You’ve decided to go axe throwing, you’ve found the perfect place to go (Phat Axe of course!), you’ve set up your appointment, now all that’s left to do is decide what to wear! What do you wear to go axe throwing? Below we’ll give you some tips and tricks so you can have the best axe throwing experience ever. 

1. Comfortable Shirt 

First off, you’ll want to wear a comfortable shirt! Axe throwing technique requires that you lift both hands over your head. You’ll want to wear a shirt that’s either loose or stretchy so you can really throw that axe with power and impress all your fellow axe throwers. You wouldn’t want to split a seam mid-throw and risk that perfect shot! 

2. Any Pants 

As far as pants go, it doesn’t really matter what you wear. You can wear pants, you can wear shorts, just make sure they are comfortable! You’ll want to be sure you can get your full range of motion.

3. Closed Toe Shoes 

The type of shoes you wear may make or break your axe throwing experience. You’ll want to be sure that you wear closed-toe shoes. This is to protect you from accidents. You want any cut-off toes or splinters spraying off the target into your feet. While you can wear your mountain-man boots, it’s not required. You can wear a variety of shoes: sneakers, flats, casual. Ladies won’t want to wear heels, however, as this may affect your axe-throwing technique. Basically, you want to wear something comfortable because wearing comfortable shoes means you’ll be able to focus all your energy on getting that axe right in the center of the target. 

4. Tie Your Hair Back and Take Off Your Hat

As we mentioned before, the best axe-throwing technique is lifting your hands above your head and then thrusting the axe forward at full speed so you get the bulls-eye you’ve been dreaming of. Because of this, you may want to tie your hair back or take off your hat. It would be kind of awkward to have your hair get tangled up in a giant metal blade or have your hat going flying towards the target along with the axe. Pull your hair back, take your hat off, and get ready to roll. 

Coming up with date ideas is just plain hard! You’ve got to find something that’s fun and exciting but also chill and not too intense. You need something that allows talking but not too much talking. You don’t want to look dumb and you don’t want your date to feel dumb either. Luckily Axe Throwing is a perfect date activity. Here’s why: 

1. It’s Finally Something Different and Exciting 

Dating should be fun above all else! But it’s so hard to find new and fun activities. Everyone’s been bowling or to dinner and a movie a thousand times. No one wants to be basic. Luckily axe throwing completely solves that problem. It’s something new AND different. How many times have you heard people say, “oh you know, on my 20th axe throwing date last week…” The truth is you just don’t! Axe throwing is something unique and new! And did we mention it’s exciting? I mean it’s pretty hard to throw giant metal tools at a target and have it not be exciting. Your date is going to think they’re on the best date ever. 

2. You Can Actually Get to Know Each Other 

Dating is all about getting to know each other. You need that balance of being able to talk but also of having something to do in case you run out of things to talk about. Axe throwing is perfect for this. You can have some nice time chatting and then as soon as the conversation starts to lag… oh look it’s your turn! And when it comes to axes there’s really no shortage of topics. Who invented axe throwing? How fast can you throw your axe? Did you see that awesome shot the guy on the left made? 

3. You Can Impress Your Date 

Let’s be honest, if you’re on a date you want to look good. There’s no way to go around it. Going on a date = looking to impress. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to show your date just how cool you are while throwing axes. You can casually shrug your shoulders and say, “oh yeah, I’m super strong. I can chuck humongous axes at this target. I’m pretty unique.” Your date is going to be blown away by how cool you are.  

4. It’s Ok If You’re Both Horrible 

The worst date ever is when you’re really bad at whatever date activity you’re doing. You feel uncomfortable and embarrassed and it’s more than a little awkward. Luckily this is not a problem that happens when you’re throwing axes. Axe throwing is something new and there’s not a ton of people who list it under one of their top carefully polished hobbies. If you’re bad at it and your date is bad, it’s ok! You can laugh it off and say, “who’s great at throwing axes anyway?” Or maybe you’ll both be terrific at axe throwing. That would be cool too. 

5. You’ll Have a Great Story to Tell

At the very least, even if your axe throwing date isn’t the best date of your life you’ll have a great story to tell. It’s one thing to have a bad date story and it’s another thing to have a bad date story where you were throwing axes. You can tell all your friends about how you went on an axe-throwing date and they’ll know how fun and unique you are. 

Axe throwing can seem a little intimidating at first. We have listed the 5 questions we hear most often for first-timers and hopefully, we can show you how fun axe throwing can really be! Axe throwing has become very popular in the United States, and Phat Axe is one of the best places for axe throwing. 

What is axe throwing?

Well, it’s basically what it sounds like… throwing axes. Axe throwing is similar to throwing darts at a round target but with axes. 

Is Axe Throwing safe?

Yes! Using the proper throwing technique will ensure a safe and fun experience. We make sure our staff here at Phat Axe is able to help and that we keep a safe and controlled environment at all times. 

What do you need to wear?

Closed-toed shoes and anything that you are comfortable in! You will be moving around a little bit so wear something that will allow for movement, especially in your arms. 

How do you play the game?

Each person in your group will take turns throwing their axe at the target. Based on where the axe lands, you will get points. The person with the most points at the end of the game wins! The target is a circle with points ranging from 5 (bullseye) to 1 in the outer circle. There are other game variations you can play as well while axe throwing.

How much do the axes weigh?

The axes used for axe throwing are fairly light and weigh about 2 pounds. 

Now that you know the basics of what axe throwing is all about, come check us out! We know you will have a great time. Axe throwing is a great birthday party idea, first date, or guys/girls night out!

The term lumberjack was first coined in 1831 in a complaintive letter to the Cobourg Star in Northern Canada. The term lumberjack was used to describe people in the 19th and early 20th centuries who worked in the lumber industry. When the timber industry exploded in Canada in the early 1800s, there was a great need for the work of many loggers who would spend their falls and winters working in the forest of Canada and the United States. 

Work was hard and dangerous. There was always the danger of timber falling on oneself. Weather could be unpredictable and create dangerous conditions. All timber had to be manually transported out of the area by oxen, river or eventually train which led to constant accidents at the time. Trees could often weigh up to 5 tons, making them heavy and hard to cart out to areas.  All tree cutting had to be done with hand saws and axes. In order to keep up with the rigors of work, lumberjacks would often have to consume up to 7,000 calories of food every day. Lumberjacks would often work from dawn to dusk six days a week. To maximize productivity, meal breaks were only ten to fifteen minutes long and talking was often not allowed. 

Logging was always done in the fall and winter when colder conditions made it easier to drag and transport fell wood to frozen streams and rivers. Spring often made roads and trails too muddy to transport timber.  This changed as modern techniques for cutting and transporting wood made logging a year-long venture, but weather conditions always made it a hard and dangerous task. 

Before the advent of steam power, and even after it was implemented, loggers would often travel their logs downriver. The work often started with oxen and horses transporting freshly felled wood to rivers which were then carried downstream to sawmills where wood was cut and processed into workable wood. Eventually, flumes were used to transport logs to local rivers where it would be carried in mass to a sawmill,  Workers would have to walk along floating wood to clear jams that often occurred when floating wood down streams.

Lumberjacks would live in tents or bunkhouses in shantytowns with other workers. Conditions in these towns were often very dirty. People often complained while visiting these towns of the smell of smoke and sweat that enveloped the tents that lumberjacks lived in. Bed bugs were always an issue as well as sanitary conditions were poor and proper hygiene was not a concern. 

Though hard, this work proved to be the bedrock of the Eastern Canadian economy. Eventually, timber from these regions would be traded with The United States and the British empire. With this increased need for fresh lumber, there was always well-paying work available for Canadians. Eventually half of all Canadian workers would be lumber workers at the peak of the timber boom. 

The work of lumberjacks changed a lot during the 1940s. The work increasingly became more mechanized. Chainsaws replaced the use of axes and handsaws. This trend towards mechanization has continued to today where many loggers use mechanized tractors to trim down trees for easier and more efficient work. Work could be down all year long and even all night with the mechanization of the work.

There are still many aspects of the old logging culture that survives today. There are many lumberjack sports that still carry the traditions of using axes, hand saws to show off the physical prowess that lumberjacks were always known for. 

Great Hobby 

Axe Throwing is a great way of releasing stress, getting your built-in frustration from the day out and is a great sport to learn for yourself. It makes for a fun hobby that you could always try to get better at and always work at improving on.  Axe throwing is a nice alternative to spending time in-doors watching Netflix, playing video games and is a great conversation starter with other people. 

Great Date Activity 

If you are looking for a great way to impress your date and have fun at the same time axe-throwing is just the thing for you to do. It makes for a fun unique dating experience. If you’re a guy, you definitely be able to show off your manliness, inner Viking and lumberjack skills to your date. Girls, your guy will definitely be impressed when he learns that you can throw an axe. 

Great Activity to Do with Friends

Need something fun and inexpensive to do with your friends? Axe-throwing can be a great way to spend time with your friends as you try new fun things to do. Once you learn how to throw the axe, you can make a fun game with your friends of who can do the best when it comes to landing on target with the axe. Makes for a great way of bonding with your friends and others as you you toss axes at targets. 

Great Team Activity

Axe-throwing also makes for a great team-building activity. If you are a business owner looking to get your employees together, a coach or team captain looking to help your team work better together or working with people on a school project. Axe-throwing can make for a great way to get together to discuss things and let off steam after doing a big group project. This makes for a memorable bonding experience that will allow you to bond with your fellow coworkers or teammates

Great Workout 

Before chainsaws and mechanical devices were a thing, lumberjacks were said to burn anywhere between 5 thousand to 10 thousand calories a day hefting wood, and cutting down trees with their bare hands. Any person looking to trim down weight, build muscle and get healthier would want to make this part of their routine. Which is where axe-throwing comes in. 

Axe throwing makes for a great cardio workout. In addition, you are giving your upper body a great work out by throwing those axes. It’s great for your back, arms, and chest. After a while, you will be sure to notice yourself becoming more built from repeatedly doing this exercise every week. 

Great Way to Relieve Stress 

Axe-throwing like any sport of exercise is a great way of getting rid of excess stress and frustration from the day out. There are plenty of studies that show that keeping stress in can lead to negative consequences for your health and wellness so what better way to get it out then by tossing an axe at something. 

There are many reasons you might want to visit our Phat Smash It room. The possibilities are endless. Here we wanted to give you a list of things you could do when you enter anger management, I mean the Phat Smash It room. 

1. Glass bottles

Remember when you were little and you knocked over your mom’s favorite vase? The scary sound of the glass breaking and instant guilt? Well put your guilt aside, with the Phat Smash It room there isn’t space to feel bad, only feel the satisfaction of smashing glass bottles. With buckets of glass bottles, you can get creative with how you smash them. Throw it against the wall? Use a hammer? You decide. 

2. Electronics

Ah, technology, you love it when it works properly but you hate it when it doesn’t. For your inspiration imagine you stayed up all night typing a report or assignment just to have the power go out and you lose all your work. Angry right? Use that anger and come to the Phat Smash It Room. There are a couple of different packages that we offer here at Phat Axe that include electronics that you can smash. We have had people come in and smash multiple items including TVs, computers, and printers. Oh, and we may or may not take out the ink of the printer. Don’t worry we are sure to give you the proper safety wear and googles. 

3. Furniture

Instead of putting our old dressers or desks on Facebook Marketplace we have found a new way to “repurpose them”. Walking into the room after you ordered the Venom package you will see a nice little office space including a computer, lamp, printer, monitor, and plant. When you walk out it’ll be nearly unidentifiable. Also, you would be surprised by the damage you can do to that lovely couch from the 1970s with a baseball bat and a crowbar. 

4. Bring your own box (BYOB)

Just like your reason for visiting the Phat Smash it room is are nearly endless, so are the possibilities for what to bring with you are. Your old framed pictures of your ex-girlfriend, an old printer, computer or even your old dolls (or your “collectible action figures collection”). As long as one person can carry the box or bag of goodies into the room you can go crazy and smash it to pieces for your personal enjoyment. 

We mentioned in previous articles the benefit of smash objects inside the Phat Smash It room, hopefully, with this article, you will be able to expand your creativity in how you are going to relieve your stress in a new destructive manner.

You may look like a newbie as you learn to throw an axe accurately but you don’t have to sound like a newbie. 

While we are participating in any activity, being able to sound like you know what you are doing multiplies the fun and your confidence. We put together a list of the correct terms for what you will encounter when you enter an ax-throwing arcade.

Axe Throwing Terminology – Venue:

1. Arena: a set of four ax-throwing targets.
2. Lane: a setup from throwing a block to target.
3. Perimeter Wall: the wall that separates throwers from spectators.
4. Fencing: The fencing that partitions/separates the lanes from one another as well as the outside social area.
5. Target: five boards screwed to a backboard with four-point areas.
6. Backboard: plywood backing that supports the mounted target boards.
7. Block: a small block that some throwers may place on the black line to position their lead foot while throwing (similar to the piece of tape a basketball coach will put on a free throw line to help his players line up their sights).
8. Helmet: there is a lower and an upper helmet on each lane. The upper is made of high-density rubber and the lower is made of wood mounted below the target. Helmets protect axe heads from damage on a missed throw.​
9. The Red Throwing Line: the standard throwing line where players position themselves for throwing. 

Axe Throwing Terminology – Equipment:

1. Axe: the instrument used in all standard ax-throwing competition.
2. Big Axe: the full-size felling axe used for tiebreakers. Big axes are 2.5 pounds with a 27-28 inch wooden handle.
3. Head: the metal blade portion of the axe.

Axe Throwing Terminology – Competition:​

1. Match: also sometimes referred to as a game, is a set of two rounds totaling 10 throws.
2. Round: one set of 5 throws.
3. Drop: an axe that does not remain sticking in the target, and falls out before being retrieved, resulting in 0 points.
4. Out of reach: a match or round that can not be won by any throw value
5. Rubber Match: a match in which the third round of throwing determines the match winner (i.e. third match played when the first two rounds are tied).
6. Perfect Round:  occurs in which all five throws are bull’s-eyes, totaling 25 points.
7. Perfect Match: occurs when the total score of a match totals 75. 

Conclusion

Now, of course, there will be a few minor differences if you go to different axe throwing recreation centers. Maybe the different color of the tape is used for the throwing lines and things like that. These are very widely used terms however and will help you impress those you throw with. 

Phat Axe is a great place to come for birthday parties, date activities, and corporate team activities.

Smash Room – Choose It!

Picture yourself getting fired from your dream job. Or you someone just cut you off while driving. You’re in a rage and need to break something. Luckily Phat Axe has the Smash Room. It is a room that has designs to help channel that anger into breaking objects like empty bottles or old computers. But why do breaking things make us feel better?

The Physiological Response

The feeling of breaking something with a bat or sledgehammer is exhilarating. Our body releases endorphins when we intentionally break things. Endorphins are a chemical released in the brain that creates a positive feeling in your body that’s similar to morphine. The excitement that we get when smashing an object also releases adrenaline. When in the Smash Room, it’s an amazing experience because our bodies are so fueled up on endorphins and adrenaline. Afterwards, your body is relaxed from all the exercise you did breaking objects!

The Psychological Response

Above we mentioned the physiological response. Now let’s talk about the psychological response. Studies show that breaking objects helps with anxiety. Those that suffer from anxiety should use a smash room to break objects because it allows them to have a sense of control. It allows others to have some form of make-shift therapy. But it goes even further than that. It is great because you can channel all of your built-up anger into something that won’t have harmful effects on you. 

Date Night!

You need an idea for a date and you don’t know where to go or what to do. Why not go to the Smash Room? It is the perfect place to take a date to. Why? Because it’s fun and exhilarating! As mentioned earlier, endorphins are released when you’re smashing objects. So why not smash objects with someone you love? It is the ideal date because it’s fun and destructive. 

The Conclusion About Smash Room

It is perfect because it has positive benefits on your physical and mental health. Book a room is fast and easy and if you bring your own stuff to smash, it’s slightly cheaper. Phat Axe also recycles all used materials. Bring in someone and smash some objects!

Throw an axe at over-sized wooden targets isn’t just fun. 

If you are throwing with proper technique than throwing hunks of steel almost two dozen feet and throwing it hard enough to make it stick in a piece of wood, has some great health benefits for you. 

First, a few extrinsic pros that axe throwing has on you:

• Get your adrenaline pumping
• Leg day
• Arm day
• Back day

Second, throwing axes also has several intrinsic perks for you:

• Relieve stress
• Change your mood
• (I’d be remiss if I didn’t put “its fun” on this checklist)
• A way to bond with friends & family

Not that you are aware of some of the benefits of throwing an axe. Here’s a short walk through of stepping into the cage and throwing one.

Make sure no is within the cage boundaries when you are up to throw. Even before you raise your axe, double-check behind you, there should not be anyone on your side of the cage line. 

Once you are in the cage with you hatchet in hand, there are two ways you can throw it, one-handed or two-handed. The proper techniques for each are as follows:

One-handed:

1. Start with your feet together.
2. Place the axe in your throwing hand. Hold the handle securely near the end.
3. Step forward with your less dominant foot, using your more dominant foot for stabilization.
4. Keeping your eye on the target, bring the hatchet forward, and release it once it’s level with the line of sight between you and the bulls-eye. On the release, use a karate-chop motion instead of a wrist-flicking motion.
5. Follow through with a stiff wrist. Releasing too early results in too many revolutions and hitting the target too high. Releasing too late results in hitting the target too low. Now following through with a stiff wrist can result in a wobbly throw, or the axe not sticking into the wood. 

Two-handed throw:

1. Start with your feet together.
2. Holding the hatchet securely near the end of the handle, raise it above and behind your head with two hands.
3. Step forward with your less dominant foot, using your more dominant foot for stabilization
4. Keeping your focus on the bulls-eye, bring the hatchet forward with two hands.
5. Once your hands are even with the line of the bulls-eye, release the hatchet.
6. Follow through. The goal is to have the hatchet do one full revolution before sticking securely in the wooden bulls-eye.

And for your viewing pleasure, here is a short clip of Jason Momoa drinking a beer and throwing a perfect bull-eye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oxal7BdCh0

The World Axe Throwing League

Axe Throwing has taken the world by storm. Families and friends crave the unique experience of throwing an axe and hearing the satisfying “THUD” of metal impacting wood. In fact, it has become so popular there is now a competitive league to unify indoor axe throwing facilities from around the world under one professional axe throwing association, the World Axe Throwing League.

The Birth of The World Axe Throwing League

Founder of The WATL, Mario Zelaya, was aware that a lot of axe throwing facilities followed basically the same business practices and axe throwing rules. However, there wasn’t very much communication between these venues which restricted the ability to have standardized rules and therefore have professional competitions. Mario, knowing the strong desire of people around the world to compete, founded the World Axe Throwing League. Opening the door to discuss official rules and regulations to legitimize indoor axe throwing as a sport. 

The Tournaments

The WATL holds a number of tournaments around the world to find the very best axe throwers! All leading up to the World Axe Throwing Championship held in Arizona. The first of these tournaments first started in Ohio with the Arnold Open in March, followed by the Canadian Open that same month. After the trip up North, the WATL travelled down South to Brazil for the South America Arnold Open and finally, the US open in Iowa this August the 23-25. Winners from each of those tournaments have an automatic entry into the World Axe Throwing Championship and a shot to dethrone last years champion Benjamin Edgington and the prize money!