April 2009 Update:
For the last few weeks I've been doing things SLIGHTLY (but perhaps, significantly) differently.
I decided to take the non-shovelglove movements out of my 14 minutes and do them (and/or some other stuff) "opportunistically" during the day. The shovelglove part is still exactly as I described above.
Here's why I decided to make this change:
1) I like the shovelglove moves more than the non-shovelglove moves. Maxing out on pushups first was leaving me a little too exhausted and short on time to enjoy the main part of the workout. But the main reason I do pushups (and chinpus/pullups, more below) is not so much for the workout in itself, but as a generally comprehensible fitness metric (when shovelglove conquers the fitness world and "how many drive fence posts can you do?" becomes a meaningful question for most people maybe I'll stop), so sticking them after the main routine (when I'm guaranteed not to be able to bang that many out) didn't make much sense.
2) I got a chinup bar and wanted to incorporate that into my overall exercise plan. It's not near my shovelglove space, so not convenient to incorporate into my 14 minutes.
3) My schedule has gotten rather tight, and I've taken to urban rangering home from work at high velocity ("running late," literally). Squats aren't so much fun after that.
4) It's kind of nice to have a mini-exercise to get the blood flowing in the morning before work. I (literally) don't have more than a minute or so to spare in the rush to get the kids and myself out the door, but a set of pushups or chinups or pullups don't take more than that.
What does "opportunistic exercise" mean?
Just that I do them whenever I see an opportunity.
But I have a few additional guidelines that make them more likely to (sustainably) come up.
I added a little routine task to my daily index card called "maxups." Every N-day, I max out on EITHER chin-ups, pull-ups, or pushups and record how many I did on this card. I'm only allowed to max out on one of these exercises per day, to reign myself in from overdoing it (I cycle through them in alphabetical order). If I want to do some of the others, that's ok, but I have to stop at my "cruising altitude" rep count, no more than 80% of my consistently reproducible max. It doesn't matter when I do my "maxups," but morning is usual because I do shovelglove at night. The constraints on how much I'm allowed to do are key: not only do they throttle my enthusiasm and keep me from overdoing it, they make each maxup session seem like a precious opportunity, not to be squandered. And on the "cruising altitude" sets, I might not be able to hit numbers, but my ambition can still find something to strive for: perfect form.
So far so good. I enjoy my "pure" shovelglove routines more, and have been consistently doing my "maxups" as well. They've been fun, too. It's sort of like a game.
"Run late" doesn't require any additional structures besides an overly demanding day job and a wife with two small kids at home desperate for reinforcements
![Smile :-)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
. It is funny the weird looks I get from people because I'm not wearing any special running gear but am running because I actually want to get somewhere. It's probably the summer heat will make run late less fun. But even if it's just a cold weather activity, hey, that's when we need the exercise most.
Reinhard