3 lessons I learned from my first training tool.

 

It's over 30 years old now. It weighs 16lbs, the handle is slightly bent and it's once sharp edge is a bit blunted from years of bludgeoning it's target.

My dad bought me this metal handled splitting maul because my accuracy as a teenager when splitting wood left a bit to be desired. (It still does) 

As a skinny kid who was desperately trying to prove otherwise, I had a knack for breaking handles of axes and mauls with my somewhat wild swing. Fortunately for this maul ( and for those that would be a six foot radius) I got lots of practice as we heated our house with wood so lots of hours were spent after school stockpiling for winter.

Like many things that seem to be mundane on the surface, there is some skill and knowledge that can be acquired if you do them long enough. 

Here's just a few of the lessons if picked up from my trusty maul. 

1. Swinging with all your power won't do you any good if you can't be accurate.  Like most teenage boys, I thought the harder I swung the better.....even if it meant whacking away at a block of wood because I couldn't hit the same spot twice. The result was often frustration, shortness of breath... and a snickering dad.  

                                 Effort/Power is great..... but only if it's on target.

2. Follow the lines to crack the block.  When you have a big block of ash or oak and you're trying to split it, it can look a little daunting. But if you look a little closer, you'll see existing cracks in the wood. If you hit those spots with enough force, that giant piece of wood will succumb and split. Hitting perpendicular to those cracks, will lead to a long afternoon. 

                                          Success leaves clues. Follow them. 

3. There's no better feeling than that of accomplishment. In the gym, we imitate a lot of the very same movements that we used to do to get food or get heat and it's very beneficial. Doing these things correctly will leave you stronger and healthier. 

But it lacks something very important. 

You might be able to record what you've done in the gym but there's no "stack or pile" of product for your effort. In todays virtual world, our to do list never shrinks and we often don't get to see the immediate returns on a job well done. 

I don't need to split wood to heat my house. And I'll have more than I'll ever need for my summer time firepit. But I'm going to head out and swing a few before dinner. Some lessons need to be repeated often. 

Thanks for reading!