Andy Dear | Monday, 21 February 2022
Today's Front Page on angling fitness highlights what I consider to be one of the most effective "all in one" workouts ever designed. Developed by Dr. Leonard Schwartz in the 1980s, the heavy hands workout combines multiple modalities to target several different systems in one routine. And, the beauty of the heavy hands workout is that in addition to building cardiovascular fitness, it targets all of the pertinent fly casting muscles and joints at the same time.
"Heavy Hands" is a fitness routine developed by Dr. Leonard Schwartz in the mid-1980s. While doing some research on how to regain his fitness levels in his 50's, and build his V02 max, Dr. Schwartz realized that the athletes with the best cardiovascular fitness were not runners or cyclists, but rather cross country skiers. Knowing this, he eventually found that one could replicate the cross country skiing results by combining power/speed walking while pumping a set of light weights similar to that of the cross country skiing technique. The result was one of the most potent panaerobic techniques that combines strength and aerobic endurance by engaging all four limbs.
The heavy ahnds routine utilizes a small set of dumbells, generally between 1lb and 5lbs depending upon the individual's fitness level. The arms are then engaged by utilizing a lifting motion similar to that of a cross country skier. When the left foot moves forward, the right arm is "pumped" in the air in a lifting motion. Dr. Schwartz notes, that the higher in the air the weights are pumped the greater the stress on the body. The beauty of this system is that it is very inexpensive, very low impact, and VERY effective.
I have been doing the heavy hands routing for two weeks, now and have found that if I vary the arm movements, I can train just about every muscle and joint involved in fly casting, while at the same time building tremendous cardiovascular endurance. I'll start off with 20 traditional heavy hands arm pumps which mainly target the front deltoid, then do 20 bicep curls followed by overhead presses, lateral raises, then tricep extensions. This pretty much hits all of the shoulder and arm complexes in a very aerobically rich, low-impact manner. Trust me when I say that this work-out is much more difficlut than it appears. Especially when one uses weights commensurate with their fitness level. And as you can probably guess, pumping a 3lb weight hundreds if not thousands of times during a brisk deliberate walk is whole different world than a standard free weight style lifting routine!
So, I know that many of you must be thinking "Is there a downside to heavy hands?" Well....yes, it looks ODD to say the least! Many fitness experts who praise the heavy hands routine say that the reason it never became more popular is that it is aesthetically "unusual" and a bit awkward to perform in a social environment like a gym or fitness center. Fortunately, I live in a highly unpopulated area, so the only living things staring at me doing a weighted, pseudo cross country ski motion in the middle of South Texas are the local Whitetailed Deer.
Here are some links where you can read more about Dr. Schwartz's Heavy Hands routine.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/fitness/heavyhands-walking-workout/
https://functional-strength.org/heavy-hands-training-dr-len-schwartz/
https://strengthendurance.net/tag/panaerobics/
Hope you all are staying fit and healthy!
Andy