A productive way to exercise
I’ve been unable to do my usual walking right now due to inflammation in my Achilles tendon. I’m not in the position to drop $100+ for a new pair of my beloved Brooks Beasts (size 10.5, 2E in case you want to send me a Christmas present, dear reader…), the shoes I wore while dropping 61 lbs while walking every day for 119 straight days back in 2006. My doc wanted me to work out with dumbbells, but do you know how tought it is to work up a sweat with dumbbells and kids that think dumbbells are toys and you’re just “playing” with them?
I’ve noticed, though, that I don’t get too many interruptions while doing chores. Normally, I don’t do chores at a pace that builds up a sweat, unless you count lawn mowing in the summer. But a few months ago we had a tree company take down a dead tree, and asked that instead of hauling it away they just cut it into firelog-sized pieces and leave it behind. A win-win – they don’t have to lift, carry, and haul it away, and I have wood for the winter.
Of course, the wood needs to be split, so I’ve begun working on it for 20-30 minutes a day when I’m home during daylight hours. I’ve got an axe I keep sharp, a couple of steel wedges, and a sledgehammer, and I put them all to good use. Let me tell you, I had no idea how good this could make me feel!
The stress-relief is awesome! Easy to visualize the stressors in my life as I swing that sharp axe down on their heads… uh, I mean, on that piece of wood… 
But as an exercise, it is outstanding. I can feel my heart pounding and I’m breathing hard and sweating and afterward, I have that good-pain feeling my arms, hands, back, abs, pecs, delts, butt, quads… just a great feeling. It feels so good that when I work my pile, I think I’m going to volunteer to start on the neighbor’s just to continue the exercise.
He who cuts his own wood is warmed twice
– attributed to everyone from proverbial Arabs to Henry Ford
