anyone know any good shovegloving for the abs?

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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Apartment5F
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anyone know any good shovegloving for the abs?

Post by Apartment5F » Mon Feb 13, 2006 4:12 pm

ive been doing this for almost a week.
my arms are looking quite solid, actually :wink:

anyone know any good movements to work my abs?
if these movements have already been posted, someone please link me to them.



also
i know most people shoveglove everyday, but...shouldnt you give your muscles a day to rest/expand?

im thinking it'd be best to do 14 min of upper one day, and 14 of abs/lower body the next.


any opinions/suggestions?

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david
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Post by david » Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:13 pm

In my experience, swinging a sledgehammer through the air and then stopping in on a dime is an unparalleled way to work the abdominals--all of them, not just the rectus abdominus.

As far as doing SG every day, I switch it up if I feel overly tired or sore, otherwise five-days a week shovelglove has stimulated my upper body to grow better than anything I've tried.

All the stuff you read about split schedules and resting body parts etc. doesn't really apply here. We're not bodybuilding, we're shovelgloving! :wink:

thanks,
David

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:35 pm

Welcome, Apartment5f.

The original inspiration for shovelglove was the abs on coal shovelers -- I'd say most of the moves hit your abs to some degree. Like the real world movements they imitate, they also hit plenty of other stuff. That's as it should be. My abs have somehow gotten pretty decent, and this is all I do (besides walking).

As for alternating days, farmers used to do this stuff all day long, six days a week, so I'm not particularly worried about overdoing in in my mere 14 minutes times five. If I feel beat on a given day, I'll make it a much lazier 14 minutes than it might be otherwise, but for the sake of habit and routine, I still do something. That being said, I don't want to goad you into something unpleasant or dangerous-seeming to you, so feel 100% free to do something different.

Reinhard

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JWL
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Post by JWL » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:32 pm

Hi 5F

I found that when I first started doing shovelglove my muscles weren't used to doing that type of exercise. So I had to give them recovery time, not unlike lifting weights at the gym.

Over a few weeks, however, my arm muscles adapted to shugging, and the workout became more like an aerobic workout that a weightlifting workout.

With shovelglove, we are not targeting one specific muscle group and working it extensively. It is rather a whole-body kinda thing, so I don't think a 48 hour rest is needed (once you work up to it and get used to it). Again, that said, be gentle with yourself. But do something each day.

There are some shug movements that emphasize abs more than others. Try changing your form as you do the movements, lean over a bit more, or even clench and hold your ab muscles at strategic points in the movement. Works great!
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

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