IGX

I developed chronic elbow pain while powerlifting, and I needed resistance exercise that would let/help them heal. I started by doing sledgehammer rotations for the elbow, a la Diesel Crew, and then I started playing with other leverage moves. Then I started moving a sledgehammer like a meel and was hooked, so I made a pair of inexpensive clubs out of pipe. I outgrew those but still liked lifting clubs, so I decided I had earned the right to buy a purpose-made club.

I chose the Onnit over Sonnon’s Clubbells (tm, got it? TM!!!) because they’re cheaper to buy and ship and they don’t have the smelly polyurethane coating. Onnits are a little shorter than Sonnon’s (but more so at 15 lbs and under), and though I heard the handles were smooth and slick, that might be out of date. My club feels like fine sandpaper.

The interwebs warned me—but I did not fully grasp—that 45 lbs is a fuck TON of club. No one should start at this weight unless he owns some state titles. I expected it to be in the same ballpark as halos and Russian twists with a big plate, or a bottoms-up press with 24kg. Wrong! I’ve pulled 495# and “cast” this club, and the club works the abs more. And I never truly experienced grip or arm work until now. And course the shoulders and lats are highly involved, and the legs aren’t napping either.