shovelglove constructive criticism

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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JWL
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shovelglove constructive criticism

Post by JWL » Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:03 pm

OK, just wanted to throw this out there.

I've been doing shovelglove for several months now. It's awesome. It rocks. It's the best upper body exercise ever. I love everything about it.

Except for one thing.

The name.

In my view, the name shovelglove is pretty bad. What it describes is neither a shovel, nor a glove. I'm not saying I have a better one, but when I tell people about it they look at me funny until they hear the phrase "exercise with a sledgehammer." After the "sledgehammer" keyword, the notion of "useful movements" is next, and people seem to get it.

I don't know. I can't even bring myself to use the name shoveglove most days. It's usually just, "yes, I exercise with a sledgehammer" followed sometimes by "mimicing useful movements the human body has been doing for thousands of years, such as shoveling, churning butter, etc."

At best, I throw in the term "shovelglove" at the end; "this cool idea is called shovelglove." If you say shovelglove at the beginning, it just gets in the way of understanding. And that's the opposite of what a good name should do.
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

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spiralstares
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Post by spiralstares » Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:18 pm

Yes, I've got a much better name...

The Sledge-a-Sweater!!!

No?

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Azathoth
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Post by Azathoth » Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:29 pm

I just discovered Shovelglove and I have to totally disagree with you guys...

I think had the name been anything else I wouldn't have been nearly as likely to actualy go to the website and read about it. I was just browsing around the web for home gym ideas and found http://www.stumptuous.com/homegym.html

The first thing that caught my attention was a sledge in the list of home gym items (I LOVE smashing things with sledgehammers, and I've always thought exercise should be based around real life useful activities), but I still wouldn't have been hooked if I hadn't seen that the reason he/she had the sledge was for something that sounded so completely ridiculous: Shovelglove exercies.

Had it not been for that completely ridiculous name I don't think there is any chance I would have clicked into the shovelglove site and actually taken a look, but I am SO glad that I did. I'm going out to buy my sledge as soon as I leave the office today and I can't wait to get started.

In short: The name rules!

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:44 pm

I agree!!!!!!!!
Who cares if the general populace will like the name!
We want the weirdos here!!!
LOL.... Sorry Freakwitch.. You don't get my vote here! LOL..
(and come on! How can you feel comfortable telling people your name is Freakwitch and not feel comfortable about Shovelglove! That is just too funny! LOL...)

Ha, just kidding!
But seriously, why be common? There is nothing common about this exercise and, to be anal, it does have something to do with shovelling as that is the main exercise it was derived from...
Pretending to shovel...
And it rolls of the tongue so beautifully! Like it was meant to be! LOL..

Just give them the link to the page and let them come to their own conclusions... the results speak for themselves.. The way you look now Freakwitch, so strong and healthy!, should be enough to convince and require no additional "convincing talk" to others to show that this is a great exercise... Kooky name.. Meh, it's more fun when you don't take things so serious anyway! :D

I think, on a constructive note, Reinhard, you should put your "before and after" pics on the shovelglove main page too as well...
I mean, I love the one with you and the long hair and pajamas, but it doesn't show how much you changed from before...
You should have those pics on SG home as well as NOS home..

PS
Hi there Azathoth! Welcome if you just joined!
Stumptuous is a great chick!!! Very cool and knows her stuff :)

Peace and Glove!!!
8) Deb

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Post by hlidskjalf » Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:34 am

Names are place holders. Titles that represent concepts. As a name Shovel Glove seems appropriate in my mind. It is colorful and fits well with the concept it represents. Plus why change it and waste shovelglove.com. So a vote for Shovel Glove here.

If I were to suggest one change it would be in the verb used to describe the use of the noun Shovel Glove. ShovelGloving is an example of "verbing" which is scorned on by The Word Nerds.

http://thewordnerds.org/index.php?post_id=14868

It is also rather cumbersome in its written and spoken forms. I do not see Shugging as an acceptable substitute either. To the ears of most it'd seem like as yet uknown rude slang.

My suggestion is the word Toil.

Toil Toiled Toiling.

What are you doing for your shoulders these days?
Toiling.

It sounds tough. It has a linguistic connection to manual labor. It has a word origin that is directly relevant:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=toil

toil1
intr.v. toiled, toil·ing, toils

1. To labor continuously; work strenuously.
2. To proceed with difficulty: toiling over the mountains.

[Middle English toilen, from Anglo-Norman toiler, to stir about, from Latin tudiculre, from tudicula, a machine for bruising olives, diminutive of tudes, hammer.]

Yes a form of the Latin Hammer.

This could be a comprise of sorts. Keep Shovel Glove as the noun.. the tool used in the regime and use Toil as the verb.. the practice of using the tool to achieve fitness.
Last edited by hlidskjalf on Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean.

Gman
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Post by Gman » Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:12 am

I think the name is pretty legendary on the net now.

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:48 am

Hi Hlid!
I will have to use my Shovelglove to bruise some olives tomorrow! :P
Maybe I'll smash the whole can!

I loved that post! YOU are the greatest!!! LOL!!!!

Smart people rule!

You should forget about the dark system of Healthcare, and become a college professor! Really! You would be so much fun!

Peace and Glove!
8) Deb

ps.. GMan, yeah Legendary is the name.. It shall continue to reign!

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Toiling

Post by Kevin » Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:52 pm

I do like that verb...

When I'm going outside to SG, and my wife asks "where are you going"? I tell her I'm going to "hammer" (which of course is a noun and a verb, proving that all of us word nerds - I count myself as one - are fighting an uphill battle).

Toiling is good, too.
Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:39 am

I see where you're coming from, Freakwitch. "Shovelglove" doesn't have the appealing obviousness of "no s" or "urban ranger" or "weekend luddite," and that, in itself, is a weakness, I guess. A very close friend of mine, whose opinions I value highly (and whom I quote on the no-s home page) has also expressed reservations about it. And I also found some random critical bloggage about the name. So you're not alone.

Be that as it may, it does make a kind of sense. Remember that the initial inspiration was the "french coal miner" shoveling.
That's when it occurred to me: what I needed was a shovel with a weight attached to it, and a fuzzy glove to keep it from scratching the floors or killing the cats. At first I thought I'd call it "fuzzy shovel," but "shovelglove" seemed catchier.
You could say the sledgehammer plus sweater was actually just an "implementation" of this "interface." And as every good object oriented programmer knows, it's better to refer to an object as far up the inheritance hierarchy as you can :-).

Besides the inconvenience of having to move the domain name (minor, really) and messing with it's "legendary" status, there's something about the name that just seems right to me. No, it's not something a marketing consultant would come up with. And yes, it requires some explaining. But I think both these things are part of what gives shovelglove its particular, appealing character. It can't really be separated from its story. It's not just a mute, inanimate thing, it prompts its story, it's animating.

If I'd heard something better I might be roused from my contentedness, but I haven't yet... though by all means, give it a go.

Oh, and thanks for being straight with me about this. Keep it up. Next constructive criticism might very well result it some reconstruction. And this one's not 100% settled yet, I'll mull over it some more. So far lovers seem to outnumber loathers in this thread, but I'll continue to monitor it closely.

hlidskjalf, nice word nerds link. I remember listening to that episode. I have to confess, I don't feel quite as strongly about verbing, in fact I kind of like the economy of it. But "toiling" is very nice. Beautiful etymology.

Welcome, azathoth. Nice to have a fellow Lovecraft fan on board. I should send Mistress Krista a thank you. Quite a few members have come through her link.

Reinhard

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Azathoth
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Post by Azathoth » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:10 pm

Reinhard,

Thanks for the warm welcome! Glad to meet another Lovecraft fan, particularly one who has done so much good for the community as you have with your everyday systems.

I have been walking more at lunches and in the evening lately as I get myself back into shape, and find it enjoyable (similar to the Urban Ranger way of life, though until last week I did not know that it had a name) and now after starting to incorperate shovelglove into my daily exercise as well I feel better than ever. It's an outstanding upper body workout, great for waking myself up in the morning, and versatile enough to keep me interested (anything with sledgehammers is GOOD). Thank you so much!

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