Newbie ... Degraded Beast

[DegradedBeast]

My ten pound sledgehammer is still wending its way from the Amazon but I thought I would dive into the bulletin board since I've been reading it and enjoying it for some time now.

Like others I am attracted by the good humor and simplicity of the Everyday Systems programs. For the moment anyway, I am starting with shovel glove though I could certainly stand to lose 10-15 pounds on NoS and the Weekend Luddite doesn't sound like a bad idea either.

I actually have a lot of bad habits -- or maybe I should say I don't have enough good ones. I'm starting my habit calendar with two habits to track. One I call exercise instead of shovelgloving because I've found a Yoga class that I like to attend now and then. We spend a fair amount of time groveling on the floor like degraded beasts, but we are enlightened degraded beasts. I do some cals at home too. I don't intend to keep to the N-day, S-day schedule because I like to exercise on the weekends and I believe that 3 or 4 days a week is good enough for my purposes though sometimes I go 5. I'm not going to track what kind of exercise I do, just that I'm doing some. And I'm trusting the habit cal will keep me on track when I begin to slack off. It's a semi-public commitment to get in better shape.

The other new habit I am trying to start is a daily meditation practice. I've tried to do this unsuccessfully in the past. I optimistically regard meditation as a basic practice that should support other good habits generally.

I have found a little timer widget that works with Macs at http://www.meditationresources.com/. I bet there are similar utilities for peecees out there. Most of you probably use kitchen timers. I use this utility for a kitchen timer.

I'm 48 years old, about 6-2 and weigh around 200 pounds. I ordered a 10 pound hammer because I have some neck and shoulder problems and thought it wise to start off a little too light rather than a little heavy.

Thank you Reinhard for the site, and thank the rest of you for your funny and helpful posts.

The Degraded Beast

[JWL]

welcome!

You have good goals; regular exercise and meditation are both incredibly fruitful for mind, body, and spirit.

A 10-lb sledge is nothing to sneeze at! I'm a big guy, 6'4", over 300lbs, and have spent time in gyms over the years (think NFL offensive guard). I started on a 10 pounder and it absolutely slaughtered me for the first couple of weeks. It's a great place to start, in my opinion.

[reinhard]

Welcome, DegradedBeast!

Keeping the habit you're tracking simply "exercise" is a very good idea. That way you can experiment with different methods while consistently building habit.

Reinhard

[DegradedBeast]

I know part of the inspiration for shovelglove was a description in a French novel of the stomach muscles of some coal miners (didn't Zola write about coal mines?).

I found this passage in George Orwell's essay "Down the Mine."

Most of them are small (big men are at a disadvantage in that job) but nearly all of them have the most noble bodies; wide shoulders tapering to slender supple waists, and small pronounced buttocks and sinewy thighs, with not an ounce of waste flesh anywhere... You can never forget that spectacle once you have seen it -- the line of bowed kneeling figures, sooty black all over, drive their huge shovels under the coal with stupendous force and speed. They are on the job for seven and a half hours, theoretically without a break, for there is no time 'off'. Actually they snatch a quarter of an hour or so at some time during the shift to eat the food they have brought with them, usually a hunk of bread and dripping and a bottle of cold tea. The first time I was watching the 'fillers' at work I put my hand upon some dreadful slimy thing among the coal dust. It was a chewed quid of tobacco. Nearly all the miners chew tobacco which is said to be good against thirst.

Because the ceilings of the mines were so low, the miners worked on their knees so they couldn't use their legs to drive the shovel. Maybe one of the experienced shuggers could experiment with doing the shovel movement kneeling. I'll bet it is extra challenging.

Degraded Beast

[Kevin]

Thanks for the excerpt. If I did this 7 hours a day, I'd be tough as nails, too!

[reinhard]

The Orwell essay is excellent. Those who haven't already should really take the time to read it. It's not very long, and reads itself.

Link to the essay:

http://www.george-orwell.org/Down_The_Mine/0.html

There was another discussion about it here:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic ... 8531#28531

Reinhard

[AUlderyan]

Here's a tip for the meditation: meditate for only 3 minutes - or at least, tell yourself that to make it easy to sit down and do it. If you go longer than 3 minutes, good for you, but its your choice. Anyone can meditate for 3 minutes, your brain will say "OK, I can do that!"
-ryan

PS: also Read Autobiography of a Yogi so you really understand meditation

My ten pound sledgehammer is still wending its way from the Amazon but I thought I would dive into the bulletin board since I've been reading it and enjoying it for some time now.

Like others I am attracted by the good humor and simplicity of the Everyday Systems programs. For the moment anyway, I am starting with shovel glove though I could certainly stand to lose 10-15 pounds on NoS and the Weekend Luddite doesn't sound like a bad idea either.

I actually have a lot of bad habits -- or maybe I should say I don't have enough good ones. I'm starting my habit calendar with two habits to track. One I call exercise instead of shovelgloving because I've found a Yoga class that I like to attend now and then. We spend a fair amount of time groveling on the floor like degraded beasts, but we are enlightened degraded beasts. I do some cals at home too. I don't intend to keep to the N-day, S-day schedule because I like to exercise on the weekends and I believe that 3 or 4 days a week is good enough for my purposes though sometimes I go 5. I'm not going to track what kind of exercise I do, just that I'm doing some. And I'm trusting the habit cal will keep me on track when I begin to slack off. It's a semi-public commitment to get in better shape.

The other new habit I am trying to start is a daily meditation practice. I've tried to do this unsuccessfully in the past. I optimistically regard meditation as a basic practice that should support other good habits generally.

I have found a little timer widget that works with Macs at http://www.meditationresources.com/. I bet there are similar utilities for peecees out there. Most of you probably use kitchen timers. I use this utility for a kitchen timer.

I'm 48 years old, about 6-2 and weigh around 200 pounds. I ordered a 10 pound hammer because I have some neck and shoulder problems and thought it wise to start off a little too light rather than a little heavy.

Thank you Reinhard for the site, and thank the rest of you for your funny and helpful posts.

The Degraded Beast

[ou812]

Thanks for the link to the widget timer. I'll be using that.