Everyday Systems: shovelglove: message 51 of 649

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Johnny,

Thanks for this detailed post. I stuck my comments
after each point below.

> I have gotten through my first month of shovelglove.
> I've modified the
> exercises slightly from the ones presented on the
> site as follows
> because they work better for me, both physically and
> mentally. 

That's the idea. The movements I give are just
examples, points of inspiration. The important things
are the "useful movements" metaphor, schedualistically
insignificant time, and the SG itself. Thanks for "SG"
by the way. The full name is a bit of a mouthful.
"Shoglo" is another one that's been suggested to me.
Not quite as short, perhaps, but charming.

> 
> 1) shoveling. The main change I have made to this
> was to add a
> secondary movement. I have two movements that I use:
> 
> a) I swing the SG around and over the shoulder of
> the arm holding the
> middle of the SG as if I am flinging the contents of
> the shovel behind
> me. I find that this gives me a nice twisting motion
> that works my
> back and adds a lifting motion. 
> 
> b) I thrust the SG forward as if to toss the
> contents of the shovel to
> the other side of the hole I am digging. I don't
> enjoy this motion as
> much but it does make some nice arm work. 

I love these. It shows that you're really buying into
the idea, that it's not just making some arbitrary
movement. That's what keeps it interesting.

> 
> 2) Hoist the Sack. I do this as sort of a reverse
> butter churn. I hold
> the handle of the SG with both hands and lift behind
> my head as
> quickly as posible. I swap hand positions and repeat
> my reps. 

I'm not sure why I do butter churn with two arms and
hoist the sack with one. I should add the two arm
alternate to the sack hoist page (with credit to you,
of course).

> 
> 3) Driving Fence posts. Unchanged. I like this one.
> 
> 4) Chopping Trees. Like Driving Fence Posts but
> horizontally. 
> 

Justin mentioned this too. I don't do it regularly
because I thought it was making my back sore, but I
may have just been imagining it (or overdoing it). I
should give it another shot. It's such an obvious real
world movement, and it must be fantastic for your gut.

> 5) Spear Thrust. Thrust forward with the SG while
> stepping forward
> with your front foot. Recover back without dropping
> the SG down. Don't
> do this with slippery hands or in front of a window
> if you have poor
> depth perception. 

This sounds like "stoke the oven" except with a
perhaps more compelling metaphor. Mind if I add this
image to the page as an alternate?

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

> 
> 6) Railroad Spike. Like Driving Fence Posts but step
> forward with your
> front foot and bring the SG as close to the ground
> as you can without
> hitting it. 
> 
> 7) Flip the Lever. I bring my arm all the way up so
> that the SG is
> almost on my shoulder. For half of them I add a
> secondary motion by
> thrusting up. If you are holding the SG in the
> middle you should
> probably only do this if you have reasonably strong
> wrists. 

Interesting. Sounds like a cross between flip the
lever and the miserably named "tuck the bales."

> 
> I haven't changed the 14 min at all though.
> 
> Anyway, I've been doing this for a month and I'm
> seeing visible
> improvement which is nice. 

I'm so glad to hear it. Keep us posted. Best regards
to your cat.

Reinhard