Glacial speed

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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finallyfull
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Glacial speed

Post by finallyfull » Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:56 pm

Okay so I am the absolute wimpiest person on the planet, and I've been neglecting shovelglove (for girls), but today I started again with 4 minutes on the cast iron skillet. WOW! Four lousy minutes and I feel like I just spent an hour with a trainer. I guess it just goes to show how very little I do normally to see how a teeny workout can kill me.

I plan to treat this like the No S diet and take my time, moving like a glacier (a melting glacier) and build up to 14 minutes on N days, even if it takes me a year to get there. (Don't want to strain my chronically strained neck, which is probably weak due to my overall weakness anyway).

I have not felt this good in a long time, from four lousy minutes. This motivates me to go get a stand-up desk again. I had one for a year, but moved offices and haven't been able to figure out how to do it. Strength is really a good thing to have.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:59 pm

Welcome back! What shocked me most about shovelglove was how little it takes, if you're reasonably consistent, to get a great, effective workout. It's almost like all your body needs is a signal "yeah, I need these muscles. Don't let them dissolve" and it doesn't take all that many minutes to convey that signal.

finallyfull
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Post by finallyfull » Thu Nov 07, 2013 8:02 pm

Been pretty sporadic, but I'm remembering the 14 minutes on occasion. I found myself posting this on my daily check in, but it feels like a big win, so I"m reposting it here:


My meals today are scheduled around my schedule at 9, 3 and 9 -- six hours apart, which is perfect for my body, but....

at 1:30 I was chilly, bored, stressed, tired, and hungry. I wanted lunch or a snack. I was also in the kitchen. What did I do? 14 minutes of anything! Lifted some hand weights, did a bunch of slow squats, some sit-ups, some stretches.

at 1:44 I was clear headed, warm enough to take my sweater off, calm, slightly energetic, and not hungry!!

Had I gone ahead and had lunch then, I would have been: sluggish, cold, probably still "hungry" due to stress, would have been superstarved or snacking well before dinner, and in a state of muscular atrophe.

Yay! In the case of "shovelglove", I think for me the short term pay-off might be even greater than the long-term payoff.

Crafty
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Post by Crafty » Sat Nov 23, 2013 8:58 pm

Agree completely. I've noticed sleepiness hunger and a chill I just can't shake both are subdued by 20 quick push ups and a cup of water. Clear headed is a great way to put it.
Sometimes anti-social, always anti-fascist.

Klutzy68
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Post by Klutzy68 » Fri Sep 26, 2014 9:07 am

Great idea, finallyfull, and not something I would have thought of. I'll try to remember this next time the cravings hit.

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