Everyday Systems

sgtrock

For those who like "scenario-driven workouts" (a great idea BTW), I found this last night on Ross' forum. They are devising workout scenarios for each of Hercule's 12 mythical labors, like slaying the hydra, cleaning the stables, etc. Lots of general conditioning stuff, with scenario ideas like this...

sgtrock

Plus you can always slap cheap ankle weights onto it to "upgrade" more gradually. They come in all different sizes; we found a pair of small neoprene circular 1-pound weights that fit the handle perfectly. Just be sure to wrap them inside the sweater/cover and you're good to go. Adding that 2 pounds...

sgtrock

Somehow working on a train doesn't have the same primal appeal after a day of dealing with co-workers and bosses...

sgtrock

Here's my take on this. I've been thinking about the how and why of the Everyday Systems approach for quite a while now and I think I get it. But note that these are only my observations and opinions, not Reinhard's and not a doctor's, just me. The systems used here are deceptively simple. I think t...

sgtrock

In my experience most people are not really aware of just how dehydrated they are on a daily basis. I had no idea until I lived in a desert for a while that I spent almost all of my time very dehydrated. Our culture tells us to drink sodas and alcohol, and caffeine and alcohol both are diuretics and...

sgtrock

Yes Tabata is brutal. You can do it with most anything --- hammering, burpees, dumbbell thrusters, jump rope, running, etc. Due to a foot injury I typically confine Tabata to stationary bike riding, as that gives me a killer cardio workout. From everything I've read though, Tabata is so intense it s...

sgtrock

I've been walking to work off-and-on more lately, trying to "stick" to the concept of being a solid Urban Ranger. I usually would be in the car out of habit before I remembered I was going to walk, and I was already driving down the 1-way street away from home. I also noticed that my recurring compl...

sgtrock

A few months ago, I was taking some ribbing from a friend when I described shovelglove. My friend belongs to a chain gym and she got this incredulous tone of voice and raised her eyebrow. â€œSo youâ€™re PRETENDING to work.â€ Having read about the naysayers and those who doubt on this post I had pre...

sgtrock

As for progress, what I've noticed the most, besides generally bigger shoulders, is that when I do pushups I can do them elbows-in (grazing ribs) and go deep, whereas before I could only really do them with elbows bowed out. Back is also very tight and I don't sag. I can only do about 20 and form is...

sgtrock

Ok so I've been shugging off and on (sometimes more off than on) for a couple of months now, and my basic routine is pretty established so I figured I'd go ahead and post it. For now I use an 8lb shovelglove since I didn't want to overdo it at the start and blow the habit training. Unfortunately mor...

sgtrock

Again, I love the Sweep the Floor move. I feel that one in my sides every time. :D It's also started me back doing a variation on a couple of other moves that I used to do. When shoveling and chopping wood, try going to extreme ranges of motion. For shoveling, reach far back on each side of the move...

sgtrock

I can't believe I didn't think of this one! My wife however can -- she said "duh, it's because you're not a woman!" I love this move. I think I'm going to do this one regularly. :D Having the feet slightly wider than shoulder width makes a big difference in the tension in the core as well, much bett...

sgtrock

Ah! Side lateral raise. I used to do a ton of these with dumbbells. Good move. There's a similar SG variant that I absolutely love called Perseus Hoist . One thing I've noticed --- with Shovelglove, kettlebells, sandbags, etc --- is a general gravitation towards "known" moves that already exist as d...

sgtrock

My wife and I destroyed a hard drive doing this. Fun as all hell, but watch out for your shins and beware of small metal fragments flying in your face!

I've also torn up the ground doing this.

sgtrock

Interesting observation... I've been on-again/off-again over the past few weeks with SG due to time constraints, and I can feel the gains I had made fading fast. But a couple of weeks back I jumped back into it after not doing it for over a week and decided to go "all out", 52 reps of as many moves ...

sgtrock

I'm trying to picture this -- I haven't painted any walls lately!

Would this be the same or similar motion to a basic upright row?

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Del ... htRow.html

sgtrock

The $2,500, 5,000-pound Acme Sledgehammer!

It's apparently a test from someone setting up a store. Funny!

sgtrock

Doh! Sorry, I was tired when I wrote that earlier post.

I meant to also say:

Great work Tommi!

sgtrock

Your English is better than many Americans, don't worry... I've noticed very similar results. Though I haven't made it even 3 consecutive weeks in almost 2 months of doing SG (taking almost two weeks off twice) I've still noticed a difference. I can do "proper" pushups --- back straight, head forwar...

sgtrock

tommi wrote:You'll never be interested in physics until it helps you to cheat your own body while exercising

Ha! That's so true!

sgtrock

For those concerned about 8lb being too light, 52 or more reps of any of the moves might convince you otherwise, especially the more shoulder-intense moves like Fireman. Or, add deep squats to the churning-type moves. Or make them Hindu squats -- lift your heels off the ground so they almost touch y...

sgtrock

Tommi, about a decade ago I spent two years studying jujutsu. With all of the physical effort involved, my forearms got huge and my biceps --- while definitely increasing moderately in size --- were really not much bigger. In fact, mostly my forearms increased to approximately the same diameter as m...

sgtrock

Hi Freelancer, The moves sound interesting. I just tried out the Push of Destiny (cool name!) and I think I can see what you are saying. Would you say it is basically a moving variant of Stoke the Oven? Also, I can't quite picture what you mean in The Whirlwind of Doom (ultra cool name!) when you sa...

sgtrock

I showed my wife this move tonight and she in turn taught me a wonderful variation. Squat deep on the pull back and pop up as you thrust on the 45-degree angle. She called it Spear the Horseman and it captures the move perfectly. :) I love this variant. Works the whole body at once. We'll be doing i...

sgtrock

My dad worked for Mack Manufacturing in Mobile for about 25+ years as a foreman building grapples. He was always very physical growing up but this was extremely hard work. A grapple is the claw you see on the end of a crane cable picking stuff up. Some of these beasts are HUGE. You can see lots of p...

sgtrock

I put 2 and 2 together the other night and figured it out. We bought a set of 1-pound neoprene wrist weights at Academy (a sporting goods chain) a few months ago for about $6, and my wife uses them sometimes when walking or cardio. We also bought her a 4-pound hammer to do SG the other day, and she ...

sgtrock

Well I realized that the norm here is to check in and blow your own horn for a minute, and I don't want to seem rude... :) I came across shovelglove a few weeks back when researching different ways to get in shape. I was especially interested in sandbag and sledgehammer training at the time because,...

sgtrock

While we use the countdown timer on my cell phone for our SG workouts, there are other workouts where other timers are handy. I'm not sure if it's been mentioned here before, but a while back I came across the single best timer I've used yet. It is a configurable web page timer that you can download...

sgtrock

Reinhard, I've been wondering: what exactly is the difference between the "chop the tree" and "fireman" moves? I just checked both videos and paused them as the movement comes forward from the shoulder, and the only difference appears to be that the fireman move is almost vertical while chop the tre...

sgtrock

My wife and I were doing the SG workout last night and I literally stumbled across a move I hadn't done since being on the drill team in high school. This is a basic variation of a very common move if you've ever seen a military drill team spinning rifles, and is in fact the basic rifle spinning mov...

sgtrock

Another site I had opened in a tab but not looked at before I finished the last post, and the movements may actually be better for SG warm up / stretching (and in fact are closer to what I actually do): http://www.bodyresults.com/s2warmup.asp

sgtrock

Thanks a lot for your reply, would you mind teaching me some of your warm up / stretching moves (or point me to websites, i couldn't find much info with search engines)? They would really help me to improve with SG Sure! Here's a site with tons of stretches. I only do a few that seem to help me war...

sgtrock

Wow, I posted that reply exactly 12 hours after the first post. Neat.

sgtrock

You definitely want to lay off until the pain is gone. Pain is your body's way of telling you to cut that crap out for at least the present time. Also, HEAT is your friend for muscle pulls and pains. Heatable pads you can microwave (available at Wal-Mart), or Icy Hot, or Tiger Balm all will work gre...

sgtrock

This is without a doubt my #1 weakness. I tend to get over-enthusiastic about something and push myself too far too fast. Then I find out about all the *other* ancillary things you can do that are similar to the new habit and want to start them as well. But all that does is dilute my mental focus an...

Everyday Systems

Search found 35 matches

12 Labors of Hercules

Peace

sgtrock's routine and progress

Mutant muscles

Now here's something you don't see everyday...

Quick shovelglove mod to add weight

A late hello post

Great timer for the computer

Propeller