Back when I was a city dweller who worked a desk job, my day-to-day routine wouldn’t have involved much in the way of exercise. To make up for it, I was pretty diligent about taking walks around the office’s neighbourhood during my breaks and lunch time.
However, I don’t think my body was satisfied with just light walks. After a day of sitting still, I needed to move to use up some of that youthful energy. That is how fitness became a priority for me early in my adult years.
Since the early 1980s, I was a pretty regular workout guy. I can’t say I ever owned a gym membership, but I always kept close at hand some videos and basic exercise equipment to be sure that I had ways of challenging myself.
I like to think that this approach served me well over the years, as there were times when I even impressed myself at the muscle tone in my arms and legs.
For cardio, I was an avid cyclist for many years. Then I switched to running which culminated in the successful completion of my first half-marathon in 2014.
Interestingly enough, there were times when I found that my exercises were getting – forgive the pun – a bit routine. I often searched for a wider range of exercises to alleviate boredom, and also to keep the muscles surprised and engaged. At least that’s what my exercise magazines recommended to keep things interesting.
In trying to stay on top of fitness trends, I noticed all kinds of workouts, making use of the great outdoors, in the interest of giving the muscles a new challenge.
Fast forward a few years and here I am, on a rural property, lugging rocks, tree stumps and branches. I guess it’s true what they say about being careful in what you wish for.
Whether it’s cleaning gutters, picking apples, stirring the wet compost pile or taking apart big branches with the chainsaw, maintaining a country property is an interesting workout in itself, using different muscle groups in different ways.
The weird part is I can’t always tell in the moment which muscle group is being called upon while performing an activity.
It is a subtle reminder that I’m not 21 anymore when I wake up the next morning to a new ache or pain and wonder to myself what I did to cause a muscle group to feel the way it does.
I will admit though that I really do have to watch myself when performing work outside. Some of the moves can be pretty irregular and can pose a risk when compared to a controlled, gym-style routine that fitness experts and exercise physiologists have observed, studied and refined. For that reason, I exercise as much caution as I can during every task.
If I’m not careful, I can run into back issues fairly quickly if I am not mindful about my positioning to perform a repetitive activity like weeding the garden or lifting heavy loads.
Despite the variety of tasks I can perform to keep our country property in tip-top shape, there are times that I find that some muscle groups don’t get called upon much, if at all.
The weird part is that now I am thinking that I need to take my dumbbells out of the closet to supplement the yard workout with more traditional gym exercises to balance everything out.
Wait… How did that happen?
Much like my basement workouts needed supplementation with cardio and exercises to challenge muscle groups in different ways, the country property workout on its own was not quite structured well enough to hit all muscle groups regularly.
In the long run, this lesson validated what I knew already. With any exercise routine, variety is key and the solution is up to me, to make sure all muscle groups are engaged, ready for action and to offset the effects of age and time.
Note: The preceding article is not intended as medical or health advice. Before undertaking any exercise program, please consult your doctor.
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Have a great day,
André
ANDRE BEGIN 
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