Everyday Systems

And Mrs. Mom too. I was home with my 2 year old most of last week and wow, my arms were sore from toting her around all over the place. Granted, I was a little crazily ambitious in terms of avoiding elevators and escalators and what not (for those who know the boston area, I carried my daughter in one hand and her heavily loader stroller in the other up and down the shy scraper height "T" stairs at porter station several times), but still, I'm amazed at the enormous amount of upper body strength it takes to be a stay at home parent!

Reinhard

Wholeheartedly agree Reinhard! My son is almost 2 and a half and carrying him around, in and out of the car etc is surprisingly hard work. I don't know how my wife manages without doing shovelglove because sometimes I've been very thankful that I built up strength with the 'glove. Especially in the midsection and back when I am awkwardly lifting him around obstacles.
The thing kids do that free weights don't is kick and squirm while you are lifting them, that ups the ante quite a bit!
Probably the reason your parents have a bad back now is you! Ah, the cycle of life!

Phil.

I've wondered about using a kid like Milo used a bull. In other words, put the kid on your shoulders or in your arms and squat them 20 times each day. By the time your strapping lad is a 250-lb. linebacker you'll be quite strong!

-david

That's why I like to incorporate a sandbag into my workouts frequently. It's not exactly the same, but the thing shifts just enough to keep you working and getting used to handling odd loads of weight.

I really like efficiency and simplicity and it occurs to me that sandbag + shovelglove would be a potent combo. I'm definitely making a sandbag soon.

--david

I have a one-month-old and shovelgloved up until the day I went into labor. I'm sure it's to that I owe the fact that I could tote around my four-year-old until that last week! (I took a two week break after the birth and he was noticably harder for me to lift afterwards.)

Big Phil wrote:Wholeheartedly agree Reinhard! My son is almost 2 and a half and carrying him around, in and out of the car etc is surprisingly hard work. I don't know how my wife manages without doing shovelglove because sometimes I've been very thankful that I built up strength with the 'glove. Especially in the midsection and back when I am awkwardly lifting him around obstacles.
The thing kids do that free weights don't is kick and squirm while you are lifting them, that ups the ante quite a bit!
Probably the reason your parents have a bad back now is you! Ah, the cycle of life!