weighted squat
• pullup - pullover
• good mornings - stiff legged deadlift
• chinup - one-arm row
• low pulse sumo squat - weighted sumo
• band military press - overhead press
• split squat - step-ups with weights
• ledge calf raise - weighted calf raise

Total Body Hammer is 43 minutes long. This is a pyramid-style workout. Sagi pyramids the reps by doing sets of 10, 8, then 6, but he expects you to keep the same weight for all the reps, AND the rest between sets is short, like 10-12 seconds. YOW.ZA. Some Body Beast Bulk workouts had 'force sets' consisting of 5 sets of 5 reps of an exercise, with minimal rest and no dropping down on weight. Those burned the muscles, and this format is similar. Ouch.

The workout is broken into three rounds, with three exercises per round, each round done twice. Round 1 is bench press, squats and reverse grip rows. You do sets of 10, 8 and 6 reps for bench press, then for squats, then rows, THEN repeat that round before moving to Round 2 (incline fly, reverse lunge and wide-grip pullup) and Round 3 (military press, split squats and posterior delt fly).

Beast Total Body is from the Body Beast series. It is not listed anywhere in any Hammer and Chisel rotation, even as an optional workout, so I can only assume it is included here to promote buying Body Beast. But weirdly, Sagi re-filmed it for H&C, so even though it's the exact same workout as the Body Beast one, it has one female backgrounder and is shot on the H&C set (brighter and more colorful than the Beast set). I always avoided this workout when I did Beast since that program was all about weights splits and not total-body work. For the record, it's a 40-minute circuit-set weights workout. Four circuits, four exercises per circuit, 15 reps per exercise, do each circuit twice before moving to the next. The circuits:

• pullup - pushup - squat - crunch
• incline bench press - bent-over row - reverse alternating lunge - planks with twists
• 1-1-2 military press - posterior delt raise - deadlift - Russian twist for abs
• biceps curl up/hammer down - triceps extension/kickback - calf raise - side plank

*** *** *** ***

I like the concepts behind both the new Hammer workouts and think I will enjoy doing them....well, not enjoy, exactly, but they will be tough and effective. I don't have anything else like these in my strength collection.

[catcrazy]

Originally Posted by athompson10

Sue, I'd love your impressions too, especially the deluxe DVDs.

I finished previewing the rest of the Hammer workouts. DVD 2 has Max Hammer Strength, Total Body Hammer and Beast Total Body, plus the 10 Min Ab Hammer that's on every Hammer DVD.

Max Hammer Strength is 37 minutes long. Sagi says the concept behind the workout is to pre-fatigue the working muscle, then hit it with one set of "mass" (heavy) weight. The pre-fatigue set is 60 seconds long and uses only bodyweight. The mass set is 8 reps and you go as heavy as you can. You do the pre-fatigue set and mass set once, then move on to the next pair. Exercises:

• reverse lunge - weighted reverse lunge
• pushup - bench press
• squat - weighted squat
• pullup - pullover
• good mornings - stiff legged deadlift
• chinup - one-arm row
• low pulse sumo squat - weighted sumo
• band military press - overhead press
• split squat - step-ups with weights
• ledge calf raise - weighted calf raise

Total Body Hammer is 43 minutes long. This is a pyramid-style workout. Sagi pyramids the reps by doing sets of 10, 8, then 6, but he expects you to keep the same weight for all the reps, AND the rest between sets is short, like 10-12 seconds. YOW.ZA. Some Body Beast Bulk workouts had 'force sets' consisting of 5 sets of 5 reps of an exercise, with minimal rest and no dropping down on weight. Those burned the muscles, and this format is similar. Ouch.

The workout is broken into three rounds, with three exercises per round, each round done twice. Round 1 is bench press, squats and reverse grip rows. You do sets of 10, 8 and 6 reps for bench press, then for squats, then rows, THEN repeat that round before moving to Round 2 (incline fly, reverse lunge and wide-grip pullup) and Round 3 (military press, split squats and posterior delt fly).

Beast Total Body is from the Body Beast series. It is not listed anywhere in any Hammer and Chisel rotation, even as an optional workout, so I can only assume it is included here to promote buying Body Beast. But weirdly, Sagi re-filmed it for H&C, so even though it's the exact same workout as the Body Beast one, it has one female backgrounder and is shot on the H&C set (brighter and more colorful than the Beast set). I always avoided this workout when I did Beast since that program was all about weights splits and not total-body work. For the record, it's a 40-minute circuit-set weights workout. Four circuits, four exercises per circuit, 15 reps per exercise, do each circuit twice before moving to the next. The circuits:

• pullup - pushup - squat - crunch
• incline bench press - bent-over row - reverse alternating lunge - planks with twists
• 1-1-2 military press - posterior delt raise - deadlift - Russian twist for abs
• biceps curl up/hammer down - triceps extension/kickback - calf raise - side plank

*** *** *** ***

I like the concepts behind both the new Hammer workouts and think I will enjoy doing them....well, not enjoy, exactly, but they will be tough and effective. I don't have anything else like these in my strength collection.

Can't wait, thanks!

[athompson10]

And the final Hammer DVD, which has two workouts plus Ab Hammer.

Hammer Conditioning is 30 minutes of compound weighted exercises. Sagi says the goal is to "work multiple muscles" and some of these exercises struck me as awkward and unnecessarily complicated. Format is four rounds, two exercises per round, 12 reps of each exercise. You do each round twice before moving to the next round. There is a sip-water-and-record-your-weights break between each round. Rounds:

• clock pushup crunch (pushups around the clock with a knee-to-elbow between pushups) PLUS side lunge with bent-over row
• fly lunge twist (basically you start with open arms to the side holding one dumbbell, bring arms together, go into a reverse lunge, twist away from the lunging leg, twist back, come up, open up arms) PLUS sumo squat press
• burpee renegade upright row (burpee, row on each side, jump up and do an upright row) PLUS one-legged deadlift into knee lift
• plank raise tap crunch (get into plank, raise arm to side, tap down, raise in front, tap down, bring your leg in and tap your opposite insole) PLUS reverse lunge curl kickback (reverse lunge, biceps curl, straighten back leg so you're leaning over bent front knee, then do a triceps kickback)

I tried a couple of these exercises unweighted - that awful fly lunge twist and the lunge curl kickback - and they feel very choppy. Some of that will get better with practice, but overall this workout doesn't have much flow.

Hammer Power is 39 minutes "inspired by powerlifting" according to Sagi. This is a straight-on appeal to the CrossFit crowd. It teaches powerlifting technique but I need someone who's done powerlifting to tell me if Sagi's form and form tips (which are extensive in this workout) are good or not. Round 1 teaches basic powerlifting moves. You'll do two sets for each exercise, one light and one medium. The medium set is sometimes a more complete version of the exercise, with a wider range of motion or an extra move added, like a hip thrust. Round 2 is compound powerlifting moves, two sets per exercise, with a light set of 10 reps and a heavy set of 5.
Round 1 exercises:

• overhead press
• squat
• thruster (similar to a squat press)
• jerk press
• deadlift
• shrug (second set adds a hip thrust)
• upright row (second set starts with weights at shins and adds a hip thrust and heel raise to top of move)
• clean (second set is a full-range clean)

Round 2 exercises:

• clean and press
• clean and squat
• clean squat press
• clean squat jerk
• 1-arm clean squat jerk

**** ***** *****
I'm certainly willing to give both these a try, but I didn't like some of the moves in Conditioning and I'd rather have hands-on instruction for powerlifting instead of Hammer Power.

[Jenmgo]

These all sound good and I can't wait to start!
I am running s check in challenge group January 4 start date but these reviews are making me want to start now lol

[momofcha]

Originally Posted by athompson10

Sue, I'd love your impressions too, especially the deluxe DVDs.


Beast Total Body is from the Body Beast series. It is not listed anywhere in any Hammer and Chisel rotation, even as an optional workout, so I can only assume it is included here to promote buying Body Beast. But weirdly, Sagi re-filmed it for H&C, so even though it's the exact same workout as the Body Beast one, it has one female backgrounder and is shot on the H&C set (brighter and more colorful than the Beast set). .

I will preview the deluxe today. I'm loving your breakdowns.

The second bold is my fear with "Beast 2" - has anyone heard from Sagi that it truly is new workouts or is it just re-filmed to include women to appeal to the broader masses?

[upperwside]

I am loving the looks of the workouts. I pre viewed them all and they are short.. but look very effective. They are not easy and pack a punch in that short time. I think it may actually be a rotation I'll follow! I think these are going on the best buy of this year list along with Rip60. I did not like Fix extreme .. found Autumn beyond annoying and the workouts blah... tried each workout once and that was it! But.. she is not bothersome to me in these.. so that's good. I may even try the nutrition containers... the holidays tend to be a put on 5 time.. maybe they will keep that down!

[enduranceron]

Grrr....no Deluxe DVD in my delivery...at least BB sending replacements..looking forward to trying these though...

[laurajhawk]

Allison, thanks so much for posting all that info!

[athompson10]

Originally Posted by Jenmgo

These all sound good and I can't wait to start!
I am running s check in challenge group January 4 start date but these reviews are making me want to start now lol

Start, start! I'm going to try the first week of the all-Hammer rotation starting tomorrow. I pledged this month to do two weeks of a strength-focused rotation since I've been dogging it on my weights work for most of the fall. I'm finishing up a week of XTrain cardio-plus-Burn-Sets and I'm....not inspired. So Hammer it will be.

For those who received a deluxe DVD: can you tell me what 15 Min Leg Hammer is like? That's an optional add-on for Day 2 of the rotation and I don't have that workout yet.