The gift of learning

Bob


One thing I learned a long time ago is that everyday activity can be a workout.  People pay gym fees and drive to the gym, but have someone else mow their lawn or rake their leaves.  I mostly hate yard work, but walking around and doing that stuff is a form of exercise.  My job is exercise.  I carry stuff all day long.  Huge sheets of plywood and cabinets and other things.  This is a workout.  I was shovelling snow with my son, Ethan, last night and we both were saying what a good workout that was.  Forget the snow blower, pick up a shovel.  Sometimes we go to the gym and just go through the motions and really don't even get a workout.  Spend a lot of time sitting on a machine or waiting for a machine, but not really doing much.  The challenge I gave to myself this month of doing 500 pushups each day for 31 days is another learning experience.  It has been hard, but I can do pushups almost anywhere.  All I need is me and a somewhat flat surface.  I have seen results quicker doing these pushups than in many other workouts I have ever done.  I am thinking of another challenge next month.  Maybe crunches or squats.  Something to bust other body parts that I typically neglect.  Body weight exercises are excellent, because all you need is your body.  And some weight, and after all I've eaten lately, I have plenty of that. 

This reminds me of something my grandfather told me when I was pretty little.  I think I was asking for a weight set and he told me that I really didn't need one.  That I could lift anything to get strong.  What I remember the most was that he said I could lift books and do curls.  Heavy books.  It seemed pretty wise at the time, but I now think he probably was just being cheap and didn't want to buy me weights, but you digress.  The point is that I remember him saying I could lift books.  So, I did.  I started with The Cat in the Hat and steadily moved up until I could lift the Encyclopedia Brittanica.  Then, full volume sets of books.  I curled Steinbeck and Verne and sometimes Shakespeare.  I couldn't get enough.  Libraries became my mecca of lifting.  I would lift huge books.  I lifted The Canterbury Tales.  Enormous book, right?  Who really knows, because no one actually reads that or lifts it.  But I did.  Lift it, that is.  I got to the point where I would lift whole sections of books.  The librarians would get so mad, but what could they do?  I was a monster, they mostly were little.  I would curl card catalogs and when they went to the computer system, I lifted the computers.  In the early days of the computer, they were big and were a great workout.  The smaller ones today are good for high reps and a good burn.  For vacations, I started loading up my Kindle with books, but for some reason it never really gets heavier, but I still squat it out for a bunch of sets.  I think you get my point here, I lifted books. 

I think in addition to lifting books and doing pushups, I am going to start riding my bike, running or walking to work.  It is only a mile.  That adds 2 miles a day to whatever else I do.  I have a bike.  I have running shoes, so I am covered for the riding and running.  There is very little equipment that we really need, although lots of people think they have to "gear up" to the hilt, they don't.  Get on the bike and ride.  Get in your shoes and run.  Simple concept.  My gym is at my shop.  Kettlebells, a clubbell, some weights and somewhere to do pushups, pullups and dips.  Bam!  That's it.  It really just takes up a small portion of my shop, or can be in a house, garage, basement...whatever.

In conclusion, if anyone can recommend a good book or two that I can lift I will always appreciate it.  Thank you for your time in this matter.