Shovelglove (Score 2, Interesting)

Shovelglove is the perfect geek exercise hack:

Take a sledgehammer and wrap an old sweater around it. This is your "shovelglove." Every week day morning, set a timer for 14 minutes. Use the shovelglove to perform shoveling, butter churning, and wood chopping motions until the timer goes off. Stop. Rest on weekends and holidays.

I do 50 shoveling motions, 50 right then 50 left; 15 to 20 butter churns, right then left; 20 woods chops in both directions; and then 5-8 curl like movements for which I haven't thought of a good name yet. Then I repeat the cycle until the timer goes off.

The number and the order of the movements is flexible. Do them at the pace and in the order that feels right to you. Pay careful attention to your form, so as not to strain yourself. Imagine that you really are performing the activities being simulated. The critical thing is to do it every weekday, no more, no less; for 14 minutes, no more, no less; in a careful, non spastic manner.

Shovelglove is clever, extremely effective, and extraordinarily elegant in its simplicity.

I've been "shugging" for 3 years, off and on. When I'm on, I feel great, I have more energy, more muscle tone, etc. When I don't do it regularly, all of the above gradually go away over a matter of days or weeks.

Once I pick it up again, I'm feeling great within a couple of days.

Go slow at first. You will use muscles you didn't know you had. I recommend starting with an 8# sledge, maybe a 10# if you are already strong. I also got a 16# hammer after about a year of steady shugging. I also use a 4# framing hammer for one-handed moves.