A retired framer pointed out a mistake I've been making for 20 years with my hammer swings

I ran into an old timer named Ed at the lumber yard last Tuesday. He watched me grab a new estwing and said 'you're gripping too tight, son, let the head do the work'. I laughed it off until I tried his method on a mock wall he set up. My swing felt lighter, my elbow stopped aching after 50 nails, and I realized I've been fighting the tool instead of trusting it. Has anyone else had a veteran carpenter change a basic habit of yours?

3 comments

3 Comments

james_kim21d ago

Let the head do the work" sounds like bro science, is your elbow really that bad?

kelly.nora21d ago

Respectfully disagree, my elbow is actually fine now because of that approach. Letting your head guide the movement shifts the load away from your joints and into your larger muscle groups. I've seen way too many people wreck their elbows grinding through heavy curls without paying attention to form.

josephl6721d ago

Yeah I actually agree with @kelly.nora on this one lol. I messed up my left elbow a few years ago doing preacher curls with too much ego and not enough head control. Once I started focusing on pulling through my upper back and letting my biceps just follow, the clicking and soreness went away in like two weeks. The form cue that helped me most was pretending my hands were just hooks and keeping a slight bend at the bottom so the tendon doesn't take the whole load.