From: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1]
7 Feb 23:30
To: ALL
I shoveled snow all weekend and I'm plenty sore. I shoveled for about 4 hours today trying to excavate my car and clear a path from my house to the car about 50 yards away. Despite all of my dumbbell and kettlebell workouts, my low back is cranky right now... it made me think...
Our modern workouts don't do much to prepare us for the real world of physical labor. My gym workouts only last about 30 minutes, and consist of sets of 8-15 reps. I would never dream of lifting weights for 4 hours or doing hundreds of "reps" like I did today with the snow shovel. Yet real world physical labor is often like that.
Also, isn't this the way life is supposed to be? Each day full of physical labor intense enough to wear you out? I think it is. I read somewhere that 100 years ago the average person walked 6-8 miles during the course of a normal day. We've grown soft as a society, I think.
Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, and the like... they've all conspired to make us soft, fleshy, and lazy. Well, except for Hax and a few others :)
Mike
From: fdb (FDB222) [#2]
8 Feb 6:20
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1] 8 Feb 6:58
Yes you're right about gadgets reducing our labor. This has all happened within the last sixty years or so. My dad was a Great Depresion baby( 1925) A few years ago I came across a photo of him and about two dozen kids he ran around with. He was about sixteen or seventeen in that picture. My comment was that there was NOT one fat kid. He said yes, that's right, we didn't have a lot to eat and had to work to help our families.
I teach school and I don't have one class where there is not a few kids that are obviously obese, some would be classified as morbidly obese. Too much processed food, sugars, and not any sustained activity. The staff mirrors the kids and their health problems do tell the tale. As for myself, I'm sixty, walk several miles a day, am not on any medication except low dose Zocor and sometimes am considered a freak because of being only semi-fit.
What you are observing is tremendous decline in our nation's health.
From: NJGolf72 [#3]
8 Feb 7:09
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1] 8 Feb 10:01
Agree. But it's all we have time for. I work 10 hours and commute another 3. I get one hour of workouts in.
And I feel great about that (other than typical post super bowl junk food).
But I remember one summer job where I was moving and assembling steel shelves at a steel fabricator on top of and around a paint furnance, sometimes in 100+ degree weather. Man was I in shape. Other than the huge gouge I got from steel flying off th assembly line.
From: Dliver [#4]
8 Feb 7:29
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1] 8 Feb 10:01
From: Tom (TOMBA51) [#5]
8 Feb 8:15
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1] 8 Feb 10:01
Hi Mike,
There aren't too many workouts that can prepare you for 4 hours of shoveling! But you're in shape. The majority of people are not. Imagine what they must feel like after shoveling out! The storm managed to miss Long Island, but there's another one predicted for Wednesday that looks like to has the potential to hit us hard.
As far as your creaky lower back goes, get one of those foam rollers that you must have laying around the house or the gym. Using your full bodyweight, roll your lower back over it for a minute or two, or until you feel the area loosen up. Works like a charm!
I haven't forgotten that I owe you a round of golf. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully we can get together sometime this season.
Tom
From: Labdrive [#6]
8 Feb 9:15
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1] 8 Feb 10:01
"Also, isn't this the way life is supposed to be?"
There is no such thing as "the way". We are not living a written script.
From: StraightShooter (1PUTT1) [#7]
8 Feb 9:23
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1] 8 Feb 10:01
From: Wild Bill Kelso (JCONQUEST) [#8]
8 Feb 9:25
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1] 8 Feb 10:01
From: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#9]
8 Feb 10:05
To: NJGolf72 [#3] 8 Feb 17:39
< But it's all we have time for. I work 10 hours and commute another 3. I get one hour of workouts in. >
I agree, and it's a shame. Too much of our time is spent chasing money, and not enough time being the physical beings we are meant to be. No way around it for most of us...
I once saw a video on the Discovery Channel about Neanderthal Man. One of the best documentaries I've ever seen. One thing I remember is that their physical existence was so arduous that they often consumed 8,000-10,000 calories per day because their energy requirments were so high.
Mike
From: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#10]
8 Feb 10:06
To: Tom (TOMBA51) [#5] 8 Feb 12:22
<I haven't forgotten that I owe you a round of golf.>
I'll be ready for you! been workin on my wedge game :)
Mike
From: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#11]
8 Feb 10:09
To: StraightShooter (1PUTT1) [#7] unread
The way I wrenched my back was a fluke. I had to wear snow shoes just to be able to walk from my house to my car. While I was shoveling, I accidentally stepped on the shovel with the tip of my snowshoe just as I was lifting the shovel. This happened about one minute into my shoveling extravaganza. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do but keep shoveling for several hours, because otherwise I'd still be trapped!
Mike
p.s. memo to self: Do not wear snow shoes while shoveling
From: Bogeydog [#12]
8 Feb 11:05
To: fdb (FDB222) [#2] 8 Feb 14:03
From: petiegolfer [#13]
8 Feb 12:38
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1] 8 Feb 14:27
I have done a fair few projects over the years and probably the one that got me the fittest and hardest was moving concrete blocks round the back of the house for building retaining walls.
I could move 77 blocks one at a time carrying them 40yards from the drive to the back yard in 35mins. I trotted with the block down and jogged back at speed to get the next one.
The blocks weighed 17kilos or 37lbs each.
Couple of months ago I helped my wifes cousin put new plastic double glazed windows and new soffits and facias in our house...#### that was hard work.
Last week I built a deck for my little brother worked like mad for 4 days...I was pretty shattered at the end of it. Then Fri just gone helped a friend take several trees down in his garden and split the wood for burning.
I drive a desk for a living so its always a bit of fun to get out and do somthing physical. If you do things regularly its amazing how the body responds.
Thinning the insulation layer would be a good thing.....it would make Mrs C happier! Might have to do a Hax and throw the gaunlet down in the folder to ramp up some pressure on myself! :D
Piers
From: fdb (FDB222) [#14]
8 Feb 14:03
To: Bogeydog [#12] 8 Feb 14:19
From: Bogeydog [#15]
8 Feb 14:22
To: fdb (FDB222) [#14] unread
From: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#16]
8 Feb 14:29
To: petiegolfer [#13] 9 Feb 3:58
< Might have to do a Hax and throw the gaunlet down in the folder to ramp up some pressure on myself! :D >
I think Hax has inspired quite a few of us with his warrior attitude.
Mike
From: Nut (SCGOLFNUT) [#17]
8 Feb 15:28
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#1] 8 Feb 16:01
From: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#18]
8 Feb 16:07
To: Nut (SCGOLFNUT) [#17] 8 Feb 16:40
<Gym workouts will possibly keep someone in shape body wise ... lower fat and the like. What they don't do is give the body any real endurance.>
That's why I balk at training anyone who a) wants to train "just for golf" or b) wants to look a certain way. It doesn't make any sense to train "just for golf" when the rest of life is so important. And I could (or couldn't?) care less how anyone looks.
One interesting point about golf-oriented workouts: Almost 50% of the time is taken up by exercises FOR golf, and almost 50% of the time is taken up by exercises that rehab you FROM golf. The one-sided, always-in-the-same-direction nature of the sports leads to some serious muscle imbalances.
Mike
From: Nut (SCGOLFNUT) [#19]
8 Feb 16:41
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#18] 8 Feb 19:06
From: UCONN10 (BSIMOS) [#20]
8 Feb 16:45
To: mike (M_ROMATOWSKI) [#18] 8 Feb 19:06
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