Mixing it up: Kettlebells + 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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Sixty
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Mixing it up: Kettlebells + Shovelglove?

Post by Sixty » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:09 am

reinhard wrote:...I'm not going to knock kettlebells (except perhaps in jest). They seem like a great exercise -- leagues above those torture machines at the gym and close cousins to shovelglove....
I've now been shovelgloving about one year with almost 100% compliance. Since I feel I have the 14 minute habit down pat, I was wondering if it would make sense to mix up my strength training - maybe alternate between kettlebells (which I've never done) and shovelglove, in order to keep my muscles 'guessing', which I've heard is an important training principle. Or is it equally beneficial to simply stick with plain vanilla shovelglove?

:)

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:32 pm

I can't speak from personal experience with kettlebells, but if you're interested, by all means go for it. I don't know about keeping your muscles guessing, but it could help to keep your mind interested and engaged to spice up your routine with a little variety.

The only danger I'd say, is habit. I'd advise against letting the new tools mess with your existing time structure -- best to squeeze them into your 14 minutes than tack them on as something extra/instead. But it sounds like that's what you were planning anyway.

I myself sometimes throw some non-sledgehammer into the mix during my routines (usually bodyweight, since I'm allergic to spending money on special-purpose exercise devices) but I have done "shadowboxing" with my wife's (5 pound?) dumbells as well. Big picture, these other movements are just "spice," it's 95%+ pure shovelglove. Not because I feel obligated to purity, but because ultimately I always find that, even after all these years, swinging the sledge is more fun.

Reinhard

Sixty
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Post by Sixty » Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:39 pm

reinhard wrote:... The only danger I'd say, is habit. I'd advise against letting the new tools mess with your existing time structure -- best to squeeze them into your 14 minutes than tack them on as something extra/instead. .... I myself sometimes throw some non-sledgehammer into the mix during my routines (usually bodyweight, since I'm allergic to spending money on special-purpose exercise devices) but I have done "shadowboxing" with my wife's (5 pound?) dumbells as well. Big picture, these other movements are just "spice," it's 95%+ pure shovelglove. Not because I feel obligated to purity, but because ultimately I always find that, even after all these years, swinging the sledge is more fun.
Don't worry - the 14 minute habit will remain sacrosanct.
Here's something that also looks fun and could be a good do-it-yourself project - 'The Long Bag'. I think it's similar to the Bulgarian Bag' discussed elsewhere on the forum. The guys in the video are training with a 9kg bag - think that's about 20 lbs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KJG0tFJe4g

mattman
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Post by mattman » Tue Oct 04, 2011 3:38 pm

I like to include other exercises. I know that what i am about to say is against the rule, but for my job, i need more than 14 mins of exercise. I like to include kb swings, i work with sand bags, and lots of bodyweight exercise. my reasoning is simple, if i go to a housefire, I will be workingfor a couple of hours, at least. And all if it is backbreaking labor. Even going on squadcalls(EMS) is tiring. It seems everybody weighs more than 300lb's, and they all want to be carried down the friggin steps.
two wrongs don't make a right.
But three lefts do.

slothlike
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Post by slothlike » Wed Oct 05, 2011 10:27 am

It seems everybody weighs more than 300lb's, and they all want to be carried down the friggin steps.
There are a few firefighters at the Y that I go to. They all are amazingly strong and have these hard and efficient workouts, now I know why.

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