I went to the State Fair yesterday to check out the Draft Horse Extravaganza. Since I have a Percheron, and feel somewhat like an outsider in the Equestrian world, I was hoping to run into someone that had Percherons. I did. WOW!! Now, I know it seems impossible, but I am even MORE in love with my Tankus.
Anywaaay..........I was cruising the exhibits with my horse buddy Kim, and overheard someone saying the redundant words "I don't need to go to a stupid gym, I do enough yard work I don't need to."
Now, there is an enormous difference between work and working out. Yardwork IS work, shoveling crap out of horse stalls is work, chopping wood is work, laying bricks, work..................When you work, you are doing the SAME movements, and that is why there is always some specific area on your body that hurts, and eventually becomes chronic pain, ESPECIALLY when you get older. Why can I be righteous when I say this?..... Because I am 50 years old, and in the past, oh, decade, I have many people in my life that have rolled their eyes at me for years when I tell them they should be resistance training, so they can keep their bodies evenly fit. As they are getting older, NOW they are asking me about resistance training. Either that OR they are constantly complaining, and for the most part I am polite enough to not say I told you so.
Anytime you are doing specific physical work, like chopping wood, you are favoring specific muscles and neglecting specific muscles. Therefore you would have overtrained, then undertrained muscles. The worse part of that is it could be an overtrained left pectoral, latisimus dorsi, biceps etc, and undertrained right of the same group. Eventually you are going to be completely messed up. If you spend a day shoveling, you are stressing the lower back area, and even the trapezius and shoulders. It is just common sense that this happens, and an Advil, or Vicodin is not going to really solve the problem.
Three days a week of a good overall resistance training session, even if it is just the machines, will help immensely. You don't have to be a maniac like myself, or most of my peers. Anything is better than stoving up.
Oh yea,.............and NO I kept my mouth shut and said nothing to the statement at the fair!