Four weeks with Shovelglove (updated 5/11)

Take a sledgehammer and wrap an old sweater around it. This is your "shovelglove." Every week day morning, set a timer for 14 minutes. Use the shovelglove to perform shoveling, butter churning, and wood chopping motions until the timer goes off. Stop. Rest on weekends and holidays. Baffled? Intrigued? Charmed? Discuss here.
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BuddhaLite
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Four weeks with Shovelglove (updated 5/11)

Post by BuddhaLite » Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:01 pm

A little bit about myself. I'm 32 years old and at my heaviest I was around 220 lbs. Recently I separated from my wife and lost 20 lbs just from the stress and anxiety. I quickly realized I need to do something that would 1)keep me active everyday and 2)help me look and feel better physically. I thought about joining a gym since a number of my friends work out. I didn't really want to spend money on it so when I mentioned this to my friends one of them suggested this site. At first I thought about it I thought it was a joke but I quickly remembered back when I was 16-22 years old and I worked at a grocery store. I weighed at most 160 lbs and in pictures I had clearly defined abs and good overall muscle tone. The next day I bought a 10 lb sledgehammer.

The first week I couldn't even make it 10 minutes. The second week I could almost make it 14 minutes and by the third week it was a breeze and I started making up my own routine. This week I bought myself a 16 lb sledge to help keep my progress going. I have a 3 song block of music that I listen to on Deezer.com that is between 14 and 15 minutes so I know where I am in my exercise instead of waiting on a timer. Here's my routine:

First set w/16 lb
Fireman - 20 each side
Chop Wood - 20 each side
2 handed hoist the sack - 20 times
Modified Prisoner Squats holding slege between legs - 20 times
Thigh stretching(stand with right hand against wall, lift right leg, left arms holds the sledge parallel to left leg. Stand on toes and slowly drop heel to floor) 15 times each leg

Second set w/10 lb
Fireman - 20 each side
Chop Wood - 20 each side
2 handed hoist the sack - 20 times
Thigh streches - 15 each side
Modified Stoke the Oven(in this the sledge is held parallel to the ground. Imagine lunging with a spear) 20 times each side
Flip Level - 10 times each side

If I still have time and/or strength I will do Churn Butter

For me the first set helps me continue to build more stregth. The second set has helped with my stamina and keeps my heart rate up. The lower weight also seems to help more with my abs. Doing this I can work my arms/shoulders/abs and my additions to it have help stregthen and stretch my hamstrings and thighs. I'm almost to the point of being able to bend down and touch my palm to the floor. Once I start up with my running again I know my legs will be in the shape.
Last edited by BuddhaLite on Sun May 11, 2008 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ultimas
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Post by ultimas » Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:13 pm

Congrats on making a change in your life. Some people would just give up, or would get their stomach stapled to lose weight instead of doing the hard work of slinging some steel.

The 16-pounder is impressive as well...just be careful and don't go too hard with it either. You've got plenty of time to get in shape, so don't hurt yourself.
Sean

Betty
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Post by Betty » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:16 am

Yes, do be careful. The general rule of thumb for exercise is to add no more than 10% a week: 10 % more weight or 10% more time.

I learned this the hard way. I got so into shovelglove and so impressed with my improvement that I added more time too soon (when I started I could only do about 8 minutes and I went up to 14 minutes within 2 weeks.

I was just about to get a heavier hammer when I started getting this pain in my elbow. Tendinitis. After 6 weeks I'm starting again, slooowly. 8 minutes every other day and a promise to build up no more than one minute a week. When I can do 14 minutes every other day, I'll start sloooowly adding a few minutes on other "S" days.

Just my two cents.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:15 pm

BuddhaLite,

I'm very happy shovelglove is working so well for you, and thanks for providing details on your routine (any interest in cross posting this bit to the new routines forum?)-- but do heed Betty's warning about progressing too fast (Betty, I'm really sorry you had to "learn the hard way" -- but thanks to your warning here hopefully others won't have to, I'll link to it from the home page as well). Remember that "maintenance is more important than progress." That's probably the single most important "shovelglove" principle. I try to progress as slowly as possible -- the hard part is not loading on extra challenges, but RESTRAINING myself from progressing at an unmaintainable and dangerous rate. I don't think I've ever upgraded a hammer more often than once a year (I've been doing this since 2002 and am only on my 3rd sledge, and I have no plans to upgrade beyond this).

Reinhard

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JWL
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Post by JWL » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:40 am

Buddhalite, in addition to 2nding the other warnings about going slow, I have to ask: what are the 3 songs?!?? :-)
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

BuddhaLite
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Post by BuddhaLite » Sun May 11, 2008 5:28 pm

A bit of an update...

Pretty much the entire month of Feb it seemed like I was either sick or getting over something and I fell of the wagon. A large part of this was due to chest congestion which wasn't letting me do any kind of physical activity.

I March I went to the Dr and we were able to get it cleared up. While there he had me get blood work. When I returned for the results I found out my cholesterol was 314! I knew it was bad from family history but didn't know it was that bad. After on month with a better diet, Lipitor and returning to Shovelglove and walking 30-60 minutes a day I was able to bring my total down to 174. The Dr was super impressed with the results. He told me if I can get down below 200 and keep the cholesterol low he'll take me off the meds.

I've pretty much just put away the 16lb sledge in favor of the 12lb. I can still burn through 15 minutes pretty fast while working up a good heartrate and sweat. Afterwards I go for the walk which I'm all loosened up for.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed May 14, 2008 2:42 pm

Excellent news, re the cholesterol!

Good for downgrading to the 12 pounder for now. It's so easy to get hubristic. Keep the habit, keep plugging away, and I'm sure one day, when you're really ready for it, you'll dust off the 16 pounder again.

One thing I've found really helpful when times get stressful is to focus purely on the temporal aspect, i.e., 14 minutes of something, however pathetic. I might not be setting any records this way, but I'll get a hell of a lot more exercise than I would have otherwise, and it keeps the chain of habit going until less stressful times can take it up again in full force.

Reinhard

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