Benefits for general fitness

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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beniamino
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 6:38 pm

Benefits for general fitness

Post by beniamino » Sun Feb 10, 2013 8:41 pm

I've been shovelgloving for two weeks and running on Saturdays. I was amazed yesterday to run my best ever time on my standard route. This is better than when I was less fat and running 3 times per week.

Does anyone else have any experiences or explanation for this kind of improvement? Why is shovelglove better than running itself?

Possibly relevant, my hammer is only a seven pounder bit I'm getting a fairly tough workout from it.

slothlike
Posts: 86
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:16 am
Location: Minneapolis

Post by slothlike » Sat Feb 16, 2013 3:49 pm

I found that Shovelglove (or kettlebells) could maintain my cycling fitness even when I wasn't riding much. I also found that I was faster in the spring after SGing all winter than in past springs when I tried to use an indoor bike all winter.

I have a few ideas as to why. While SG isn't pure strength training, it does strengthen you and strong is faster than weak. SG isn't pure cardio either, but it sure works the heart, lungs, and energy systems so your body is able to work better.

Another part of it is that swinging a big chunk of metal makes you mentally tougher in regards to exercise. A big part of biking or running fast is mental. You might have thought you were running at your limit before, but think about how much faster you could have run your route if a pack of dogs were chasing you. Tough is faster than wimpy.

Have fun with your hammer,
-ted

gyoshoshinshi
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:09 pm

Fantastic abs

Post by gyoshoshinshi » Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:31 pm

I've been doing Shovelglove 5 days a week for a month now, and even with the lightest of sledgehammers (6 pounds) I have developed incredible abs! That spare tire I've carried around for 20 years is finally gone.

Better even than a Jillian Michaels DVD.

SpiritSong
Posts: 506
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2010 1:56 pm

Re: Fantastic abs

Post by SpiritSong » Thu Mar 07, 2013 8:29 pm

gyoshoshinshi wrote:I've been doing Shovelglove 5 days a week for a month now, and even with the lightest of sledgehammers (6 pounds) I have developed incredible abs! That spare tire I've carried around for 20 years is finally gone.

Better even than a Jillian Michaels DVD.
Hmmm. Makes me want to go buy a sledgehammer! :shock:

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