Everyday Systems

Sixty

I found that the added weight made the Shovelglove more cumbersome to use, and so I started using it less and less. So now I've removed the extra weight and am back with my original shovelglove, and find it fun to use again.

Sixty

Hi Reinhard,

Thanks for dropping in every now and then to see how the troups are doing.

I took it easy the first 4-5 days with the new weight, basically doing my workout in slow-motion. Even though the shovelglove was only 20% heavier, it felt MUCH heavier, like 50% more than the old shovelglove ...

Sixty

Well, after thinking about it for 4 or 5 years, I increased the weight on my shovelglove about 20% from 6.3kg to 7.6kg.

A few months ago I shifted my workout routine from the early morning to right after work. I find that I can exercise at a higher intensity in the afternoons, which made the ...

Sixty

.... most people will see similar fluctuations (in proportion to their weight). If you can't handle that, try not to look. If you can and want to handle it, remember to focus on the moving average , not any individual measurement. But the worst thing you can do is avoid the scale for a while, break ...

Sixty

Nice article. Without a scale, I have absolutely no idea how much I weigh - so it just helps me to maintain the parameters I've set for myself. Many friends say they just notice how tight their clothes fit, but this doesn't work for me.

Sixty

I drink a small cup of hot chocolate when I'm hit by hunger pangs (which are much less frequent now). I highly recommend it! It has really helped me to stick to my goal of not snacking on N days.

Sixty

Maybe the thread on 'Intelligent Dietary Defaults' will inspire you:
http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1732

Sixty

If you weigh daily, I highly recommend the Hackers Diet website. You can log in your weight daily and the spreadsheet will calculate the trend for you.
That's what I do - I don't really think too much about my daily weight. The trendline is the important thing, ie, is my weight stable, declining ...

Sixty

So, just Thanksgiving and Christmas? Those and Easter are the only ones I can think of where everything is closed.

I'm in Europe - think we have at least 9 this year: New Year's day, Easter, National Day, Ascension, Pentacost, Corpus Christi, Independence Day, All Saints, Christmas, Boxing Day.....

Sixty

I only treat the national holidays when everything is closed as S days.

Sixty

I mentioned the gradual weight gain to my wife, and she promptly implemented her own advanced eating technique. Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems like the general size of servings at meals has gotten somewhat smaller recentlyâ€¦

Sixty

The fruit-before-the-meal idea seems simple enough - I'll give it a try tonight.

Sixty

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I hope some of them will help me to develop more sensible eating habits, which is what it all boils down to ....

Sixty

Skipping the occasional meal would probably do the trick, but I generally share meals with my friends & family. I wouldn't want to miss their company.

Plus, I enjoy achieving my goals rather surreptitiously.

Sixty

What kind of corrective action do you take when you're above your weight target? I'm good about tracking my weight - but it's been going up the past few months and I haven't responded yet to the increases.

I'm thinking about making some flash cards with advanced eating techniques to remember such ...

Sixty

Hi Alicerabbit,

I think a drink is considered a sweet if the calories are mainly from sugar. So a Coke is clearly a sweet, and I would guess a milk shake is as well. I don't think some sugar in a coffee is considered a problem, since the absolute number of calories is so small. Focus on the big ...

Sixty

I've now been shovelgloving for a couple of years with a high level of compliance. I just roll out of bed in the morning and do it - the habit is pretty ingrained.

I started with a 6kg sledgehammer and immediately began thinking about moving up to a heavier hammer. But Reinhard said give it a year ...

Sixty

... after doing No S for about a month and not weighing ....
I'm in the group of those who hops on the scale every morning for a daily weigh-in. Without this, I find that my weight climbs ever-so-slightly every day, even with No-S, so I need to keep an eye on it. For me it's essential to weight ...

Sixty

... I don't drink milk because it upsets my stomach, so that's not an option.
I also react that way to cold milk, but I don't have any trouble when I heat it up for hot chocolate. When I started No S, the hunger pangs were pretty strong, and hot chocolate was a lifesaver. But No S has influenced ...

Sixty

Hi Lollingsgrad,

I enjoyed your post! Congratulations and keep up the training.

I do a mix of Shovelglove or Dynaband each N-day morning, depending on what kind of mood I'm in. I can't even remember how long I've been doing it - one year, two? I had some back pains at the very start, but moving ...

Sixty

I've been following the above series on YouTube, and am curious what others think of it.

The series tosses out lots of statistics and figures. I don't know whether to treat them as facts or factoids. For example:

1) Given two people of identical weight, the one who has previously lost 10% of their ...

Sixty

Hello Shovelglovers,
... What are the opinions and experiences of doing this routine for five consecutive days?
It's fine, as long as you don't work your muscles to exhaustion. Any muscle group that you work to exhaustion should be given a rest day, hence the general recommendation. Maybe you need ...

Sixty

...I'd like to have some input on how you incorporate exercise into your day -- is it before work or after work? I presume it gets easier with time?
I do 14 minutes of shovelglove immediately after waking up on N days. I do feel pretty sluggish at first, but exercising helps me to wake up. I feel ...

Sixty

It doesn't really matter whether you use a sledgehammer or a cast iron skillet - the benefits accrue from actually doing SOMETHING for 14 minutes every N-day. Once you establish a exercise routine, you might even enjoy switching among a hammer or a skillet or whatever might be lying around at the ...

Sixty

We switched to daylight savings time this past weekend, and exercising those first few mornings after the time change was absolute torture. When I woke up it was still pitch black outside, and I felt completely drained and exhausted. I really REALLY wanted to stay in bed and sleep, but nevertheless ...

Sixty

None of the healthier older people (80+) I know do any regular exercise. But they are always busy on projects out in the yard, meeting their friends, traveling, volunteering their time for good causes, etc. They also like to carry their own suitcases, use the stairs when possible and smile and ...

Sixty

Good luck - those cookies at work are a killer. This is the first year I haven't felt the temptation to grab any ... Moderation doesn't work for me with snacks - if I have one cookie, for some reason I'll go ahead and have another and another and another. So not having that first cookie is key!

Sixty

Last week I was at the doctor's office when one of the regular nurses saw me, appeared to take a second look, and came over. She asked: 'Have you lost weight recently?' I replied, 'Yes, I've lost some weight but it's been over a longer period of time. Plus I now exercise every morning before work ...

Sixty

... I just recorded a podcast episode (my first in over a year!) on this mod ....
Excellent, I've really enjoyed your other podcasts, and look forward to this one with special interest. I hope you are able to post it ASAP. :-)
And congratulations on overcoming what appeared to be a mild case of ...

Sixty

No Solitary Snacking -- even on S-days

This mod finally brought my S days under control. How would you incorporate it into the No S Diet rule of thumb if you decided it was worthy of inclusion?
Maybe: "No Snacks No Sweets No Seconds Except on days that start with S - and No Solitary Snacking ...

Sixty

It's just one of my daily health habits, like exercising and brushing my teeth. For me, these habits are a route to maintaining a good level of health.

Sixty

I've been away on vacation for two weeks, and not having a scale for my customary morning weigh-in is driving me nuts. Anyone know of a super-small but accurate travel scale? I don't even need to know what I weigh - only if it's gone up since my last official weigh-in!

Sixty

Good observation. I now actually look forward to 'working up an appetite' for each meal. If I feel my appetite growing, I know I'm doing something right.

Sixty

No Solitary Snacking -- even on S-days
How exactly does this rule work? If I decide I want to snack on a cookie on Saturday morning, does it mean I have to hunt down an audience: 'Excuse me, sir, could you please watch as I eat this cookie?', or does it mean I am free to munch away as long as ...

Sixty

I'm curious - the '30 Days - No Scale' experiment is now over. Maybe some of the participants could share their experiences? What are some of the pros/cons to using or not using a scale to monitor weight?

Sixty

Hi Colibri,

Welcome to Shovelglove - I think it's a good addition to your Wing Chun training. I also train the martial arts a couple times a week, and find that Shovelglove has helped me with endurance and all-round strength.

I suggest you start very slowly to avoid injury, stick to a strict 14 ...

Sixty

... The only danger I'd say, is habit. I'd advise against letting the new tools mess with your existing time structure -- best to squeeze them into your 14 minutes than tack them on as something extra/instead. .... I myself sometimes throw some non-sledgehammer into the mix during my routines ...

Sixty

...I'm not going to knock kettlebells (except perhaps in jest). They seem like a great exercise -- leagues above those torture machines at the gym and close cousins to shovelglove....
I've now been shovelgloving about one year with almost 100% compliance. Since I feel I have the 14 minute habit ...

Sixty

delete ...

Sixty

Sorry, as soon as I read that better health is based on a secret system, my little bs-detector starts going off ...

No matter how old you are, just by moving each of your joints in a secret sequence

Yeah, right. Looks like pretty standard qigong and Taiji movements to me.

Sixty

I struggled with S days for a while until I defined "Sometimes" to mean only after 12pm. Mega-sweets with coffee after breakfast was my major problem. After 12pm I can eat whatever I want - so there is no sense of deprivation or restriction. By that time my urge to overdo it is simply gone. Easy to ...

Sixty

If I may take the liberty of quoting Reinhard:
Note that it's "no sweets," not "no sugar." This is an important distinction. By sweets I mean something where the PRINCIPAL SOURCE of calories is added sugar: cookies, pop tarts, soft drinks, candy bars, etc. http://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode ...

Sixty

I consider hot chocolate to be vanilla No S. It's wonderful for knocking out my hunger pangs, and thereby significantly reduces my overall intake of calories during the day. It's helped me to effortlessly lose about 15 pounds over the past three months. But do whatever works for you.

As a side ...

Sixty

Just bring a small pocket calendar on vacation with you, and make a small check-mark when you complete a target habit. That's also how I track my regular workouts.

Sixty

reinhard wrote: This one looks like a good deal (well reviewed, too).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... aysyste-20

Hmm, to me, this looks like just the transmitter (chest belt). Think you also need to buy some kind of a receiver.

Sixty

Just wondering whether anybody out there is doing their 14 minutes of shovelgloving while using a heart rate monitor?

As a Taiji guy, I like to shovelglove slow and steady, feeling each muscle, but I know there are some proponents of shovelgloving that take a more vigorous approach, e.g ...

Sixty

Hey John,

I posted this on another thread, but since it applies to your situation (hunger pangs between meals), I'll re-post it here:

"Hot chocolate! It works like a charm. I get really hungry between meals, and a small mug of hot chocolate keeps my tummy calm until the next meal. For me it's been ...

Sixty

Hot chocolate! It works like a charm. I get really hungry between meals, and a small mug of hot chocolate keeps my tummy calm until the next meal. For me it's been the key to success with No S.

Sixty

"Personally when I do shovelglove I do it for at least 30 minutes."

I stick with the 14 minutes, which pass very quickly. That way I'm still fresh when I'm done, and already look forward to the next session.

Sixty

Ouch! Accidents happen all the time, and the one you had really sounds scary. Glad you had friends around to help you in what sounds like could have been a really dicey situation. Think of the $500 as an investment in your future. And thanks for the heads up.

Sixty

... I'm definitely open to finding something, especially for coordination.
What kind of coordination? Do you want to be able to juggle, do cartwheels, walk a high-wire or just get into the car without bumping your head?
Choose a sport or activity that is HIGHLY technical (Swimming, dance, martial ...

Sixty

... with flexibility and cardio making up the other two-thirds. For those of you who have established the 14-minute shovelglove habit, have you also been successful at rounding out your fitness program with flexibility and cardio exercises?

Sixty

I've been using a 6kg hammer (about 12lbs) five days a week for almost a year now, and my workouts now seem too easy some days. So I've been thinking of moving to a heavier hammer - the next two sizes up are 8kg and 10kg. Unsure about whether to go for the 8kg model or the 10kg model - any thoughts ...

Sixty

Thalia & Carole,

I appreciate your thoughts on this issue. I am a male, do lots of sports, get plenty of sleep and maintain an ideal weight.

It might be worth keeping a food diary, and entering details of which days you feel like this?

That's probably a very good idea, and something I've ...

Sixty

I have days when I hop out of bed, bright-eyed and bushy tailed. On days like that, I feel wide-awake the whole day, and feel content with my 3 standard meals during the day.

On other days, I wake up exhausted, and can barely keep my eyes open - just staying awake is a major battle. Neither ...

Sixty

I'd be very grateful if some brave souls would be willing to try it out. If there's a spark of interest and it seems to be useful, I'll invest more work in it and push it on the main everydaysystems pages.

I found HabitCal extremely easy to set up and use - only time will tell if it's actually ...

Sixty

I used to have orange juice with breakfast, until the acidity starting causing severe stomach pains.

Now I simply have an orange or grapefruit with breakfast, and I actually prefer that to juice at the moment.

Sixty

Sixty

sledgehammer wrote:
The bottom of that page contains a trick to count reps in binary using all ten fingers of your 2 hands. This is awesome! This way you can keep count of up to 1024 reps on your fingers!

Here's an explanation in Wikipedia about how the system works:

http://en.wikipedia.org ...

Sixty

Here's my daily workout (weekdays only):

11 minutes of 5bx exercises (Royal Canadian Air Force- includes 50 "good mornings", 40 crunches, 30 push-ups, 6 minutes of running in place & jumping jacks)
( http://www.idmclient.com/gettingfit/5bx.php )

14 minutes of Shovelgloving (no explanation needed ...

Sixty

Cool! I think I'm going to add an "other sledgehammer exercises routines" section to the home page. People have been posting enough good stuff recently that I think we have critical mass.

Ok, this inspires me to mention an exercise described to me by a friend who started shovelgloving a few weeks ...

Sixty

As a public service, here are some tips I dug up on the Internet for good rope skipping techniques:

PROPER SKIPPING POSTURE
Stand up straight and relax - the body should be slightly bent (not rigid) when jumping.
Look straight ahead with your head level, chin up, and your neck relaxed.
Check ...

Sixty

I notice a lot of people are doing "Shovelglove *PLUS*" - i.e., combining shovelgloving with push-ups and other work outs.

For years I've wanted to skip rope on a regular basis, but always found 30 minute skipping routines to be too strenuous. Several weeks ago I started skipping rope for 5 minutes ...

Sixty

But I kind of enjoy working with the resources at hand.

That makes sense, especially since the key idea is really to do some (any!) kind of workout routine for 14 minutes five days a week.

On the other hand, it's pretty handy to have something with you that is so small, convenient and ...

Sixty

So what's a shovelglover to do when he flies on vacation?

Reinhard - I hate to think of you frantically throwing around furniture and shovelgloving the mini-bar when you're on vacation just in order to get a decent workout.

Are you familiar with Dynaband? It's a gizmo that rolls up to the size ...

Sixty

My wife decided it was a small "s" day, like in Valentine"s" Day.

Sixty

Sixty

Reinhard,

< Behavior is the problem, behavior is the solution. Weight is just a side effect.

So at what point do you say "ok, after xx months/years of good eating habits, I know that a good weight for me to maintain is xxx".

The reason I ask is that if you don't have some figure in your mind ...

Sixty

I'm trying to figure out what my personal "best weight" should be, and it's a bit tricker than I thought.

If I use the formula (height in cm - 100 = normal weight in kg), I come up with a normal weight of 78kg (about 172 lbs).

If I use the formula (normal weight * 90% = ideal weight in kg), I come ...

Everyday Systems

Search found 67 matches

For all you daily weight trackers ...

When to go up a size?

Re: Need Advice Please

HBO's 'Weight of the Nation'

Re: Shovelglove on consecutive days

Re: Do you exercise morning or evening?

Daylight Savings Time

Positive feedback

Mixing it up: Kettlebells + Shovelglove?

Shovelgloving with a heart rate monitor?

Shovelglove is a good 1/3 fitness solution ...

Waking up exhausted, then groggy & hungry all day

Mixed routines

New move: "Wave The Flag "

Some tips for rope skipping

Shovelglove PLUS .... rope skipping?

Working with the resources at hand

How about a Dynaband for travel?

How do I determine the weight that's best for me?