My Shovelglove journey

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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jimmy23
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My Shovelglove journey

Post by jimmy23 » Mon Sep 02, 2013 2:40 am

Ok, I began my shovelglove training this week, and figured that I would record my experiences here. I have done three workouts so far, for five minutes each - I want to move into this slowly, and to be honest, I felt those workouts. My plan is to add a few minutes to the workout tomorrow, then when I adjust to that a few more, until I reach the 14 minute mark

Ray E
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Post by Ray E » Tue Sep 03, 2013 2:32 pm

Going slow is a smart strategy. I recommend sticking with the 10 core exercises listed on the movement section and keeping the reps at 8 until you can go for 14 minutes. Good luck!

jimmy23
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Post by jimmy23 » Wed Sep 04, 2013 2:45 am

Ok, done with the first week. I worked up to seven minutes, which was enough. Right now I am doing three exercises (shovel, churn butter and chop wood), sets of ten each, then repeat. There has been some soreness, but not too much. My normal workout with weights and clubbell will be done once a week on my shugging rest day, and I will not push it too hard.

What I like, is that every muscle on the body is hit. I can feel areas that are stimulated that normally are not, and the metabolic boost from working the entire body seems to be very potent. In time, I will add more variety, but right now I am going to focus on the very basics as my body adjusts

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:12 pm

Nice start! Welcome to shovelglove.

Ditto ray's advice -- shovelglove can be very safe if you ease in gradually. In my experience, it's much safer than running, at least based on the number of times I've injured myself doing the latter vs. never for shovelglove.

Another nice thing about shovelglove is that it stays fun and interesting. I'm a decade+ into it now, and I still love it.

Reinhard

jimmy23
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Post by jimmy23 » Wed Sep 04, 2013 4:20 pm

My body is agreeing with both of you - easing into it is the safest bet. Since I plan on doing this long term, to establish a good baseline of upper body and core conditioning that my weight training doesnt quite provide, it is important to remember that I am in no hurry to increase my time, or god forbid, the weight of the hammer I use

jimmy23
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Post by jimmy23 » Wed Sep 11, 2013 2:25 am

ENd of week two, am up to 11 minutes, and have added the fireman exercise. I am beginning to get a feel for this workout, and how to adjust the intensity level of each exercise by how I hold the hammer.

jimmy23
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Post by jimmy23 » Thu Oct 03, 2013 5:34 am

ok, I think that I have now established a regular practice !

blujay
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Post by blujay » Thu Oct 03, 2013 5:44 am

Way to go, jimmy! Just keep the 14 minutes a day and you'll be golden. Don't forget to have fun inventing new movements. Imagine a scenario out of a historical battle or a movie and you can really use your imagination. A good movement I found is to hold the sledge upright as if you're going to Tuck Bales, but imagine it's a flagpole, and wave it back and forth as if you were a soldier in an ancient battle, waving a huge flag through the air. It's also a little bit like painting a ceiling with a roller on the end of a pole. I don't remember if I saw it on the Internet or came up with it myself, but it's a good workout for the arms and core.

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