Everyday Systems

So I haven't been shovelgloving for the past few months for various reasons and was thinking I must now be really rusty and weak, then this weekend I had to shift a ton of topsoil for a vegetable bed I built in the garden.

The first few shovels of earth I thought would defeat me - they felt very ...

An even more minimalist approach to exercise than Shovelglove's 14 minutes a day:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/can-you-get-fit-in-six-minutes-a-week/

Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week?
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

A few years ago, researchers at the National Institute of Health and ...

I've been shovelgloving just for over a year now. I started out some time after reading a book, "Strong Women Stay Young" which outlines how weight training can help ward off bone loss in women as we get older. Then I came across this site via Stumptuous (great site by woman weight-lifter) and it ...

Hi, hope it's OK to chime in here. I read the No-S board sometimes after going to the shovelglove board.

I put on 20 pounds when I took an SSRI a few years back. I didn't change my diet at all (I have always naturally no-Sed, it's one of my few good habits :D) and in fact I was doing more exercise ...

I came over from Stumptuous too. This is the most fun training I've ever done. I do a mixture of everything, between ten and twenty reps, and quite a lot of Hindu squats too, in fact out of all of me my legs have got the most muscly doing this.

I started out at eight pounds, I'm on ten now and I ...

I just had two day's holiday and I've marked them yellow and not felt guilty about it.

I think the idea is that you don't sicken yourself with always doing it. Holidays are supposed to be a time of rest and recuperation which are also important if you are exercising regularly.

I use the white squares for injuries and sick days, just to make them easily visible. Apart from one week where my hip joint hurt I haven't had any pain doing shovelglove though.

The other thing you could do Cassie, is start with just doing seven minutes then working up to 14 slowly - making sure you remain comfortable with what you are doing.

Couldn't tell you which are the safest, but I definitely found the moves where you are swinging the hammer the most difficult ...

I added one pound to my eight pound hammer two months in and actually found it very taxing and went back to eight. I can't imagine jumping from an eight to a twenty, even if you are strong.

When you swing a weight, because of the momentum, it weighs more than simply lifting it. Also it's not just ...

Well I'm going to be singing its praises to anyone who wants to listen. I really am amazed that only fourteen minutes a day is enough to make a difference.

I did a lot of exercise in my twenties (I was a rower so had to be pretty fit) but like all those kind of things that take huge time demands ...

I'm so surprised. I didn't start shovelgloving to lose weight but to get stronger and ward off osteoporosis in my future (weight training is important to keep women's bones strong), but I went and weighed myself in a chemist's yesterday, and I'm down to 136 after being between 140-150 for the last ...

It's a good question. I hadn't seen the previous thread.

I use it for Shovelglove and I do find it a motivator because I want a little green box every day. The only times I've missed it since I started a few weeks back have been when I've been ill.

I'm guessing there's a difference though between using it to get yourself to do something e.g. exercise ...

I listen to BBC Radio 4 sometimes. It's such a quick session though I don't mind doing it in silence with added huffs and puffs.

LOL, Noni.

I'm probably tempting fate posting this but....

Has anybody noticed their aches and pains lessen doing Shovelglove?

I've been off sport for quite a few years because of a sacro-iliac problem that I finally got fixed last year. However I still had a some residual pain in my left hip. I also had a ...

It must be just me then.

That's it really. I suppose all regular shovelglovers know this already.

I've done free weights and used gym machines before but they are deadly dull and hard to stay motivated with. In fact I never managed it, even for very short periods - I've got a box of free weights that I haven't used in over ...