Is it time to get back to Shovelglove?

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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chentegt
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Is it time to get back to Shovelglove?

Post by chentegt » Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:39 pm

Hello fellow members!

I started working out with kettlebells (and bodyweight exercises) 7 months ago, every day (monday to friday). The routines usually last from 20 to 50 minutes. Along with my already good no-s habits I've been able to lose weight, feel much better, get stronger and have good cardio health. You can see my results and progress pics here> http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7037.

Although I'm thinner and lost bodyfat while supplementing with good protein, I just don't look like I work out. It's weird because it seems like I just got thinner and that's all. A smaller version of me.

Last year, when I exercised only with shovelglove + lots of pushups I had toned and strong looking arms and chest. however, I also had more fat because of bad no-s management.

Could my current situation be a result of too much aerobic activity during the kbell circuits?? Or is it because of the nature of the kettlebells, that don't hit the muscles directly??

I would not like to be just thinner, so I was thinking of retaking the shovelglove now that I have excellent no-s habits. As a tradeoff I could lose a lot of conditioning and cardio, but that could also be the key to stop losing and just get the muscles while mantaining the weight.

I was also considering a traditional free weights routine with dumbbells and barbells and some cardio. Could that be the 'look fit' solution?

Any suggestion, opinion, observation????
THANK YOU!!

filipe
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Post by filipe » Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:16 pm

I'm no expert, but I will post my experience.
I'm also the thin type of person. While in the gym, I started loosing weight when I added 10 min cardio to close the session, so I stoped and got back to "shape".
I've mantained it with shovelglove and Urban Ranger (changed the subway for 20 min walk between train and work).
I've read somewhere in internet that for me (ectomorph) walking is more healthier and produce better "aesthetic" results , compared with more stress cardio work.
Hope it helps.

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Blithe Morning
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Post by Blithe Morning » Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:05 pm

If you want to build muscles, then do shovel glove or other weights and make sure you are eating plenty of protein at your three meals.

People are all different and while one person may be able to sculpt beautiful muscles from kettlebells, you may need more resistance to build yours so you get the physique you want.

chentegt
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Post by chentegt » Tue Aug 16, 2011 10:39 pm

Thank you!

Filipe, that's something I didn't know. The thing about thin people having better results with walking. Thanks!

Blithe Morning: I guess I need more resistance, the kind of 'concentrated' resistance, like dumbbells or the bicep and tricep exercises I did with the shovelglove.

Today I started a routine of traditional free weights, with a few minutes of cardio machines. I will keep with it for a few weeks to see how it goes.
If I get back to shovelglove in the future, I will get myself a bigger hammer and will try to get in 30 minutes of slow cardio of some type. But let's see first how it goes with dumbbells, barbells and the other gym stuff. Thank you!!

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BuckeyePink
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Post by BuckeyePink » Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:17 pm

From second hand knowledge of a brother who lifts:

Lift heavy to make big (noticeable) muscles.

KB is a lot like SG in that the activity makes you "farm strong", i.e., endurance musculature.

Doing "sprint" like activity like running or blasting it out on the eliptical in intervals will also trigger a hormonal response which builds muscle. Google Sprint Cardio or http://180degreehealth.blogspot.com/201 ... ining.html

Also, think about (or look up) comparison photos of long-distance runners vs. sprinters. Which one do you want to look like?

Basically, go totally nuts (after warm up), running up a hill, going full speed on eliptical (better if you are not familiar with good running technique) until you think you will pass out from lack of oxygen, then rest for a couple of minutes. Repeat three or four times. You can easily get in a full workout within the 14 minutes. Do it only two or three times a week. Any more will do you damage.
Finally giving up on Dieting!

chentegt
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Post by chentegt » Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:57 pm

BuckeyePink wrote:From second hand knowledge of a brother who lifts:

Lift heavy to make big (noticeable) muscles.

KB is a lot like SG in that the activity makes you "farm strong", i.e., endurance musculature.

Doing "sprint" like activity like running or blasting it out on the eliptical in intervals will also trigger a hormonal response which builds muscle. Google Sprint Cardio or http://180degreehealth.blogspot.com/201 ... ining.html

Also, think about (or look up) comparison photos of long-distance runners vs. sprinters. Which one do you want to look like?

Basically, go totally nuts (after warm up), running up a hill, going full speed on eliptical (better if you are not familiar with good running technique) until you think you will pass out from lack of oxygen, then rest for a couple of minutes. Repeat three or four times. You can easily get in a full workout within the 14 minutes. Do it only two or three times a week. Any more will do you damage.
Thank you for the information!

Yeah, there's a lot of high intensity interval training in the kettlebell workouts I was doing. As I told, it was a combination of HIIT, with kbell lifting, and bodyweight circuits. Sometimes on fridays we did Tabata cardio, which is like HIIT but shorter, 20 seconds of the exercise and 10 of rest, for many rounds.

Today was my second day of 'traditional' weightlifting, and I don't feel cardio-exhausted. With the kettlebells, after the workout I felt like I had run the whole morning!! Gave me lots of energy during the day but I feel it was counterproductive for the muscles... That's still my guess.... Let's see how it goes, thanks again.

Oh, I should add something. When I did shovelglove, the muscles were more noticeable, and although it's not the same as dumbbells, the hammer gave me the pump when I did biceps and triceps exercises, the basic ones. I did 21 reps with each arm, in 2 or 3 cycles, so I guess in some way it worked for what I was looking for.

chentegt
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SG UPDATE!

Post by chentegt » Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:36 pm

Well, I couldn't resist and I got myself a 16-pounder. Check it out http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/81 ... 01054.jpg/

Back to SG with my new upgrade :wink:

This is my third day with my new hammer and it feels GREAT. I just added a 30 minute walk just after I wake up, and that's all.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:53 pm

Nice! She's a beaut.

Happy shugging,

Reinhard

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