Did my first SG workout today. Gotta say I enjoyed it more than any sort of gym equipment.
I'm not sure if I'm doing the motions correctly or not though.
Didn't seem to be much difference between the Fireman and the Tree chop, at least the way I was doing it.
I did go over 15 minutes a bit, but I felt okay with it. I am very out of shape and had to stop and huff and puff sometimes, so it slowed down the workout out a bit.
Greetings from a newbie, any movement pointers
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CriticalMass
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- Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:14 pm
Welcome!
I wouldn't worry about the "correctness" of the movements too much (I'm a computer programmer, after all, what do I know?).
The main thing is that they capture your imagination (and don't hurt!).
The fireman and chop tree look (and are) pretty similar, but I think the difference is significant enough to make them both worth doing (plus they're fun). The fireman is an (almost) vertical motion, chop tree is horizontal. I find if I just imagine actually chopping a door down / chopping a tree the right movements come naturally.
Reinhard
I wouldn't worry about the "correctness" of the movements too much (I'm a computer programmer, after all, what do I know?).
The main thing is that they capture your imagination (and don't hurt!).
The fireman and chop tree look (and are) pretty similar, but I think the difference is significant enough to make them both worth doing (plus they're fun). The fireman is an (almost) vertical motion, chop tree is horizontal. I find if I just imagine actually chopping a door down / chopping a tree the right movements come naturally.
Reinhard
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CriticalMass
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Well, some of the movements felt natural to me, and other didn't. Especially when switching from right-ie to left-ie. It's obvious that my left arm is less coordinated than my right. The handle kept slipping off my left elbow when doing the lever, whereas I did not have the problem with the right.
My main problem is transposing what I see on a video to actually doing the movement myself. I almost need a bystander to tell me if I'm in the ball park.
On a seperate note, it's not clear to me if you recommend doing other things in the same session. Such as the "degraded beast".
My main problem is transposing what I see on a video to actually doing the movement myself. I almost need a bystander to tell me if I'm in the ball park.
On a seperate note, it's not clear to me if you recommend doing other things in the same session. Such as the "degraded beast".
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bluebunny27
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- Location: Montreal, Canada
Yes, doing the movements on the right side seemed easier for me at first. What you can do is practice your movements with a simple stick, broom handle (cut it down so it's the same lenght as your sledgehammer)
I secured tightly a small weight to the end of the handle of my warm up sledge-stick, 2 pounds or so, so it's more like a real sledge feeling without being extremely hard to handle. You just practice the form. I found that trick to warm up sometimes and to make sure I do the moves correctly, especially on the left side.
Some of the moves are a bit similar but you have to watch carefully, Reinhard's awesome movement videos (I watch 'em regularly, they are all in my pc so I have access to them anytime and I refresh my memory often to make sure I am doing it right) , you have to check the angles to use ... also when you imagine you are really doing those things it helps a lot to have proper form. (I've shoveled a lot of IMAGINARY snow !)
Shovelglovin' helps a lot to get strong hands and arms in particular, I've noticed that recently. I've been using a 13 pound HOMEMADE sledgehammer for a few months now.
Marc
I secured tightly a small weight to the end of the handle of my warm up sledge-stick, 2 pounds or so, so it's more like a real sledge feeling without being extremely hard to handle. You just practice the form. I found that trick to warm up sometimes and to make sure I do the moves correctly, especially on the left side.
Some of the moves are a bit similar but you have to watch carefully, Reinhard's awesome movement videos (I watch 'em regularly, they are all in my pc so I have access to them anytime and I refresh my memory often to make sure I am doing it right) , you have to check the angles to use ... also when you imagine you are really doing those things it helps a lot to have proper form. (I've shoveled a lot of IMAGINARY snow !)
Shovelglovin' helps a lot to get strong hands and arms in particular, I've noticed that recently. I've been using a 13 pound HOMEMADE sledgehammer for a few months now.
Marc
If you want to, I recommend it. If not, don't. I think shovelglove gives a pretty complete upper body workout, and even a surprising amount of lower body (though I would recommend plenty of urban ranger as a supplement for that).On a seperate note, it's not clear to me if you recommend doing other things in the same session. Such as the "degraded beast".
I go back and forth on including "degraded beast" in my own routines. I don't enjoy pushups nearly as much as any of the shovelglove moves, but I like them as a broadly understandable "metric" I can use to sanity check (and brag!) about my physical condition. One day, when shovelglove becomes as ubiquitous as pushups, maybe I'll drop them and use "drive fence posts" as my benchmark instead.
Reinahrd
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CriticalMass
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Y Goddodin
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