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When you have to wake up early to get to work, the last thing you want to do is go outside and shovel snow. However, that’s the nature of living in a snowy region: you have to contend with the cold, wet, infuriating substance every winter. If you hate shoveling snow as much as we do, here are some quick tips to help you make the task much easier.
Before you tackle the obnoxious task of shoveling snow, make sure you get ready the right way. Stretch your muscles so you don’t pull something. Drink plenty of water, and make sure you don’t have any caffeine or alcohol before you start shoveling. Don’t overdo it; there’s no reason to shovel excessively large amounts of snow at once.
Treat snow shoveling in the same way you might treat working out. If you jump straight in without the right preparation, you could pull something, strain something, or, worse, have a heart attack. It’s okay to take breaks and to tackle this task one piece at a time.
Make sure you use the right shovel for this job; a particularly unwieldy or awkward shovel could make the risk of injuring yourself that much higher. There’s no reason to make this difficult chore any more tedious than it already is. Make sure you invest in a high-quality shovel that gives you plenty of maneuverability and is easy to use.
Even if you’re about to be sweating and breathing hard, you still need to wear the right clothes. You need to dress in layers and stay warm whenever you’re outside for extended periods of time in sub-freezing temperatures. As you work harder and warm up, you can take layers off, so make sure you’ve got enough layers on to maintain a comfortable body temperature.
Likewise, make sure you’ve got shoes with good traction on. If you don’t, you could find yourself slipping, sliding and falling too often to make the task manageable. No one likes busting their butt in the snow, so invest in some good snow shoes for shoveling.
