Workout, the old fashioned way

[BigDad]

Yesterday I got a call from a good friend in need. He was beside himself. He had 8 cubic yards of concrete on its way and his helpers backed out on him. We've all been in these situations before so I quickly changed gears, called the office and put on clothes that would look good splattered with a good wet mix of 3000 psi concrete.

It was a good 4-5 hours of muscle to get his floor done, wheelbarrow, skree board, raking, running the bull float and putting the finish on it.

How does that affect my workout? Not at all. I am still of the opinion that unless the muscles I am going to lift for are fatigued and soar I am still going to continue with the plan for tonight and lift for the chest, triceps and stomach. What I feel right now is that I used my traps and quads REAL good yesterday but I think I should still workout as planned.

I don't know about you but a good hard day of labor to me feels good. Maybe because my day-job is more mental than physical. Plus I don't engage in this activiy but a few times a month so there's no harm.

Your thoughts on hard work -vs- workout??

[WildK9]

If you need a place to do old fashioned work I have a whole yard and house that needs some.

I think hard work has its merrits but I also see a lot of really fat construction workers. They're probably foremen though.

[BigDad]

Originally posted by WildK9
If you need a place to do old fashioned work I have a whole yard and house that needs some.

I think hard work has its merrits but I also see a lot of really fat construction workers. They're probably foremen though.

I'm not in construction and I hate to generalize but I have to say that a good diet and prudent use of alcohol may not be the case for most construction workers. They are tough suckers but not the healthiest bunch.

10 years ago I bought a 1851 Civil War farmette. I have had my fill of DIY construction and sub contractors. I do my own work and only help friends. I also converted my two-car garage into an apartment for my 80 year old parents. Good old fashioned fresh air and ass busting will wear you down if you don't soak in the hot tub now and then!!!!

[WildK9]

So project number 1, build a hot tub.

I can agree with the fact that those construction workers are a tough bunch. They are out in weather I can't even stand in, working their butts off for well over 8 hours. It takes a certain kind of person to do that. I lean more towards a desk job myself. Although I like to do things around the house in winter and the yard in summer, you won't catch me building a house anytime soon.

[Gator]

Sounds like a loooong day, youll sleep well Im sure..

Gator

[PHIL DONAHUE]

i work with my hands and brains, i specialize in one blue collar occupation . but as far as doing things myself i do all ,jack of all trades master of none my framing hammer or my 3/4 drive ratchet or my shovel gives me a great pump try digging post holes in blue granite. i pulled my well pump 235 feet i got the arm pump of a lifetime . i use my muscles some people have them for show mine are used and abused.

[turgon]

Originally posted by BigDad

I don't know about you but a good hard day of labor to me feels good. Maybe because my day-job is more mental than physical. Plus I don't engage in this activiy but a few times a month so there's no harm.

Your thoughts on hard work -vs- workout?? [/B]

That's one of the primary reasons I workout. So that when I need them, I'll have the muscles to do things like that. I always seemed to be weaker than all the other guys.

Mind you, it doesn't hurt to still look good at the beach, but ... :-)

[rude mood]

BigDad, I've been there.

Last spring my buddy called me early in the day and told me that a load as big as his truck of topsoil had just been dumped in his driveway. He was gonna put it on his lawn with his boys however his kids backed out. I went over there and lugged that stuff all over his yard for 3 days straight. Then on the last day i walked around and sprinkled grass seeds all over the place for hours. It was quite a workout! He now owes me big time

[Veinpopper]

Big Dad, its great to be active. And it feels real good to do an activity and then later do a workout and get the workout done. Thats a real satisfying feeling.

If I've been a running around for a few hours, I won't feel like I really need to do cardio but I could lift weights. But if I'm really exhausted, yah I'll let the work out wait for another day. For one thing, if you already used muscles you're not used to and then stress them with weights on top of it, you may risk injury. Theres some injuries you can work through but say if you've been bending a lot all day and thats not typically what you spend your time doing, I think you're asking for an injury if you go to workout and you are already exhausted. Thats just my way of thinking because once you've injured something like your back (which is what starts to get tweaked first with me) then you have to take time off and end up backsliding. Which doesn't make much sense to me and doesn't contribute towards meeting my goals.

Theres also something about digging too deep into your reserves to do your workout that doesn't feel right. Maybe you start burning your muscles if you get to low on energy? Or dehydrated or something? I prefer to wait until the energy is there, spilling over the top, then it gets channeled into muscle development.

[ojs]

Unfortunately you probably will lose muscle by doing that. But then, unless you do this often it won't make that much difference. And if you do it all the time and also workout, it would be a very good test of your genetic ability to recuperate systemically. If you have good genetics you'll be OK. But you won't be carrying anywhere near the muscle that you could. And if your genetics are more average, you'll end up getting sick within a month or two. But, heck, I've done it and love the way it feels to do physical labor. It's a clean and honest kind of dirty.