Newbie. Wow. (ouch)

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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wildnight
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Newbie. Wow. (ouch)

Post by wildnight » Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:17 pm

I found you guys from the SLD forums. Actually, I found No-S, which is super compatible with SLD, and I started in immediately. Finding my way over to shovelglove, I decided to give it a try and grabbed a sledge and an oven mitt over the weekend. Not expecting much, mind you.

Well, after three days of SGing, I had to take today off. Too sore! Back, arms, shoulders. Good sore though :) Wow, what a great upper-body workout, and in 14 minutes.

Questions about other upper-body involvement:
- How about abs?
- Triceps?
- Chest? I noticed some posts about adding pushups, is this to supplement because SG doesn't reach the pecs much?

I'm a little too sore in my back to tell, but it does seem like there's some lat involvement. Can someone confirm this?

Thanks! Glad to be here...

JC

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JWL
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Post by JWL » Tue Jul 11, 2006 2:08 pm

Hi wildnight, welcome to shovelglove and the forums.

I have a few thoughts. First, yes shovelglove does hit abs and triceps. Mostly in the 'stoke the oven' move for abs, and the 'hoist the sack' for triceps.

However, the beauty of shovelglove is that you don't need to think this way anymore. Modern weight training emphasized isolating muscle groups and training them individually. This does obviously produce some results, but the nice thing about shovelglove (and other exercises, eg bodyweight exercises) is that they train the entire body, a more balanced, organic approach that has analogs in the real world. This is the beauty of Reinhard's "useful movements" approach.

I will also say that, from personal experience, I've not been in a gym for over a year, I've only been shovelgloving and doing yoga and bodyweight exercises, and I've never been stronger!

Also, what are the SLD forums?
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

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david
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Post by david » Tue Jul 11, 2006 2:32 pm

JWL,

*DING*

--david

p.s. one needen't do crunches to work the abs. The abs' primary function is stabilization rather than flexion.

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:02 pm

Hello friends,
Massage therapist Deb here to add my two cents..
There are several layers of abs guys! :)

(And mine are really several layers! Badumbum crash! :roll: )

JC, Welcome!
It's shocking how much of a punch SG really delivers!!!
Great right! :)

The six pack doesn't get worked very much in SG..
That will only happen with concentric contractions via flexion of them doing situps and crunches..
But the transverse abs, which are quite a bit deeper and attach to the spine at the back do get hit nicely.. Obliques may be hit too..

My suggestion to "work the abs" when you SG, is simply to do a very subtle and slight contraction of your tummy right below the bellybutton, to pull it all in, in preparation for your movement.. Drawing in the belly and then engaging in work will help strengthen your front and back..

As for pecs, SG does work the very upper fibers (See Reinhards photo and that band of muscle just below his clavicle is the upper pec major fibers, and you'll see that they are very developed...)
I think much of that has to do with the breath involved..
When we do very intense exercise we need to get more oxygen...
Automatically, our upper ribcage must engage to open up the space for the lungs to expand.. This happens when we are breathing fast and hard..

To get the whole pec area pushups are probably your best bet.. Add pushups to your SG routine :)

Have fun!
Peace and Love,
8) Deb
There is no Wisdom greater than Kindness

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david
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Post by david » Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:32 pm

re: pushups

For a while I dropped all forms of exercise other than the Shovelglove protocol (5 days a week, 14 minutes at a time, nothing but hammer moves). So, after no push ups for a few weeks I tested my max just out of curiousity and it had increased about 30%. So, just doing SG certainly didn't hurt my chest at all.

That said, pushups are a fine thing to do along with the hammer swinging.

--david

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:00 pm

Yay David!!!!!
You rock!!!

Peace and Love,
8) Deb
There is no Wisdom greater than Kindness

wildnight
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Post by wildnight » Tue Jul 11, 2006 8:12 pm

JWL wrote: I have a few thoughts. First, yes shovelglove does hit abs and triceps. Mostly in the 'stoke the oven' move for abs, and the 'hoist the sack' for triceps.

Also, what are the SLD forums?
Wow, what a terrific forum, thanks for all the feedback.

1 - How do I find descriptions of the "stoke the oven" and "hoist the sack" movements?

2 - I've always preferred free weights for this reason; it's one reason I think I was attracted to the SG rationale.

3- SLD = Shangri-La Diet, one major component is natural appetite suppression, another is extended windows between meals of non-eating. So it's perfect for No-S.

Thanks again everyone! I'll try all the suggestions as soon as I can raise my arms above my waist again ;)

JC

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:12 am

Welcome, wildnight!

Stoke the oven is here:

http://www.shovelglove.com/stoke_oven.html

Hoist the sack is here:

http://www.shovelglove.com/hoist_the_sack.html

Shovelglove definitely hits the abs (coal miner abs were the original inspiration). Hoist the sack very directly works the triceps. Butter churning (among others) works the chest, though I don't think shovelglove is particularly great if you want big bulging pecs. For those you might want to throw in some "degraded beast" (aka push ups).

Reinhard

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JWL
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Post by JWL » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:01 am

Reinhard, I agree re: butter churning working the chest. I've been doing my butter churning one-handed with the 16# hammer the past few days, and can really feel it....

Another good one for the abs is "chop the tree", which I usually do with my 10# hammer (or the 8#er if I really want to choke down).

Having said that, I have an entire set of bodyweight exercises that I do that target the abs/core, in addition to shovelgloving, hindu pushups, and squats.
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

wildnight
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Post by wildnight » Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:48 pm

reinhard wrote:Welcome, wildnight!

Stoke the oven is here: ... Hoist the sack is here:

Reinhard
Reinhard:

Thanks very much for the links. Believe it or not, my back/shoulders *still* feel like they're on fire... like I just did the exercise yesterday. Whew! Can't wait to try the new movements.

Is there a definitive link list for all the movement stills/videos? The link I was working from (I think from the "main" SG page) only had four or so...

Thanks again, this is a fantastic idea!

wildnight

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JWL
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Post by JWL » Wed Jul 12, 2006 6:27 pm

hi wildnight,

on the main shovelglove page scroll down to the shovelglove evolution section, and all the moves are listed in the tables there, with links explaining each one.

Though, I agree that there should be a bit more detailed explanation of each move on the main page in an easier-to-find spot.... I think a flash video, 14 minutes long, of reinhard doing his entire routine would be cool....
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

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Post by VanillaGorilla » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:16 pm

For those you might want to throw in some "degraded beast" (aka push ups).
Would a gorilla count as a degraded beast? I've been known to do a pushup or two in my day, after all. :lol:

Anyhow, I digress...lol

Welcome to the forum! Good to see shovelglove catching on with even more people!
Fall down seven times, get up eight.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Fri Jul 14, 2006 2:15 pm

I'm definitely going to put together a movements registry page. I've been talking about this forever and it would just take half an hour or so. Somehow there have always been a million and one other things ahead of it in line for that half hour, but no more! I hereby officially commit to getting it done tonight.

I've also got a digital camcorder on the way so I'll be able to update/add some video footage. The existing stuff is all analog converted to digital through an astonishing pain in the ass process. I'll also see if I can figure out how to get the video to stream instead of forcing you to download huge (but tiny looking) quicktime files (updated video not included in aforesaid commitment).

Speaking of "degraded beast," my 23 month old daughter and I did "Degraded Beast -- with Rider" last night (not recommended). She perched on my lower back while I was doing push-ups, giggled like hell every time she went up, and demanded "more!" every time I flopped on the ground from shear exhaustion. Eventually I became non-responsive and she got bored and went away. This morning my back feels worse than anything I've done to it in almost 5 years of shovelgloving...

Reinhard

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Pete
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Post by Pete » Sun Jul 16, 2006 9:34 am

maybe you could upload the videos to somewhere like youtube or google video reinhard?

save some bandwidth bills and maybe get some new converts too :)

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:12 pm

Eventually I became non-responsive and she got bored and went away. This morning my back feels worse than anything I've done to it in almost 5 years of shovelgloving...
Sorry about your back Rein! LOL..
I guess she turned out to be a good taskmaster, even at that age!
Smart move just laying there and playing dead till she lost interest :)
I'm definitely going to put together a movements registry page. I've been talking about this forever and it would just take half an hour or so. Somehow there have always been a million and one other things ahead of it in line for that half hour, but no more! I hereby officially commit to getting it done tonight.
Have a great day and good luck with the videos! Glad you are overcoming your classic Libran vacillation/procrastination on this! LOL....
Just kidding.. But I actually think Pete has a great idea!!!
Good one Pete!!!
Youtube rules!!!
Once people see those vids Rein, you'll have more ticks on your EDS pages than you can shake a shovelglove at! They do speak for themselves..
And puleeese, couldjya do them in your baggy pjs??? There's just something about the cult of the pj clad geeky warrior!!! :twisted:
We are all watching you now since you've made your committed decision public!

I'm waiting...........
:tap tap tap:

Love,
8) Deb
There is no Wisdom greater than Kindness

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Post by VanillaGorilla » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:40 am

Speaking of "degraded beast," my 23 month old daughter and I did "Degraded Beast -- with Rider" last night (not recommended). She perched on my lower back while I was doing push-ups, giggled like hell every time she went up, and demanded "more!" every time I flopped on the ground from shear exhaustion. Eventually I became non-responsive and she got bored and went away. This morning my back feels worse than anything I've done to it in almost 5 years of shovelgloving...
Been there, done that. :lol:

Fortunately, my back seems to have been built to withstand a good amount of abuse. I've been very lucky in that department through the years.
Fall down seven times, get up eight.

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