After six months, an intro...

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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david
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After six months, an intro...

Post by david » Fri Jan 13, 2006 9:35 pm

Hi all,

I finally joined the board after around half a year of Shovelgloving!

I got my 10-lb. sledgehammer with hickory handle (lovingly hecho in Mexico) for Father's Day 2005 and have been averaging 2-3 days per week since. I do other stuff on non-Shovelgloving N-days like jumping rope, bodyweight exercises, weight lifting, stretching, etc. But I keep to the 14-minutes and the 5-morning-a-week habit pretty stringently whether I'm shugging or not. Recently I've upped my "hammer times" to four days a week and I may make it five because I just like it so much better than all the other morning movement stuff I do. (Sometimes I even kiss my hammer on the head like it's friggin' Excalibur or somthing!)

Anyway, I just wanted to make my presence known and to thank Reinhard for the Shovelglove concept and the rest of you for the good auxillary ideas I have read on this board. :D

Oh, I guess I forgot the personal history! I'm 37 years old and I was in OK shape to begin with. I feel that six months of Shovelgloving (not even five days a week, mind you) has made me what we used to call "country strong." I haven't gotten huge, nor have I lost a bunch of fat, but I do feel that my muscles are harder/denser and that my work capacity is way better than it was. Overall, Shovelglove works very well for me and I plan to continue. I may even upgrade to a 12-pounder soon.

thanks,
David

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Fri Jan 13, 2006 11:44 pm

Good for you David!
Nice to hear from you :)

Enjoy your Country strong status!

Peace,
8) Deb

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Sat Jan 14, 2006 12:44 am

"Country strong," I love it. That will have to make it to the home page...

Thanks for introducing yourself. David. It's great to hear from people with some experience. I'm interested to hear that the 14 minutes is useful for other stuff besides shovelglove, too. I've always suspected that structure would translate, but I've been too addicted to shovelglove to do much translating myself.

There's no rush to upgrade. I think I went a full year before my first upgrade. It's been almost 4 years now and there've been only two.

Reinhard

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david
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it may be a question of leverage

Post by david » Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:09 pm

Reinhard,

I plan to be cautious about upgrading to a 12 pounder. The reason I'm considering the upgrade is that I feel that I'm "at the edge of my leverage" with the 10-lb. sledgehammer. In other words, my hands are so far away from the head of the hammer when I grip the handle that my forearms fail way before anything else. My plan is to get a heavier hammer and use it once or twice a week with my hands more "choked up" on the handle and see if my larger muscle groups will get more work.
Gradually, I'll ease in to using the 12 pounder every time and when I start having leverage issues there I will upgrade again (it may take years). Of course, I'm wary of getting trapped by the idea of progress--been there before!

Plus, when people come to my house now and see one sledgehammer they may just assume that I'm in the middle of a home improvement project. But if they see two sledgehammers leaning in the corner they may start to wonder just what I'm up to! :twisted:

thanks,
David

p.s. I appreciate the welcome, Deb. :D

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Sounds great...

Post by Kevin » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:55 am

Country strong... someone else called it "cowboy strong". I think of it as cross training for yard work. :0)

What bodyweight stuff do you do?
Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

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david
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Post by david » Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:43 pm

Kevin,

For BW stuff now I mostly do push-up variations (not nearly the volume you do), pull-ups, lunges, and squats with a few pathetic attempts at gymnastics skills thrown in. Soon, I'll be getting a set of gymnastics rings to attach to my chin-up bar. I'm thinking of doing SG Mon/Wed/Fri and basic rings skills Tu/Thu. What's your opinion?

Yesterday(Saturday) was kind of fun. I did about 20 minutes of yoga-type stretches in the morning and in the afternoon I took my seven year old daughter to a local school playground. The cool thing about this playground is that they have adult-sized monkey bars and a few other par course type implements! I get just as much play time as she does! The city had recently dismantled an old wood beam and steel tubing play area and stacked the materials nearby. So I picked out one of the big wooden poles, pressed it overhead and walked around the playground a few times (a la Dan John). I enjoyed it bunches and felt it just enough this morning to know I had been challenged.

By the way, how is your arm? Did you find a one-handed hammer routine that works for you?

Even though I like other ways of exercising I just don't CRAVE any of the other stuff the way I crave shovelgloving. I never wake up on a Sunday wishing it was an N-day so I could do pull-ups. But this morning I missed my hammer.

regards,
David

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Post by Kevin » Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:11 pm

Are you talking about power rings? You'll *love* them. Talk about adding variety to a bodyweight regimen... Wait till you see what the do to "normal" exercise like pushups...

My shoulder pain is all but completely gone - thanks for asking. Saturday, I was loading rotten logs into the trailer to bring them to the recycling center. I was chest throwing logs 10 feet into the trailer. I got curious and got the scale out: the logs were in the range of 25 pounds. I did have trouble with the 50 pounders, though. I couldn't really get them to travel more than a few feet.

I credit the power rings for getting me from the point where I couldn't support my weight while getting up from a kneeling position to being able to do multiple sets of 25 dips on stationary bars (but only 20 on rings - they are a lot harder!) without any pain at all. As you probably know, folks with shoulder injuries often stay away from dips altogether. But the rings let you position your arms where you want them and ping on all the little muscles in your rotator cuff... I love them.

I never got on with one handed hammering. I'm enjoying my rings and bodyweight stuff - and SG - too much. I still do SG several times a week, particularly when I'm feeling aggressed after a day of work...

Good luck, David. Keep in touch.
Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

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david
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Post by david » Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:56 pm

Kevin,

Actually, Power Rings have been phased out and they sell Elite Rings now. I think the Elite Rings have better grips and a few other upgrades.

I have read that many people use the rings for rehab effectively. Once I get them I plan to start slowly with push-ups, dips, body rows, and L-sits. That, plus SG, urban rangering, and stair climbing will probably be the extent of my "program" for 2006.

On the SG front, this is the first week in a while I plan to SG each N-day rather than alternating SG with BW stuff.

I'm glad to hear your shoulder is doing so well--keep on keepin' on!

David

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Rings...

Post by Kevin » Tue Jan 17, 2006 7:11 pm

Right, he's making them out of a strong plastic that's surfaced or molded for grip - a great idea.

You'll love them. You're right to start slow - they really do stress muscles differently than bodyweight exercise with a fixed plane.

Let us know what you think of them.
Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

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david
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Post by david » Mon Jan 30, 2006 6:58 pm

Hi all,

I have completed two full weeks plus this morning of Shovelglove. The results of focusing on the hammer and letting the other exercise stuff stay in the background have been really good. I have lost about four lbs. in the last couple of weeks and my shoulders, arms, and chest are noticably bigger. Even more importantly, I'm not bored with it. I'm looking forward to my SG session tomorrow.

thanks,
David

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:46 pm

Good for you David!!!!!

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Post by Traveler » Mon Jan 30, 2006 8:12 pm

Way to go, David! The best is yet to come! You inspired me with your post, so I did an old Charles Atlas workout of pushups, situps, side bends, leg raises, deep knee bends, calf raises, neck exercise, and a few squat thrusts. Best regards, Bob
Health Is The Greatest Wealth

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