“Pretty good, pretty interesting, though the opening and closing sections were more up my alley than some of the middle.
I do take issue with one brief section about shoveling snow. Because I am entering the territory of being an old man who cares about things like shoveling snow, let’s take a look.
The book’s claim is that heart attacks increase when it’s snow shoveling time, which is true, but it attributes cardiovascular events to two main factors. One is that people are shoveling in the early morning, before they’ve “warmed up,” (in quotes because I mean that in the musculoskeletal sense, not the temperature sense, I mean, it’s fucking cold outside), and the other is because of the Valsalva manuever.
Exercising in the morning probably won’t kill you if you’re used to even a moderate level of exercise. Especially because with shoveling, it’s not like you rolled out of bed into the driveway. Unless you live in some bizarre version of semi-homelessness, where you have a driveway and nothing else. And if that’s the case, I’d skip shoveling. I mean…what is someone gonna do? Where is the city planning to send the ticket for not shoveling? Third crack in the sidewalk from the north, that’s where you get your mail?
Sure, first thing in the morning is not ideal for peak performance, but if your body can handle shoveling at 10 am, it probably won’t kill you, in the literal sense, at whichever time you’re usually awake, just not moving around a ton.
The Valsalva maneuver is the usually involuntary act of holding your breath when lifting something heavy. This is a controversy in the exercise world. Some say it’s bad because you’ll increase your blood pressure and therefore the chances of a cardiac event. I don’t find this concept very compelling because it’s an extremely natural thing to do, and I don’t think your body tends to naturally do things that kill it instantly. I also think it’s interesting that people often discuss the Valsalva maneuver as likely to kill someone, but holding in a big breath while NOT lifting something heavy would be fine? You don’t hear diving or swimming critiqued this way. You don’t hear baseball critiqued this way, even though you’re surely holding your breath when you take a hard swing at a pitch. You don’t hear the Valsalva critiqued in basketball, even though you’re almost certainly holding your breath when you go for a rebound or monster dunk. I can only assume the Valsalva in this case because I have not experienced monster dunks myself. Or even regular dunks of the non-monstrous variety. The closest I’ve come was a hoop they had at the pool I visited as a kid, which was basically a circle hung a couple feet above the water so that lifeguards could yell “Don’t hang on the rim” over and over all day. Why we hung on the rim I do not know. Normally this is like a celebratory thing, but when a hoop is in a swimming pool and so low that a 5-foot middle schooler can dunk, there’s really not much to celebrate there. It’s like spiking a football because you successfully purchased one.
Most research has shown that the maneuver does increase stability, especially of the spine. You need your spine. You’re going to want to take care of that. And most research does not conclusively show the maneuver is dangerous. There are people who have cardiac events while lifting heavy weights and doing the maneuver…and there are people who have identical events while lifting heavy weights and not doing the maneuver. And while jogging. And while lifting light weights for more reps. And while doing TikTok dances (this is totally unproven, but let’s start this rumor so that we can slow down the stupid dances).
My guess, based on being a human with a brain, is that shoveling is a “dangerous” activity not because of the early hour or the Valsalva, but because most people aren’t used to doing anything remotely strenuous, and then suddenly they wake up two hours early to get to work on time, missing two hours of sleep (lack of sleep does contribute to this shit), and then they’re working harder than they’ve worked in years to get the driveway clear. Shoveling is a pretty strenuous activity, especially if you do it fast. The way most people do it, it requires more strength than conditioning, so even if you’re getting in 10,000 steps or whatever every day, it’s still going to feel difficult because it’s a different kind of effort (this is the same phenomenon as thinking you’re in pretty good shape, going up a staircase quickly, and being totally winded).
What are Pete’s Shoveling Tips for the Average Shoveler?
1. Think about shoveling in layers. Let’s say there’s 4″ of snow. From a standing position, scrape the first 2″ off and toss it aside. Then, in the same spot, get the next 2″. Then move to the next spot. This makes it less heavy and more like light conditioning.
2. Shovel the sidewalk perpendicular to the direction of travel. This keeps you from building up huge mounds of snow.
3. Try to shovel towards the sides of your driveway, not up and down. This makes it so you don’t have to twist to throw the snow, which is where a lot of people get into trouble. It feels natural to go from top to bottom, but unless you’ve got a pretty steep driveway, this isn’t really going to matter.
4. Don’t use a shovel with one of those huge, wide, snowplow blades. That only works if you’re strong as hell or if the snowfall where you live is dry and light. Sure, you’ll get more snow for each push of the shovel, but you can’t lift that shovel when it’s full, so forget it. Get a shovel with a blade you can lift when it’s full of snow.
5. Usually the law is you have to clear the snow within 24 hours after accumulation has stopped. That means you can do it when you get home from work. Which means you can take your time.
6. If you have to pick one or the other, shovel the sidewalk. It’s impossible to navigate streets safely after it snows if you’ve got even a fairly minor disability. The sidewalk usually goes faster anyway, and if you do it in the manner suggested above, it’s easier and a good warm-up for the driveway.
7. If you HATE the cold, put on all your gear and then hang out inside for 10 minutes to the point you’re almost overheating. Then when you go out, it’ll feel okay. Some morons will tell you that if you sweat in the cold, you’re headed towards hypothermia. This really only applies if you’re going to be outside for hours.
8. Shovel BEFORE you get showered and dressed for work.
9. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that your breath is going to freeze. Way, WAY before that would happen, your skin would be completely frostbitten. So if you’re not getting severe frostbite, you’re not going to freeze your lungs.”