An improved snow shovel construction (10) (10') (10'') for a snow shovel blade member (20) having a front face 22 and a rear surface (21) wherein, the snow shovel blade member (20) is connected to a handle member (27) and the improvement includes a foot receiving recess member (30) (40) and (50) operatively associated with the rear surface (21) of the shovel blade member (20) and having a high friction surface (31) (41) and (51) respectively that is engageable by the toe portion of a user's footwear (100).