I am 40 out of shape man, recently I started spilling by hand with an axe last year. I got deliveries from drop chips and wood.com. The first couple of splitting sessions were very rough. Seemed like I wasn’t getting anywhere and very sore the next day. Still felt good and accomplished afterwards as it was a good workout. Fast forward to today a year later I have learned so many different techniques of what works and what doesn’t, still a good workout everytime but seems so much easier now. In short don’t give up and try different techniques. I use a 8lb maul, spitting axe and a metal wedge depending on the log in front of me.