Snow Day!
This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
Did you shovel or use a snow blower? Did you sled down the hill or run up the hill? Most people think of a snow day as a day off from the norm, and have some fun. Except me. I embrace using a shovel rather than a snowblower, well, because snowblowers run out of gas, oil, etc and I like the extra cardio work. I do like sledding down hills, and I also enjoy how I feel after I run back up the hill! Gasping for breath and saying to myself, how can something so simple be that effective at kicking my butt? I was also taught in college, albeit many times, that heart attacks occur most frequently during the winter months, go figure…from shoveling snow. I attribute this to laziness, and weakness. How can we as a society be so out of shape that a simple chore like shoveling your driveway gets you in the hospital? If people just try to stay in somewhat good shape, shoveling your driveway won’t seem that hard. Also, just learning basic movements like how to bend at your hip and not back, and being able to do a simple deadlift, we would be much better prepared for these real world tasks. Which brings me to two stable movements in my toolbox, the RDL and shovel deadlift.
1. RDL (Romainian DeadLift)
primary muscles: Glutes, hamstrings, back
key points: neutral spine, neutral head position, shoulders back, chest out, sit back into hips, shins vertical to floor, hands should be below the knee
I don’t care what you call, Rdl, straight leg deadlift, etc. I’m looking for something very specific, can you bend at your hips and not your back. This is such a simple concept, but quite difficult. Because everyday life forces us to be hunched over, it is natural to bend at our back, however, if you come to the weight room we want movements to be opposite of everyday life in order to work muscles you don’t use. It is about learning proper movement patterns so when you are out of the weight room your body will remember (hopefully) those movements, and you won’t hurt yourself. Anyway, being able to load your hips (glutes, hamstrings) while maintaining a slight arch, or neutral back shows that you can dissociate the two joints (hips and back). I would say most back injuries occur because the hips are too tight and the back is too mobile, when what we want are very mobile hips and a very stable back/core. This allows us to target lots of muscle mass, and thus burn lots of calories, but it all begins with this movement.
2. Shovel Deadlift
primary muscles: obliques, rectus abdominis, spinal erectors,
key points: neutral head, neutral spine, keep bar straight, dont bend sideways, tight core!
Assuming that proper deadlift technique is learned first a shovel deadlift is just a variation off of that. If you cannot or do not know how to deadlift properly, do not try this; that is just putting load on a disfuctional movement= not good. However, the shovel deadlift builds a steel corset around your core=good. You don’t need much load on this one, and the closer your hands are to the weight the easier. Just do a normal deadlift while maintaining a rigid torso. Remember, we want a stable back/core, and mobile hips. The abs are meant to resist motion than actually producing it; hence the plywood type structure of the core.
Note: muscle fibers run up and down (rectus) diagonal (obliques), and sideways (transversus), and obliques and TA wrap around to the back.
Funny how the shovel deadlift looks strikingly similar to shoveling snow…hmm. Do you think this movement will give you real world strength and transfer over to everyday chores or abdominal crunches? Do you think this will protect you against injury or abdominal crunches? nuff said.
Master these movements and you will be on your way to the best snow shoveler in your neighborhood! That could be good or bad depending on how you look at it, but you will bulletproof yourself from back injuries that’s for sure.