Snow Shovelling Tips

 

In Alberta, Canada, shovelling snow can be a daunting task at the best of times.  We got another huge dump last night in the middle of March for the second weekend in a row!

Our Back Deck

Front Door View

 

Here are some typical snow shovelling tips:

• Be the last one out and have your neighbours feel sorry for you and have them do it!
• Pay the kids down the street
• Borrow a snow blower
• Let it melt

Here is what we like to do:

• Shovel as a family – everybody goes out!
• Extend your services to your neighbours

My son and my wife working together!

My daughter hangn' out!

Here are some tips to help you in this situation:

• Shovel small areas at a time with frequent rests
• Push the snow, rather than lift it
• Push downhill with gravity
• Lift with your legs, NOT your back
• Don’t twist when you lift
• Use a shovel you can handle — Don’t lift too much snow @ one time
• Use an ergonomic shovel
• Use your skeleton as a lever, not your muscles (see picture below)
• Most Importantley *** DO A PROPER WARM-UP and Cool-Down***

By lifting with this grip, you are able to use your triceps and sketeton, rather than your biceps.

 

Realistically you are not going to warm up by running around and stretching too much.  That is where The Stick comes in!  Inside your house: (all these exercises can be viewed here)

• Roll out your legs
• Roll out you arms
• Roll out you neck
• Roll out your back
• Roll out your shoulders
• Stretch your lower back with the PostureCurve

When you are done shovelling, repeat the above steps for your cool-down!

You are now ready to tackle any snow that Mother Nature decides to dump!

Knowing Your Body

 

I can’t stress enough that knowledge is power!

Here is a quick story – I have a friend who knows nothing about vehicles. When his vehicle broke down a number of years back, he got taken advantage of at many repair shops.  I offered to help him out, but he just did not care.  He was taken on a wild ride of repairs that did not need to be done as well as repairs that should have been done as preventative maintenance.  Needless to say, he was baffled why a simple repair turned into thousand dollars of repairs.  The moral of this story is to know a little bit about the things you have possession of in your life. 

Now, what about your health?  Health is a very broad subject, so let’s narrow it down to how your body works.  That is too general as well, so let’s get to the nuts and bolts and talk about MUSCLES!!!  Muscles move you, shape you and really define how and what you do.

Much like your teeth, your muscles are used every day in your life.  You obviously need to take care of them or you will loose them.  Loosing muscle mass is called atrophy.  Gaining muscle mass is called hypertrophy.  Living an active lifestyle will help maintain heath and maintain muscle mass.  To gain lean muscle some form of resistance training needs to implemented into your routine.  This might take the form of weight training, body weight work, tubing exercises, gymnastics etc.

In order to take care of your muscles, you should at least know where they are and what they do.  It is not necessary to know every origin and insertion, but some basic knowledge will allow you to take care of your body.  (Remember my story about my friend with the vehicle breakdown).  By knowing some basic anatomy, you can look after yourself and others.  Here is a great web-page for knowing the Muscles of the Human Body.

Here is an amazing site that one of my Sports Medicine students discovered – Innerbody.com

By knowing where and how your muscles work, you can roll them out with The Stick!

By the way…….my reference to teeth and muscles was not by accident.  One of the key points of using The Stick is to use The Stick as “A Toothbrush for Muscles”.  You brush your teeth everyday (I hope at least once a day), you should also “brush” your muscles!

An Article About Knee Pain

Knee pain can be debilitating for anyone, never mind athletes!

Getting the correct diagnosis can help you reach recovery faster.  I recommend seeing a number of people or experts.  A second opinion is always great just to confirm what you may already know or what someone suspects may be the problem.  Always take the opinion of an expert/professional!!

Once you have been diagnosed (by a professional) you can start on your rehabilitation.  I have included a great article I found about treating knee pain through resistance training exercises.  The title is:

A Strength Coach’s Guide to Dealing with Pain: Part 2, Knee Pain

By Andrew Paul

Basically, Mr. Paul provides advice and exercises on the following topics:

1. Pain is right down the middle of the patella
2. Pain is on the upper, medial portion of the patella
3. Nagging pain on the lateral side of the knee

I think he does a wonderful job explaining and illustrating strengthening exercises.  To see the whole article click – HERE -

 

So how does The Stick relate to this article?  Massage sticks are mentioned in one of the opening paragraphs as a means to loosen up the quadriceps to help prevent knee pain.  Mr. Paul also writes about trigger points, knots, and managing soft tissue.  In addition, he mentions the TFL and IT band.

 

A New Back Massage Exercise With “The Stick”.

Hello everyone,

I have taken a little time off of blogging to concentrate on getting the word out about The Stick in Alberta, Canada.  I am now back to my schedule of providing great material and tips for Stick users.

Here is a video that explains how to use The Body Stick to massage that hard to reach place in the middle of your back.  The massage technique can be done anywhere at anytime.  People who spend a lot of time at their computers may be especially interested in this video.