Anyone ever heard of the hammer machine? its where the athlete stands in the middle of it puts the hands on two “arms” that have weight on each one and pushes out with hips in a blocking type fashion. Pros? Cons? Workout suggestions to be incorporated? 
Its A Piece Of Shit. Jerks And Power Presses Are Better.
Sounds like you’re talking about the Hammer Ground Based Jammer.
It’s a good question since that piece of equipment seems to be popular. Remember this Terv: if a piece of equipment takes away your need to balance it will teach your body to be stupid. You live in Wisconsin so I suggest you throw it in Lake Michigan or Lake Superior or the Mississippi River, whichever body of water is the closest.
Or you could refer to the post from our football friend in Houston who posted above mine. Short and to the point. I think he’s the kind of football player I like to coach. And I’d like to coach you as well Terv. You are asking questions and you’re trying to learn. Keep asking.
I have a question for Football Coach. What do you think of push presses or jerks for skill position players in the off season and in general for non-contact sport athletes like basketball?
Do Each Once A Week… Mon: Spilt Jerk 5/5/3/3/3, Thur: Power Jerks 4x5 With Lighter Weight. Just Something To Think About…
delldell,
I’ve always dealt with football players (and over 40 athletes in my gym) so I can only speak from that perspective. I’m 52 (and others out there my age will agree) that I’ve seen just about every thing imaginable when it comes to exercises and training. Nothing has replaced the Olympic Bar. And nothing will.
I don’t think any of the traditional exercises using the Oly Bar are bad. However, that doesn’t mean every athlete can do every exercise. Each athlete must be dealt with individually. Putting together a program that fits the whole team is impossible. Any strength coach who does that is full of shit. You can start from a template but the template must be flexible.
The problems can arise with the coaches. Let me give you some football coaches examples.
Coach: “All the team does the same program because it brings us together. No one gets special status.”
Me: “What brings a team together is winning football games. We aren’t training to go to Iraq for f**cksakes.”
Coach: “One program fits all the players.”
Me: “So that means your right tackle can play corner?”
Coach: “We have to get the entire team through in a minimum amount of time.”
Me: “So you can use the hours you save in the weight room to watch more film and put in more plays because you think that will help you win even though you are getting your ass kicked physically every week because you are too fking weak and fking slow?”
Coach: “Everybody has to do Cleans because we test them.”
Me: “Huh?”
Anyway, I’ve got a hundred of them as I’m sure many of you do. I had a coach say to me last year that the HIT program was taking over and it was the way to go. I was going to explain why he was mistaken but I simply said “thanks for the tip, I’ve never heard of that before”. He smiled and was very proud of himself. I smiled too but not for the reason he thought.
Thanks for the rant boys,
Football Coach
wow coach, all of those quotes sound EXACTLY like our coaching staff, can u email me your program? I’m 6’5" 270-275lbs bench 250 squat 450 clean 280 i need to work on football speed and upper body…let me know
I’m putting together a new program for the local university team in conjunction with one of their coaches and a former player and current pro player who will be in the gym with the team. These two guys are top notch and will do a great job.
I’ll email it or post it when we are done.
Football Coach, I’ve found the Jammer useful with beginner football players who don’t quite know/feel what its like to fully extend their arms and hips to full extension. Ninety percent of my work is with free weight. I don’t rely on it for magic solution for my athletes.
…if a piece of equipment takes away your need to balance it will teach your body to be stupid.
I don’t think you’ll loose your balance or teach your body to be stupid using a machine periodicly. You’ll have plenty of “real world” exposure by hitting sleds, bags, punch blocks, etc… You know what I mean.
I agree Thomas. I don’t think machines used 10% of the time are going to cause much problem. I say chuck the non-pulley machines in the river to illustrate a point and to get young people away from programs that have Leg Press instead of Squat etc. etc.
Football Coach, you mean you don’t have your athletes leg pressing with their feet on a Swiss ball? Come on man, you gotta current.
Shoot Thomas. Every dang time I get it figured out another guru comes along with a better idea. I just decided this morning I would switch to a HIT program and I spent at least 5 minutes planning out the year while sitting on the dumper and now I have to crap the HIT program and switch to the Swiss Ball program. Bark for fish like a seal?