Moving up to a 16-pounder

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.
Post Reply
User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Moving up to a 16-pounder

Post by JWL » Sun Oct 30, 2005 5:23 pm

OK, I've officially decided to move up to a 16 pound sledgehammer ASAFF (As Soon As Financially Feasible), most likely this Friday (payday).

Perhaps this thread can be for tips in doing so, I will probably document my experiences with doing so here as well.

Background: I started in February with a 10 pound hammer. That was great for a while, but sometime early this summer I got an adjustible ankle weight and wrapped it around the hammer. I experimented a bit, and settled on 13 pounds (10 pound hammer + 3 pound ankle weight). I'd been using that since, but I'm definitely ready to move up.

So today I upped the ankle weight to 5 pounds, making a 15 pound hammer, in preparation for the move later in the week. I did my first routine today with the 15 pounder, and it felt fine, just the right amount of challenge, and no pain (so far, though it's only been an hour). I was able to get through the routine without tiring or pushing myself excessively, which seems like confirmation that I'm ready to move up.

Anyone have any experience with moving up to the 16 pounder? Any specific advice apart from "go slow"?
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
gratefuldeb67
Posts: 6256
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
Location: Great Neck, NY

Post by gratefuldeb67 » Sun Oct 30, 2005 9:25 pm

Hey James!
Good luck with that!!!
I tried 16 lbders last year in the store, and also due to financial stuff, I never got one, but I'm sure you will do just fine with it! :wink:

I strongly encourage you to:
1. Breathe and move deliberately...
2. *Always* move from behind your SG... In other words... Make sure you are directly facing your SG, and not lifting from the side! You must use your Hara... The only way to do that, is, as they would tell you in massage school (which you also have some experience in!) , to be "behind your stroke"...
Most people pull out their backs when they move away from good spinal allignment, and really, what's happening, is they are depending on only the strength of their extremities... So.. don't do that...
Use your hara!

3. Make sure your hands are in good shape and just expect some serious grip strength to happen!!!

and lastly (this is said with the minor experience in Lowes hardware, slugging away for about 8 minutes with a 16 lbder)
4. Get ready for a major adrenaline rush and endorphin boost!!!!

Rahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL...

Peace and Glove!
8) Deb

User avatar
SurfingBuddha
Posts: 34
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:01 am
Location: Fresno, Ca

Post by SurfingBuddha » Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:20 pm

I'm wondering if it would change your workout at all to put the ankle weights around your wrists...that way your making your extremities heavier, but not the actual weight all the way out on the end of the sledge...just a thought.
Build a man a fire, he stays warm for a night.
Set a man on fire and he stays warm for the rest of his life.

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Wed Nov 02, 2005 2:36 am

Just to update people. Today is the 3rd consecutive day I've shovelgloved with the 15-pounder. Though the routines are a bit harder than they have been (duhhhh) there have been absolutely no residual effects. No soreness at all. And my muscles, esp in the biceps and forearms, feel like they're working hard again.

So I'll continue this until I get the 16 pounder, which hopefully will happen on Friday.

Whee!
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
reinhard
Site Admin
Posts: 5918
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:38 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA
Contact:

Post by reinhard » Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:15 am

Glad it's going well. My only refinement of "go slow" would be "go slower than you *feel* you should, rely on your mind because your body is going to give you very delayed messages about this." Also do not feel a lick of shame in taking the next day off if you get such a message.

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:10 pm

Reinhard, you were exactly right. Yesterday I began to feel a bit of lingering soreness, nothing major, I've certainly felt worse since I began shugging, but I decided to take your advice and skip my shovelglove routine, partially because I had to work last night and didn't get to it before I left, after a brisk walk home up the hill at 10:30, shovelgloving just wasn't in the cards, so I let my body rest.

There is still a bit of lingering soreness today, but I'm going to do my routine like normal. I find that some exercise tends to work the soreness out.

And again, just to emphasize. this soreness isn't bad at all, I'm just being extra-careful.
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:11 am

Resumed shuggage today, with no ill effects. Still a bit of lingering soreness, but nothing even close to major, just standard muscle-tissue-rebuilding-itself-after-a-good-workout kind of stuff.

Ever onward....
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:10 pm

Picked up the 16 pounder today. I'm going to do my routine with it later today, then rest over the weekend.

Next week will be the full 16 pound-shovelglove-full-force-of-strengthening-body-sculpting-doom!
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
gratefuldeb67
Posts: 6256
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
Location: Great Neck, NY

Post by gratefuldeb67 » Fri Nov 04, 2005 11:57 pm

body-sculpting-doom!
Uh oh!

LOL...
Have a great time!
You Rock!!!!

Peace,
8) Deb

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Mon Nov 28, 2005 2:28 am

Just wanted to update, I seem to have fully adapted to the 16 pounder by now. I don't get sore anymore at all, and I feel stronger. Whee!
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
reinhard
Site Admin
Posts: 5918
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:38 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA
Contact:

Post by reinhard » Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:11 pm

Congratulations. I'm not 100% there yet with my 20. I can do my full, old routine 2 days, but then I'm too beat to manage it by wednesday and have to go down to something less grueling.

Kevin
Posts: 1269
Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 9:02 pm
Location: Maryland, USA

John Henrys

Post by Kevin » Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:31 pm

I don't know how you guys manage such implements. I'm sticking with my 14 pounder!
Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Fri Dec 02, 2005 6:50 am

Thanks for the encouragement, Reinhard. Right now the 16 pounder is plenty, though I can see at some point moving up to a 20 pounder. I'll probably put a 2 pound ankle weight on first, and go up gradually. Or maybe at some point I'll throw a 4lb ankle weight on just to see what a 20 pounder is like.

But not any time soon. I'll stick with the 16 pounder for the time being.
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Fri Dec 02, 2005 7:01 am

Hi Kevin,

Don't forget I'm a very big guy, "big boned" with lots of fat and muscle. The 16 lb shovelglove represents roughly 5% of my current body weight. I'd wager your 14 pounder is a higher percentage of your body weight....

But if you do think about upgrading, I recommend being gradual. The ankle weights worked well for me, because I could implement small changes and get used to it.

And for any newbies reading this, don't worry so much about having a big hammer. Just do something every day, starting with an 8 pounder will be more than enough, especially at first, for the vast majority of people. When I first started, my 10 pounder was incredibly gruelling, much more gruelling than upgrading to the 13 or 16 pounder, and that 10 pounder was less than 3% of my body weight at the time....

Just for historical record: I started with the 10 pounder, then got the ankle weights and tried unsuccessfully to jump to 15 pounds (by wrapping an adjustable 5lb ankle weight around the business end of the sledgehammer), cut back to 13 pounds, and hung out there for several months. Then I upped it back to 15 pounds for a few weeks, until I got the 16 pound sledgehammer. These days I use the 16 pounder almost exclusively.
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

Big Phil
Posts: 91
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2005 6:13 am
Location: Adelaide, South Australia

Upgrading

Post by Big Phil » Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:07 am

Congrats on the upgrade Freakwitch! I hope Reinhard is doing well with the 20lb-er as well. I just got a 14lb-er yesterday after using a 10lb for around 6 months. My front-brain new that it would be 40% harder, but my body and the other parts of my brain were surprised just how much harder 40% is! I saw Reinhards post about the 20lb-er and thought "yeah, shouldn't be too bad, I can lift way more than 20lbs" but DAMN the 14lb-er is huge :shock: . Hard work for sure! So that 20lb-er and the 16lb-er must be MASSIVE! The 14lb-er should keep me busy for another year, but I am in this for the long haul now!

ROCK ON!!!
:twisted:
Phil.

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Wed Dec 07, 2005 7:27 am

Rock on, Big Phil....

Go slow with the upgrade. At the first sign of distress, back off and use your old sledgehammer for the remainder of your workout.

After a while, your old 10 pounder will seem like a toy in your hands compared to the new one.
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
gratefuldeb67
Posts: 6256
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
Location: Great Neck, NY

Post by gratefuldeb67 » Wed Dec 07, 2005 8:16 am

After a while, your old 10 pounder will seem like a toy in your hands compared to the new one.
A tinker toy! LOL...

Damn!!! I think it's time to get a sixteen pounder already!!!
Where's my 36 bucks???

LOL..

8) Deb

User avatar
itf
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2005 6:08 pm
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Upgrading

Post by itf » Thu Dec 29, 2005 8:44 pm

You people must be eating your Wheaties! I just upgraded (today) to a new hammer as well, but I only went from 10 pounds to 12.

Interestingly, I'm not sore at all (at least not yet...) but I had to take a few breaks during the workout just to get my breath back, and I went slower than usual in general. Some of that probably owes to the fact that I've been less than faithful about my workouts recently (including an eight-day layoff over the holidays), but having spent over forty bucks on a new hammer ought to guilt me into using it regularly, at least for a while. (The hammer was actually only $29.95, but for some reason the postal service charges a substantial fee to deliver a sledge hammer from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles...)

Does anyone need a slightly used ten-pound hammer? :-)

User avatar
gratefuldeb67
Posts: 6256
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
Location: Great Neck, NY

Post by gratefuldeb67 » Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:33 pm

Hi ITF... Hope you are well!
I suggest you use the ten pounder for doing self massage!
It's excellent for giving your quads a good squashing and even good, if used very carefully, to massage the traps...
Just place it on a tight muscle and gently use the handle to pivot it back and forth, rolling it side to side as the static weight "sinks" into the tissue..
Enjoy your pricy new hammer!!!
Peace and Glove,
8) Deb

User avatar
reinhard
Site Admin
Posts: 5918
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:38 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA
Contact:

Post by reinhard » Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:23 pm

Itf,

It takes a long time to get used to the heavier weight, don't rush it. I still can't do my full 16 pound routine with the 20 pounder.

I gave my original 12 pounder away to a "convert" (but then got my brother's old 12 pounder again when he upgraded so I now have 3 again). I occassionally use the lighter weights for shovelgloving, and all sledges got used when we smash up my neighbors driveway a year ago. An extra sledge isn't a *completely* useless thing to have lying around.

Glad to year you're still with it. Keep us posted,

Reinhard

User avatar
itf
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2005 6:08 pm
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Post by itf » Fri Dec 30, 2005 6:27 pm

Thanks Deb, thanks Reinhard.

Almost 24 hours later I'm not sore in the least, so I think I was ready to upgrade. Still, I'm glad I didn't try to go directly to a 14-pounder. Ten pounds to twelve provided a nice, gradual increase in difficulty.

New goal: move to a 14-pounder by the end of 2006...

User avatar
Kid Charlemagne
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2006 4:56 pm
Location: Chicago, IL

Post by Kid Charlemagne » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:06 pm

Because I'm nuckin' futz, I moved up to a 16 as well. Awesome. I immediately felt a better cardio and muscular pump. Most moves slow and deliberate however, so as not to tempt the injury Fates. So far so good.

However, before I get any praise from my trusted and gracious fellow hammerites, read how egregiously I not only fell off of the no-S wagon, but was actually run over and dragged by it.

Oh well, back to the drawing board!

kid :?
"Obviously, you're not a golfer." -El Duderino

User avatar
gratefuldeb67
Posts: 6256
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
Location: Great Neck, NY

Post by gratefuldeb67 » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:53 pm

That's great Kid!!!
If I had the money, I'd get one too... LOL..
16 lbs makes a big difference!
Mine is 12 but 16 really makes you feel alive!
I tried those out for size last year, but haven't been able to rationalize getting one till my money situation, which is sortof bleak these days, improves..
Enjoy your soon-to-be praised status!
LOL..

Peace and Love,
8) Deb

Post Reply