lower half?

[noodle]

I'm a newbie - yesterday was my first "official" shovelglove day - and I got a blister to prove it - I guess I'm still working on form.

I've been a regular at the gym, then my 3.5yo staged a strike about going to the play area so I had to find something else to do.

I'm wondering if anyone has come up with exercises that work on the lower half as I used to be big on squats and such. I tried doing Hindu squats with the hammer yesterday, holding it sort of in the manner of the butter churn exercise.

If this has already been discussed, could someone point me in the right direction of the thread?

Thanks,

noodle

[fungus]

I tried doing Hindu squats with the hammer yesterday, holding it sort of in the manner of the butter churn exercise.

In that case they weren't Hindu squats...

The arm swing is an integral part of a Hindu squat, it's what distinguishes it from a normal squat.

To really work the lower half you could do burpees

[reinhard]

I tend not to worry much about my lower body because I walk *a lot*, but I have occasionally incorporated squats (Hindu and otherwise).

Here's a video from a classic Indian film (that's been posted in this forum a few times already -- it's great) showing both a squat that uses a shovelglove-like implement as a stabilizer and at the end (in the distance) a "pure" Hindu squat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyUsEb82jZs

Both are great moves. Using the shovelglove-stabilizer might have a couple of advantages: 1) ties it into the rest of your shovelglove routine (not critical, but nice) 2) it might actually be safer because you're less likely to do something sudden and awful to your knees.

Lastly, I have sometimes done squats using the sledgehammer as additional weight. I'm not sure I recommend this... but I haven't experimented with it enough to rule it out.

Reinhard

[fungus]

a "pure" Hindu squat.

I think the point of Hindu squats si to do them quickly - to emphasize power and speed over brute strength. The arm swing definitely helps with this.

[noodle]

What I meant by the butter churn motion was that I was lifting my elbows up as I rose up out of the squat to give it a sort of rhythm so I could do them quickly. And I found one of the interesting things (=getyermusclesworkin) about that squat was the lifting of the heels. Yow!

Have you ever tried that swing-around-the-back then stare at the sledge thing that was on the you tube video in the middle of the segment?

I tend not to worry much about my lower body because I walk *a lot*

Yeah, which I would do more of if wee dd wasn't bored so quickly by sitting in a stroller.....and plus, you're a guy. Is it my imagination or does it seem like women have to work their ~$$es off more to er, work their ~$$es off?

[reinhard]

Their ~$$es perhaps, but not their guts.

From:

http://www.fiu.edu/~health/links/t-z.htm

Women tend to accummulate fat in their hips and buttocks, giving them a "pear" shape. Men usually collect weight in the abdomen, giving them an "apple" shape.

And alas, the "apple" tends to kill you:

Persons who have fat primarily located in te abdominal area are more likely to develop the health conditions associated with obestiy, particularly heart disease. One way to determine if you're an "apple" or a "pear" is to measrure your waist-to-hip ratio by dividing your waist measurement by your hip measurement. Women with waist-to-hip ratios of more than 0.8 or men with waist-to-hip ratios of more than 1.0 are "apples" are are at increased health risk due to their distribution of body fat.

Reinhard

[noodle]

yeah, yeah, I'm a pear....that's supposed to make me feel better? I guess it IS better than an apple...for a woman, that is.

Ok, back to matters at hand....

I've been sg-ing for 4 days of my first official week and the first day I kept checking the time and now I'm doing it and it really is kind of a fun rhythm to get into. I get tired, but I'm not really feeling a burn or soreness afterwards. Maybe I'm just used to that with free weights and it's not the way it works with sg-ing? Slowly, slowly over time I'll see the results???? Or do I need a heavier sh?

Reinhard, did you really get that amazing bod from just doing this (and walking and no-s)??? Really really?

Thanks for all your help!

[noodle]

OK, I think I got my answer (half anyway) from the shovelglove physique thread.

But still wondering....if I've been doing this for a week and don't feel sore - makes sense that the soreness comes in the beginning... - should I be lifting a heavier sh?? or is it good not to be sore (ripping muscles to shreds)?

[Jammin' Jan]

For my lower pear-shaped half of me, I like stoke the oven in as low a stationary lunge position as possible, and I do churn butter in as low a stationary squat as possible.

Now if I could just get myself into the habit of SG'ing every n-day, that would be a good thing!

[reinhard]

noodle,

All I do is walk and shovelglove 14 minutes every N-day (last month I started jogging once a week, but that's years after those pictures). It really doesn't take much. You just actually have to do it. And keep doing it. It's persistance in small things over a long time, not heroic efforts. That is much harder than it sounds, but it's not painful. It's actually kind of fun. But you do need to be patient, and really, truly change your focus to the long term. When you form these habits, it's better to think of it as allocating a permanent part of yourself than as striving towards some goal.

Don't worry about not feeling sore anymore. I don't feel sore. I feel exerted, but an hour later nothing's still burning. Just worry about actually doing the minimum that is required every N-day. That's the hardest, most important part, and in time it will pay off.

Reinhard

[Kevin]

This may sound stupid, but do the exercises faster. If it isn't raising your heart rate and causing lactic burn, speed up. This ought to be very aerobic. Maybe you should wait a bit to do this, but once you are very comfortable with the motions and have built the connective tissue strength, you can go at it fast.

How big is your hammer? the difference between an 8 and a 10, when you are doing 50 reps, is 100 pounds of work. And it feels like much more. You can accomplish some of this by leaving more distance between your "forward" and and the head of the hammer.

Follow through with your legs. When you do a shoveling motion, bend your legs. When you chop wood, squat to an almost sitting position quickly like you would do to speed up the maul if you were really chopping wood. Think of churning butter as busting ice and put your legs into it (you already had that idea, didn't you).

FYI, I'm a 180 pound guy. I can bench my weight - not a giant accomplishment - but I couldn't have even come close before I started SG. And I haven't done any weight lifting. I started other bodyweight training since.

OK, I think I got my answer (half anyway) from the shovelglove physique thread.

But still wondering....if I've been doing this for a week and don't feel sore - makes sense that the soreness comes in the beginning... - should I be lifting a heavier sh?? or is it good not to be sore (ripping muscles to shreds)?

[noodle]

hey, thanks, guyses, for the responses to my questions...

I er, took a bit of time off shovelgloving for some S days (some R&R away from home) and then just needed to regroup and get some other stuff in order and now I'm starting again! And I'm finding it much better and since I took off so many days (and it's been a few more weeks since I've been a gym rat) I feel sore! yeee-heee! (ok, not)

I know whatchoo mean about doing it, and doing it again, until it's just part of your life. That's one thing about exercise I've always found - and getting to the gym every day almost nagged at me...what if I couldn't get to the gym every day? So, fitness is down the tube? That's why I was a-taken to the SGing.

And at first 14 minutes seem excruiciating....I was so staring at the clock....hating it, actually, but when I took a break and came back, I started just trying to enjoy the time SGing and it's going much better....

[psulli]

To really work the lower half you could do burpees

Noted and added to my workout. Thanks for that!

I love pyramid based workouts. When I had a pull-up bar I would do:

1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 where each number is a set. So you do one, and come off the bar. The back on the bar for two. Then off the bar, then three, etc. Then you do groups of sets with forward and backward grip.

Ok, I'm rambling. But thanks for the link to the burpees. It mentions using a reverse pyramid type system.