I love this and I think I'll try it when I get a sledgehammer! I saw it last year when I did the no s diet and thought it looked interesting.

http://www.shovelglove.com/

Thanks a bunch for posting this very interesting approach to strength training Amy!!

I spent a while and read through the material yesterday and think it is a very sound approach to a full body workout with compound movement strength training. How can one not get a hot rock in' body after following these basic 'pioneer' type exercises? Rhetorical question.

I told my wife about it last night and she also thought this is a great idea. She did wonder if these should be performed only outside in case you drop or otherwise fling the sledge hammer. It reminds me a lot of kettle ball swings, but with more compound movements. Hence, more effective I would think. One concern I have is the potential to mess up your back if you over extend the workout or lose good form. I need to research that question some more. I read some warnings about it on his information page.

As a boy growing up, we used to cut our own firewood and one of my jobs was to split the rounds into quarters using a sledge and wedge. Let me tell you- it was a workout back then and built strength. We would do this every year for a few weeks in he summer time to prepare for future wood burning seasons.

I am going to look into these exercises sometime soon and determine if it is something that makes sense integrated with my workouts during the week. Maybe I could replace some of my push and pull upper body workouts with these sledge hammer movements?

Are you going to try this approach out?

I think I'll throw it into my "rotation" as something different and fun. I'm always looking for something new so I don't get burnt out!

I'm smiling because you found it interesting! I'd love for you to revisit me here and let me know what you find out with reading.

Good thinking on keeping the outside tools outside. I know on biggest loser they have a sledgehammer or similar and hot tractor tires for what seems like forever. That would be fun too and this reminded me of that.

It's awesome how addictive exercise is. Today is my day off and I feel weird. I also want to eat a lot today. "/ not good. I'm fighting it.