Diery's Journal

Odd-load lifting is coming back. I didn't invent it, so I can't be blamed. I stumbled across it in my never-ending search for truth, justice, and quick ways to build strength.

What exactly is odd load lifting? As the name implies, it means lifting oddly shaped or off-balance objects such as sandbags, logs, buckets of water, and tires (car, not bike).

Why would one want to do such a thing? Because unlike the gym environment, where weights are stacked in rectilinear piles attached to pulleys with padded handles, real life lifting often challenges our bodies asymmetrically. Think groceries, laundry, pets, children, the Oxford English Dictionary.

It all started for me with Sandy. She came into my life after a neighbor failed to sell her during a recent yard sale. She was 50 lbs. of sweetness in the form of a plastic bag of play sand from the Home Depot. And from the minute I saw her, I knew we would hit it off.

After fate brought us together, I went online to search for inspiration (i.e. training routines to copy). What I found was an assortment of overlapping communities including - but not limited to - martial artists, rock climbers, powerlifters, firefighters, wrestlers, he-men and grip-strength freaks (as in reach out and rip your phonebook in half).

Turns out that odd-load lifting is perhaps the oldest form of resistance training on the planet. Before man harnessed his first donkey he had to drag home those carcasses and haul those water-skins home. Paul Bunyan used a hand axe, not a chainsaw. John Henry tried to hold back the tide of mechanization and died with a hammer in his hand. When I was a student, DJ's arrived at parties with crates jammed with LP's. These days, all you need is the right iPod and a decent mixing console. Before the film Pumping Iron took fitness mainstream, being fit was about getting work done, not just looking like a god.

The fact is, whether you're a fitness newbie or a geek like me, odd-load lifting can provide an interesting point of departure for your fitness program, since it mimics tasks, activities and movements you're likely to perform in real life. It also adds variety

This is much different from the cushioned seats and balanced loads of most gym equipment. A 10-pound medicine ball is tougher to hold than an equivalent dumbbell. Balancing any weight will be more challenging than gripping it. A sandbag has no handles to grip, much like a sleeping child.

This type of functional training is at the heart of what Prudent Fitness is all about... And what's the point of training if it's not to help you perform better, feel better and, naturally, look better?