Everyday Systems

and it felt pretty good

I got laid off last week (second time this year), and basically spent all of last week playing catch-up with yard work - a lot of shallow spots and weeds in the yard, so we ordered a few cubic yards of dirt, and I've been either shoveling or using a pick axe to hack out the more persistant weeds. I was surprised at how sore I *wasn't* after all that (how good I felt, actually), so I decided to take a second look at shoglo.

A friend of mine pointed the site out to me a few months ago, and I thought it had potential. So last night, I dug an old UUNet sweater out of the closet, fished an old sledge out of the garage (only 8 pounds, but it'll do for starters) and gave it a whirl. I made it through the whole 14 minutes with no problems, and was actually surprised at how quickly it went. Seems like this might do the trick to get my flabby me back into shape.

Good for you!!!!
Have a nice week and keep it up
Peace and Love,
Deb

I've been doing this close to a month and I'm amazed at the progress I've made so far...although there are other posts about the progress trap (BEWARE!) I think this program might just be getting to be more fun the longer you stick with it. So from one newbie to another congrats and happy swinging!

Nice choice of "glove," Zaren. We should put up a shovelglove fashion show page.

SurfingBuddha: you're right that it continues to get more enjoyable as you get used to it. But you still need to keep your guard up. Focus on doing the minimum, not on reaching new maximums. Do it every morning without fail (except if something hurts) and it's easy and fun. Start coming up with excuses to miss mornings and it's no longer fun. Paradoxically, as with No-s. strictness makes it easy.

Or to put your advise another way, always leave something in the tank. It's only as I get older that I can truely appreciate how smart that really is...no pain, no gain doesn't really work for me. Usually pain=more pain...

I twinged something in my back yesterday doing the chopping wood, so I only eked out one set of movements. But today I was feeling good and cranked through two entire sets of movements, just before I started typing this, and holy cow, am I sweating today. I think I was doing something right this time

I'm still working on my form, but I'm discovering the subtle changes in posture that change the focus of a swing from your shoulders to your back to your belly (which is where I really need the work). This is more complicated than it looks, Reinhard