My arms and shoulders are feeling strong on one hand, and a bit disconcertingly sore on the other. I’ve been working my upper body more with both the shovelglove and in the gym. Though I’ve had to be a bit gentle with the shovelglove; the site says:
Swinging a sledgehammer around like a spastic maniac is dangerous. But I haven’t found anything to suggest that these movements, when properly performed by sane, healthy people, are especially risky.
So I’m sad to say, the first day on the beach (see below) I may have been a bit too close to “spastic maniac.” My shoulders are a bit sore, not in a worked-and-pleasantly-aching-muscles kind of way, but in a wow-I-must-have-stretched-some-connective-tissue kind of way. The pain isn’t bad by any stretch, but it is a bit worrisome. I don’t want to hurt myself.
I did a full shovelglove routine a few days ago, restricting myself to the “official” shovelglove movements, and it was quite a nice workout. I’ve laid off since then, to give my shoulders a chance to rebound.
I’ll give the shovelglove routine another go on Monday, to see what happens with that. I want to get to the normal routine (14 minutes/day, M-F) as soon as possible, but the shovelglove routine works my arms in a way that I’m not used to so I will need to build up to that intellgiently.
But, so far so good. Apart from the mild concern over my shoulders, I feel great!
I’m also reassessing my approach to cardio workouts. I’ve been using the elliptical machine in the gym, but I’ve noticed that my legs seem to be getting weaker or more fragile. So I want to try something different for a while. The shovelglove workout it largely cardio, esp. once my muscles get used to it, so I think that will substitute. Also, it’s warmer out; walking and biking are in the works. I need to pick up some allen wrenches to get my bike back on the road, though.