Heavy Hands Weights, Grips &

Gear

This site shares some additional information about the relatively

unknown findings of HeavyHands creator Leonard Schwartz
regarding Strength Endurance, Isotonometrics, Panaerobics,
and LongStrength as he came to call them towards the end of his
career.
You may want to print this listing out because I have included an
extensive Q&A about how to use these Heavy Hands for weight loss
and endurance.

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We also manufacture and market a line of re-engineered Heavy

Hands
training aids for rapid fat reduction and strength endurance for
walking, running and sports enthusiast of all sizes. Contact us for
more information.
Heres how it all started . . .
Dr. Schwartz HeavyHands A Unique Contribution to the field of
Exercise and Weight Loss
Though with each passing month the newsstands are filled with new
magazines, books, and articles promoting the latest weight loss or
exercise secret, the truth is an unsung hero created a method of
exercise a few decades ago that would help most folks gain the
physical prowess and ability to burn fat they crave.
His name was Leonard Schwartz and he, himself, was walked the
path most of us face. Fat, out of shape, and a chronic smoker he
was no candidate to live as long as he did. Nobody would have ever
guessed the slight psychiatrist would go down in history as an
exercise visionary!
Convinced in his 50s of the need to change or die, he took up the
recommended exercise protocol of his time: aerobics, i.e. jogging.
That started to work. Jogging 1500 to 2000 miles per year, his racing
heart rate slowly dropped from 80 beats per minute to 60. That was
slow progress to him, but it was better than nothing. The reduction in
resting heart rates indicated his growing fitness, yet he did not find it
satisfactory by any stretch.
About that time, a hamstring injury sidelined him. He was left

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needing to exercise aerobically, but unable to follow the medical

advice of the day. He was forced to start searching for an alternative.
He found his answer in the exercise research. Cross country skiers
who used their arms AND their legs to exercise processed more
oxygen and had greater aerobic capacity than any runner. So why
did the experts only focus on using the lower extremities to
exercise? He started to search for a way around his hamstring injury
that made running impossible.
First he tried swinging a baseball bat while doing deep knee bends.
Ultimately he chose a different path, but the quest for a full body
aerobic (hence the name panaerobic) workout never left him. Every
exercise method he developed thereafter emphasized the principles
he discovered after that hamstring injury:
Simultaneous Exercise like those cross country skiers, the most
aerobic benefit with the lowest level of perceived exertion comes
when as much muscle mass is harnessed as possible. That means all
four limbs are engaged and working together! Why? Because the
arms and upper body are as effective aerobic drivers as the legs
and, because, compared to the legs, the aerobic capacity of the
upper body has much more upside potential.
In plain English that means lifting HeavyHands properly during a 2.5
mph leisurely walk easily make the aerobic effect of a slow walk
comparable to a 6 mph job without hand weights! Mimicking a cross
country skier (the Double Ski Pole exercise) is perhaps the most
aerobically powerful single exercise ever tested by the University of
Pittsburgh scientists who helped Schwartz prove his every assertion!
Strength and Endurance It wasnt until Dr. Schwartz started
working out with his HeavyHands weights that his heart rate

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moved below 60 down to the rate of approximately 40-50 beats per

minute. When he added strength moves such as Double Ski Poling
which he could perform with over 20% of his bodyweight for over
an hour, his heart rate settled at 35 beats per minute!
Oddly enough, his HeavyHands method called for deceptively low
weights. While strength athletes might lift hundreds of pounds in the
Bench Press, Squat, or Dead lift in single lifts, all but the most
advanced HeavyHands moves could be done with weights under 15
pounds! The difference is that Schwartz sculpted body, superior
aerobic capacity, and great strength per pound (more on that later)
came through high repetition exercise and increasing weight loads
over time!
In fact, at times the lower the weight, the better! Ideally, the weights
would be lifted repeatedly to Level 3 (moved overhead from the
starting position at the hip). The people who tried HeavyHands
and found it inadequate (even supposedly sophisticated
researchers) failed because, universally, they assumed the small
weights were to be carried instead of hefted quickly and
repeatedly throughout the course of exercise.
Before moving on to the main topic of this article, it pays to ask just
how strong and enduring was Dr. Schwartz?
Tom Furman relates this incident that is perhaps the most dramatic:
In 1982 Dr. Leonard Schwartz wrote, Heavy Hands
, The Ultimate Exercise. It is an enjoyable book that is fascinating till
this day. It contains many exercises including the double ski pole
exercise. This motion follows the patterns of a Cross Country or
Downhill Skier driving his poles into the snow and applying the full

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force of the body.

Dr. Schwartz exercise uses hand weights and a lunging step. You
can do it on a track, uphill, (downhill can be tricky!), or in the small
confines of an apartment. You can stand in one spot with a foot in a
cast and do it as well. According to Len Schwartz, this exercise has
the highest aerobic out of any upright movement.
In his experiments, the good Dr. has done this exercise with 23 % of
his bodyweight for two hours. He logged 4200 arm cycles and
16,800 small paces. At 132 lbs. of bodyweight, this works out to be
around 30 pounds total or two 15 lb. Heavy Hands. Previously he
would spend days in bed with back pain. (Previous to changing his
lifestyle). He said his back felt absolutely supple after this workout.
Lets do the math. For someone 150lbs. this would be 17.25 pound
Heavy Hands.
For someone of 180 lbs. it would be 20.7 lb weights. 200 lbs.
??..Around 23lbs.
As Furman asks could you do 4200 reps with two dumbbells each
weight over 10% of your bodyweight? That remains an astounding
display of strength and endurance!
Weightlifter John McKean who posed for photos in Dr. Schwartz
HeavyHands Walking Book related in some personal email that
before his death Dr. Schwartz performed 1200 pushups during the
commercial breaks of a Pittsburgh Steelers game. On an exercise
device he created for bodyweight exercise called the Pan-X, Dr.
Schwartz could perform 35 chin-ups in the L-position a sign of
excellent arm and abdominal strength.

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So why can we call Heavy Hands a unique contribution to the field

of exercise and weight loss?
Hopefully the first part has been answered. Dr. Schwartz himself was
proof enough that a chubby and out of shape psychiatrist could
become a lean, sculpted figure! His exploits of strength endurance
are unparalleled in some ways. The scientific references that
populate his books prove that Schwartz had found a way to
drastically reduce the time and perceived effort of productive
exercise!
But what about weight loss?
Here are some reasons Dr. Schwartz gave regarding Heavy Hands
unique ability to help people lose or maintain their weight:
* Energy consumption increases when pumping even light 2 lb
Heavy Hands by an average of 200% compared with ordinary
walking without hand weights
* Heavy Hands users experience] a range of 30-300% increase in
energy consumption (The Physician and Sports Medicine, June
1987)
* Consumes approximately 450-600+ calories per hour
(compared with 350 calories per hour for normal walking at 3.5
mph)
* Heavy hands can be practiced for relatively long periods, i.e.
between half an hour and two hours at a time, or in 5-10 minute
exercise bites throughout the day.
* The San Francisco Chronicle says "this system has inserted

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enough photographs, charts, stick figures and sidebars to keep

even those who hate exercise systems absorbed".
* People magazine says "the workouts can burn off 8 to 25 cal a
minute, twice as much is a hard game of racquetball."
* Publishers weekly says "scientifically sound and convincing."
* American health claims "this is more than just a work out, it's a fullgrown exercise system with practical in entertaining advice."
* Liberty Journal says "an entirely new approach to total body
fitness not found in any book currently on the market."
* This workout system chases calories in burns fat at an enormous
rate equal to or greater than those previously enjoyed only by
experience cross country skiers marathon runners by cyclers and
swimmers.
* Three or four 30 minute workouts per week will condition not
only your entire cardiopulmonary system but also 90% or more
of your body muscle."

Schwartz never mentioned the ability of Heavy hands to maintain

and build lean muscle mass for those who may otherwise be dieting.
But the ability to maintain or even increase lean muscle mass means
that even at rest the body burns more calories. Perhaps thats
why Dr. Schwartz said he could eat as much as a young horse and
never gain weight!

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Dr. Schwartz exercise patents give a clue as to

why Heavy Hands is so powerful for fat burning.
He believed that the muscle created when users performed
HeavyHands were unique. They had increased numbers of
mitochondria to power them. Its these cellular furnaces that may
facilitate easier weight loss than the muscles of sedentary folk.
image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion
As strange as it may seem, despite the benefits, despite the
relatively low cost or training to start, and the amazing benefits of
Heavy Hand exercise the exercise has in many ways died out.
Surely Dr. Schwartz untimely death was partly to blame. Soon after
his passing, manufacturers exited the market. There was much more
profit potential chasing the latest greatest fad it seemed.
Still, some people recognize the value of Dr. Schwartz work still
today. For them, HeavyHands weights are occasionally still available
on Ebay.com their supply is sporadic and the selection of weights
is generally pathetic.
Thankfully entrepreneur Michael Senoff began producing
replacement weights and also specialized ergonomic handles for
HeavyHands exercise, the prospects for finding new equipment
were virtually nill.
Now, thanks to Senoff, the Heavy Hands Weights enthusiast can
progress from the smallest weights used at the beginning to the
heavier weights required for maximum strength endurance
development.
Finally, people are able to progress as far as they want using Heavy

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Hands.
Once again, Dr. Schwartz proven methods are helping a new
generation of exercise and weight loss enthusiasts.

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