Digging out from Snowzilla 2016

Woohoo! Day 2 of Snowzilla cleanup is underway! I hope those of you who were affected fared well through the storm. We had power throughout and have been shoveling in increments, so all in all, I would say we are in pretty good shape.

Doing all that shoveling got me thinking about the application of the work we do in the gym to work we do out in the world. I received a couple of e-mails yesterday from folks saying they remembered to lift with their legs and glutes and brace their core while shoveling. I was reminding myself to do the same thing. I’m still sore, of course. Generally I don’t do this much shoveling in an entire winter! But all in all, I’ve been thankful for my time practicing for this in the gym.

I tend to get philosophical at times like this, so here are some additional thoughts I wanted to share with you about translating work in the gym to work in real life:

1. When you have a big task ahead of you, plan for the long haul. Break your task into small, manageable steps and own the progress you make along the way. When I first looked at each mountain of snow I needed to move over these past few days, I thought: impossible. Then I started chipping away. Chipping, resting, shoveling, resting, tossing, resting...you get it. And before I knew it, the pile was gone (or at least more manageable)!
2. Make maximum use of your assets. That is, start with where you are strong. In shoveling, this means lifting efficiently and using the power of your legs, glutes and core.
3. Know where you are not as strong and take care of yourself. Most of us have some aspect of ourselves that needs a little extra attention in order for us to be as functional as possible. Well-chosen preparatory and cool down exercises can help us in this effort. Many of these exercises require little or no equipment and can be done at home.
4. Face that thing you don’t want to do and chip away at it slowly. This is kind of like #1, but acknowledges that sometimes we need to work on tasks both in and outside of the gym that we don’t like and don’t really want to do - because they will be helpful to us in the long run.
5. Find a way to turn your task (or at least part of it) into a game. That has worked wonders for me in terms of increasing my motivation to do things i don’t want to do. Today I was chipping off snow boulders and tossing them rather than shoveling. When I’m doing filing at home, I’ll start a stopwatch and try to complete the task as quickly as possible - or within a certain pre-set time limit.
6. Enlist the support and companionship of others. Yesterday, I decided to help my neighbor shovel his car out. It gave us a welcome chance to catch up (and how often does that happen these days?)

Of course you will have your own learnings and motivational tips gleaned from Snowzilla 2016. I’ll be curious to hear what those are! And even if you are reading this and thinking “I wasn’t anywhere near that storm!” I bet you can relate anyway!