tactical shugging?

[drarin]

Ill start with an intro. My name is Arin. I am 32. I am a dentist. I am what you might consider moderately out of shape. In other words i look fine in scrubs, but pretty pathetic underneath their forgiving bagginess.

Before i went to dental school i was a competition paintball player, before that i wrestled in highschool, etc....i was generally very active and was always at some level of fitness. But professional school has a tendency to sloth up your lifestyle due to time and money constraints.

Fast forward to today, where i now have time AND money. The money went to gym membership, but I didnt. I know a lot of people can relate to that. Being the guy at the gym with one plate clanging around on the machine makes one a bit self conscious.

I just purchased a sledge at the beginning of the week, and completed two 14 minute routines tuesday and wednesday.

Tonight (thurs) i was experimenting with some novel moves.

Paintball is way behind me, but i have (in the last two years) become very active in competitive shooting. 3-gun competition and "run and gun" events.

I toyed around with some moves that might improve my performance in such things. Possibly building muscle memory and strength at the same time.

the first move i dubbed "drawing the secondary" which consists of holding the handle of the sledge one handed, choked all the way up as if it were a pistol, and mocking a holster draw into a two handed isosceles shooting stance (google that for pictures if you cannot envision it), and then "reholstering". repeating reps 15 times for both hands.

the second move i am calling "shouldering the primary". treating the hammer end of the sledge as the muzzle of a rifle, the handle as the stock, and bringing it from "low ready" position up to a shouldered firing position. again with reps for both sides.

the third i called the reload. again choking up on the handle with one hand, mocking a finger pistol with the other hand, and "drawing" the sledge from my belt area, and "reloading" it up to my pistol hand.

All three of these movements mostly focus on arm strength, but i must say that i found them quite challenging, and i believe that over time they will prove to be an asset in my competition performance.

I introduced "shovelglove" in one of the tactical shooting forums that i belong to, in which most of the members are active military, law enforcement and competitive shooters. Most of these people are fitness and performance oriented, and the thread i posted has garnered a lot of interest in SG as an alternative training method. I thought that you (Reinhard) might be interested in the prospect of SG helping to train and strengthen the men and women that keep our streets and our country safe.

thanks all of you for SG and this forum. I am excited about SG as I can honestly say it is the first time in a LONG time that i have enjoyed and looked forward to my workouts.

[drarin]

also, as a side note and disclaimer, i understand that the topic of guns and military and related issues can be divisive. I do NOT intend this thread to become a debate regarding the politics of war or gun ownership. Merely i wanted to introduce myself and expand on the inherent versatility of the Shovelglove training method.

thank you in advance for keeping it civil.

[chiangmaiboss]

Hello Arin. I am retired from law enforcement and carried gun for 25 years and enjoyed shooting very much. One thing I miss living in Thailand, as foreigners cannot carry firearms here. Although I often shoot crossbow.
One exercise with hammer I think maybe could be useful for shooting. Grab hammer under the head and hold it out at arms length as long as you can. Like isometrics. Perhaps will help to keep shooting hand steady when at the range. I never did this myself, but it is just an idea.

[reinhard]

Welcome, Drarin.

And thank you for spreading the word among law enforcement/armed forces circles. Although there's something a trifle absurd about the the security of our nation depending however slightly on something concocted by a pyjama-clad star wars geek, I will be deeply honored if to even a tiny degree that becomes the case!

There have actually been a fair number of posts from military shuggers to the boards here over the years. At one point I think someone posted a picture of himself doing shovelglove on board a navy vessel but now I can't find it (perhaps it was removed in the interests of national security ). I'll poke around when I have a bit more time later and post links to what I turn up.

I do NOT intend this thread to become a debate regarding the politics of war or gun ownership.

Please, we sledgehammer wielders are not so insecure as to begrudge gun owners their little toys.

Thanks again and happy shugging,

Reinhard