Just getting started!

ballchair · Post by **ballchair** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:36 am

Hi guys, I'm new to this. After dealing with some RSI and beginning back/shoulder problems which I think can be attributed to a serious lack of exercise, I decided to get serious about treating my body properly. I've started walking 2-4 miles a day, and I just found a reference to shovelgloving yesterday. It looked like fun, so I picked up a sledge hammer today.

OK, so here is my question: The only sledge hammer Lowe's had was an 8lbs one. I figured that would be fine since I haven't exercised at all in so long, and because I'm recovering from RSI. When I came home I walked a couple of miles to warm up and then did the full 14 minutes. No, I didn't miss everybody's warnings about not doing the full 14 minutes the first time.

However, when I was doing it I didn't really feel like my muscles were working very hard. It's been about 45 minutes now since I did it, and none of my muscles are aching, and I didn't really get tired. Is that how it's supposed to be, or do you think I should return the sledge hammer and pick up a heavier one?

I figured that my first time I would really feel it in all my muscles because they're not used to that kind of abuse, but that didn't really happen. I'm just worried about "wasting time" with too light a sledge hammer.

phayze · Post by **phayze** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 11:57 am

Hi and welcome to the Cult of Shovelglove!

First things first: what's RSI? My mom is a nurse and my dad is a massage therapist, so I'm not used to seeing medical acronyms that I don't understand.

As for the sledge, if I were in your spot I'd probably upgrade to a 10#, though I'm not in the habit of optimizing my workouts for safety so I don't know how valuable my advice should be . . . Depending on the life of your exchange policy, you might want to go on playing with it for a week or so before making up your mind. After all, one workout is just a drop in the bucket when you're doing it 5 days in a row, and you might find that the 8# will catch up with you quicker than you expect.

I'm guessing you already know this, but in the mean time you can try to get more out of what you've got if you hold the sledge further from the head to give you more torque, do more reps/set or just go faster. All kind of obvious I guess, but without knowing more about how you've setup your routine it's all I got for you.

I wouldn't worry too much about "wasting time", because even a light workout is still beneficial (how beneficial depends on your goals and your level) and for me there's always a "break-in period" with new workouts where I have to play around and do them at less-than-peak performance while I figure out exactly how to make it as challenging as I can. Aside from that, there's still the habit-forming aspect of just getting up and doing it everyday when you're supposed to, regardless of how heavy the weight is.

I hope my semi-coherent rambling helped, but if not I'm sure one of the more experienced shuggers will chime in with better advice.

Until then, keep on shuggin'.

ballchair · Post by **ballchair** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 12:49 pm

Thanks for the welcome! RSI = repetitive stress injury. More specifically I had some ulnar nerve irritation, and some carpal tunnel syndrome or tendinitis. A combination of a couple of typical RSI things. Basically my left elbow and wrist was hurting a lot, my fingers sometimes went numb, and I couldn't even wear a watch on my left wrist because that would aggravate it.

My doctor put me on anti-inflammatories for over a month (1200mg of Lodine) which didn't do much for me, but then I asked for a wrist brace to wear at night because I noticed that my wrist was worse when I woke up. After a day or two of wearing the wrist brace, the problems were almost gone. It's been over a week now, and my problems have mostly gone away since I started wearing the wrist brace. Looks like I was messing my wrist up in my sleep!

Anyway, after having lived with this pain for almost a year and just recently seeing relief I'm a little paranoid about aggravating it again.

So here is the latest status update: I actually "cheated" and did another 14 minute session last night. Yes, I'm crazy.

I was pretty tired after the second session, but my muscles still didn't ache. It's now the morning after, and my muscles are all fine. They feel like they've been used (in a pleasant way), but they don't ache. My wrist seems fine, too!

I've got 90 days to return the sledgehammer, so I think I'll follow your advise and continue for a couple of days and see if it catches up with me. I guess I could even just buy the 10lbs and keep both for a while and return the one I don't want to keep. I just thought perhaps it was too light for me since I didn't experience the first time aches/soreness reported by so many on this board.

phayze · Post by **phayze** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 3:04 pm

aha! I knew it had to be something obvious. Where's Deb when we need her? She's the expert on these medical things.

Your doctor story is pretty representative of why I'm not a fan of conventional American medicine - it seems like it's all just driven by pharmaceutical companies that want to get us hooked on their designer drugs, so rather than taking a holistic approach to actually solving the problem most docs just give you a pill and send you on your way. :hate:

You might also want to consider a regular stretching routine to keep your wrists supple. There's some good stuff in the "Stretching and Flexibility" thread that I started a while back, but I think you'll get the most out of these Aikido wrist stretches. I was getting a lot of cracking and popping in my wrists from office work, and keeping up with doing these has really made a difference for me. I think that just the Shovelgloving has really helped to strengthen my wrists and correct a lot of those problems too.

I think you're on to something with picking up the 10 and seeing which you like better. Especially early on, it's important to experiment and make sure that you find the "sweet spot" for your training. Keep us posted!

ballchair · Post by **ballchair** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:41 pm

Yeah, I wasn't too impressed with what I got out of the doctor. I basically came up with the solution myself. If I hadn't, his next step would have been to send me to a neurologist and possibly a surgeon. He didn't suggest ice, therapy, stretching, or anything other than the pills. I'm willing to try anything before surgery!

I have started doing some stretches, and those do help when my wrists are feeling stiff. I tried the Aikido stretches, and those definitely made a difference as well. I could feel the stiffness loosen up, especially with the twisting stretches. Thanks for the link!

Hopefully when my wrists get stronger from shovelgloving I'll have even fewer problems. I still have occasional wrist numbness from sitting at the keyboard, but it's improving. In the mean time I'm taking frequent breaks and doing the stretches, and I'm also wearing support gloves while keyboarding which seem to prevent problems and provide relief when I do have some soreness. The biggest milestone for me was being able to wear a watch on that wrist again, which I hadn't been able to do for so long. I collect watches, so that was huge for me.

My wife was starting to tease me when I had to start wearing a brace, support gloves, did the stretches, etc. She called me an old man. The nerve! Well guess what, this week she started complaining about wrist and arm pain when she's on the computer. I shouldn't laugh because I know what she's going through, but..

phayze · Post by **phayze** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:58 pm

haha! It's bad karma to mock your spouses ailing joints.

I'm glad you like the stretches - you can always trust the Japanese to come up with something clever and effective.

Oh, and another trick that might help with the keyboard-related problems is to try and keep your wrists up while you're typing. It's really tempting to let them rest on those silly little foam things, but most people don't realize that those are there to wrest your wrists on when you're NOT typing, using them while you type puts a lot of extra strain on the tendons in the hands. It's my understanding that piano students are often poked in the wrist with ink pens to discourage slouching the wrists, but I can't afford to pay an angry old woman with an ink pen to sit in my cubicle and stab me all day, so I just do it as often as I can remember.

ballchair · Post by **ballchair** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:45 pm

I think part of my problem with the ulnar nerve in particular was that I had a habit of resting my forearms on the desk, and I also used to rest my elbow on the window sill of my car while driving. Bad, bad! My pinky finger went completely numb after a while of doing that.

Now I've moved my keyboard to the edge of my desk, and I try to keep my hands floating over the keyboard while I type. I also grabbed a saw and cut 3 inches off my desk to bring the keyboard down to a comfortable height.

That definitely helps. However, now I've noticed that my upper body is not in good enough shape to be supporting my arms for long, because I'm getting shoulder aches and pains. Enter shovelgloving.

I think this will all work out fine in the end when I get my upper body muscles properly conditioned. One thing is for sure, after going through this I am extremely aware that I have to take proper care of my body! I've never had to worry about that before, but it's very sobering when you realize that you're just not in very good shape.