Sometimes you get to choose how you’ll exercise on a given day and other times your decision is made for you.
Today, after 38cm of snow arrived in blizzard conditions overnight, I had ‘snow’ other option – part of my exercise plan was definitely going to involve shoveling.
For the record, I didn’t have to shovel the whole driveway by myself – everyone chipped in to get it done.
From a physical, exercise perspective, I don’t mind shoveling all that much (it’s not a party or anything but it’s not a bad way to get moving) but I do sometimes find it boring.
Usually I will listen to a podcast or something to keep my mind busy while my body works but today I wasn’t really in a podcast-y mood so I relied on my other tricks to make shoveling a little less dull.
These don’t exactly make it exciting but they do break up the monotony a little.
Here’s what I do:
1. Lift with my legs
Yes, that’s standard snow-shoveling advice but in this case I am reeeeeaaaaaalllllly concentrating on it. I am VERY focused on using my leg muscles, pushing down with my feet, drawing strength through my quads…you get the idea.
2. Count shovelfuls
This involves me trying to guess how many shovelfuls of snow are between me and some specific point. ‘I think it will take me 20 shovelfuls to clear my way to the tree.’ There’s no reward except for the fun of being right but it divides the work into a series of tasks instead of the all-or-nothing of the whole driveway.
3. Switch sides
Don’t worry, I’m not siding with evil here! I noticed years ago that, unless I pay attention, I default to shoveling in one particular way and throwing the snow to one particular side. (Perhaps everyone does this? I don’t know, I’ve only ever been me.)
This results in my muscles getting tired in uneven ways and it sometimes makes my back cranky.
So for part of my shoveling process, I will do ten shovelfuls with my right hand on the handle and my left hand closer to the scoop of the shovel, throwing to my right. Then I will move to another position and switch to my left hand on the handle, right hand near the scoop, and start throwing to the left for ten shovelfuls.
This makes me pay attention to which muscles I am using, helps keep me from pushing myself too hard in one direction, and it also helps to make the project feel more manageable.
*****
Even though I had ‘snow’ choice in the matter, as exercise goes, there’s a lot to be said for shoveling.
There’s an external motivator (for safety’s sake, you need at least a path to the street), it really works a lot of muscles, it gets me out into the fresh air, and there is actual tangible evidence of the work that I did.
Sure, it can be monotonous but I can counter that by either listening to a podcast or by working my way through the techniques described above.
Those practices even make the shoveling process a bit more mindful, which is never a bad thing.
I’m still glad that I don’t have to do the whole rigamarole every day though.
PS – Since I didn’t want to get out of my snow clothes while taking a shoveling break, I invited Khalee out in the back yard to goof around for a while. Check out this photo of her in full frolic mode:
