Building muscle mass

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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chentegt
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Building muscle mass

Post by chentegt » Tue Mar 18, 2014 7:35 pm

Hello everyone.

I opened this thread here because I feel if this is the most appropiate place in the forums to discuss it. The idea for this was born from my current during thread, here:

Building some muscle mass within the Shovelglove and Everyday Systems. Can it be done? Do you have experience doing it? How has it been? What do you suggest for an easy and sustainable approach? Can it be done only with a sledgehammer?

I've searched about it in the boards but I've not found any discussion about it. I know that SG builds some muscle especially if you are very overweight... But what about us "skinny"/ectomorphs or thin-boned guys who were just skinny-fat at the beginning of our journey?

I got very interesting suggestions in this thread, and searching around in the web I have found 3 interesting approaches that seem very "NoS+SG" compatible: simple, quick and kind of fun. I have no tried them, but that's the point of this thread: sharing related ideas about different simple methods and sharing what have worked for you.

These are the approaches I've found that seem to mix well with what we do:

1. http://www.skinnyfattransformation.com . The guy just eats a la NoS style and advocates simplyfing fitness for gaining muscle and losing fat with bodyweight exercises (mainly pullups + diamond pushups).

2. A "sensible" way to build muscle mass, from http://fitnessblackbook.com/muscle-buil ... e-mass/‎
(For this you need a barbell)

3. http://breakingmuscle.com/kettlebells/a ... -grapplers (for this approach you need a kettlebell).


The most important aspect, however, is nutrition, because you have to eat more (especially protein), but how do you incorporate it in these systems without breaking good habits?

In the past, a combination of "hard SG work" + hundeds of pushups and having more milk during the day have beefed me up in 3-4 weeks, with some fat. I have done it 2 times, but I did it in my pre-good habits era, so I wasn't doing full NoS yet.

When I talk about adding muscle mass, I don't mean in a bodybuilder sense, I mean just adding some meat overall without getting fat. I mean, adding 5-10 pounds.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:49 pm

Hi Chegent,

I don't really know -- getting big wasn't the problem I was trying to solve with shovelglove. I've certainly gotten pretty strong and am reasonably content aesthetically -- but I was always "fat fat' vs. skinny fat so it's possible genetics and other factors were at play.

We did have a regular poster for a while who actually competed in strongman competitions -- but I think shovelglove was just one component of a much more involved routine.

Ah, just found him -- Storm Fox.

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/profile.p ... file&u=157

This one may also be relevant (old time strongmen used shovelglove-like routines)

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2291

Reinhard

chentegt
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Post by chentegt » Wed Mar 19, 2014 7:15 pm

Thank you Reinhard for your comments.

It is fascinating to find out about the sledgehammer 'ancestors' and it's history. Actually, the hammer is my favorite excercise tool; I prefer it over the kettlebells. And it's the only excercise I've stuck for the longest time: 7 years doing it.

The main question behind this thread is really about SG: how can it be used for building some muscle and looking stronger?

however, I added the links for fun, to incite a discussion about some other options that could be mixed in a 'sensible-sustainable' way to build muscle. I have not tried them; I just did the kettlebell one with my 20kg bell this morning and it was extremely brutal, not really my taste.

So, I will try my old SG + pushups + milk routine (now with added pushups) for a few weeks to see where it takes me, now that I have solid habits (maybe I should finally upgrade to the 20lbs hammer), and I will keep you updated. However, feel free to keep posting here your ideas people! So the ex-"skinny-fat" and now "lean" guys can try them.

guille
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Post by guille » Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:47 pm

mmm well i do not do shovelglove anymore, and as far as i know what i do gets great results. http://theofficebodybuildingworkout2891 ... yoFoah5Py0 and in here you have a picture of the author http://theofficebodybuildingworkout2891 ... yobPah5Py1 in about 7 months to 1 year i will write about my experience with this method.

but considering this alone takes like 20 or 25 mins per day, adding extra stuff like shovelglove may be too much time wise

if you want to continue using shovelglove i think you just should add bodyweight exercises, (aim for advanced bodyweight stuff, bar-barians style... maybe one day one, next day the other?

about the diet, i dont think you need to change it much... for me snaking (drinking milk between meals) would be a big no no, but my biggest difficulty with no-s are the sweets and the snaks, seconds are not much of a problem...if i wanted to get more calories i would make my meals bigger(not way bigger, just a little more) but that is what i think would work for me

so you have to see what you think wont affect your hard earned habits...but i insist. probably you dont even need to add calories. its not like you are in an eternal deficit so i think all you need to change is the exersise.

slothlike
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Post by slothlike » Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:40 am

I can only tell you about my experience as a skinny-fat ectomorph.

Shovelglove lost a lot of weight for me, all of it fat mass. My muscles didn't get substantially bigger, but they got harder, denser, and more defined. But I also didn't gain much muscle mass when I was doing a body builder routine when I was younger.

According to my scale, in 8 months of consistent shugging, I put on about 4 pounds of lean mass (without gaining weight), but that isn't all muscle.

I think No-S would be a great way to help make sure you are eating clean as you try to gain mass, just make sure you have a big plate. I do No-S liight, where I have three big meals and an after-school snack (I'm a teacher).

As far as gaining a lot of muscle mass, you'll need to add progressively greater resistance, which is difficult with Shovelglove. I would suggest you use Shovelglove as a finisher after a bodyweight or barbell workout.

Let us know how it goes.

Rocker
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Post by Rocker » Tue May 06, 2014 5:52 am

Slothlike, that's great news about shovelglove burning off fat. I'm also a skinny-fat ecto and I've just started shovelglove so it's a relief to know it's effective for fat burning.

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