Everyday Systems

Well, I was doing some yardwork this weekend and was wondering how good of a workout doing various yardwork tasks were. So I had to look it up and found out, per hour:

Raking leaves: about 330 calories
Pulling weeds: about 360 calories
Mowing with a manual push-mower: about 490 calories
Mowing with a power push-mower: about 300 calories

And when it gets too cold to do yardwork, shoveling snow for an hour burns about 400 calories.

So I think I'll forgoe getting the fancy leafblower, snowblower and riding mower (as if I could afford them or the gas they run on anyway) and do my outdoor work manually... looks like it'll be a good adjunct to No-S, and I'll be getting some necessary work done too.

It's amazing how fit we'd be if we just did the things we used to do instead of resorting to "labor saving devices."

Isn't it much more satisfying to do something useful than dodge doing it and then make up for this dodge by useless exertion in the gym? I'm amazed at how shortsighted we are.

Thanks for the numbers. Suburban rangering seems like a tougher job than the urban kind at first because there are fewer walkable errands. But there is also much more physical work to do to keep your place in shape.

Reinhard

So true!

I live in a condo with an HOA that provides weekly landscaping maintenance. While I appreciate not HAVING to do it, I also really miss the mental and physical therapy of yardwork.

Luckily, I have a housesitting business on the side whereby I do in-home overnight pet care. My clients rarely mind if I rake their leaves, shovel the snow from their driveway, and scrub their floors on my hands & knees instead of using the mop.

The HOA landscapers don't come around to shovel snow, though, so I'm very excited to "lend a helping hand" to my neighbors when the snow flies here in Oregon.

We have four entrances to the church here in rural MN. When it snows, I'm the one who usually does all the shovelling, sometimes twice, if it's coming down really heavy right before the Saturday evening and Sunday Masses. It's good to know I'm burning some calories doing it!

That's more like Christian Nordic Rangering, right? :0)

Oh yeah, those Christian Nordic Rangers are fit and strong! Almost as fit as the Amish! Man those guy are buff! Probably won't get too many posts from those guys online though !

Phil.

Big Phil,
Yer cute!
LOL..

Peace and Love,
Deb

ps.. Hows Indian Clubs going?

I got a pushmower yesterday as the pull cord broke on my power-mower it was a convenient excuse. I did mowing instead of shovelglove - it was rather less of a workout than I had hoped for. However, it did do a sweet job of the lawn - it really does cut instead of tear - and was a lot more enjoyable experience than with the smoky old petrol mower! Plus I didn't get all sneezy and wheezy afterwards, I don't think as much of the lawn is aerosolized as with the power mower and maybe alot of the sneezing wasn't lawn allergy but smoke allergy. All in all - big thumbs up!

Deb, I still do some Indian clubs at the end of a workout when I am feeling tight - I highly recommend it to anyone. When I can be motivated Ii will come up with an Indian club workout to intersperse with my shovelglove on alternate days. The original indian club users used both the heavy club (around 10lbs on a three foot handle - sounds familiar!) and the lighter short clubs for use in each hand. The shovelglove really gets into the core stomach and back muscles, but I think the light clubs work the peripheral shoulder and arm muscles better - especially the forearm. Haven't heard any posts recently from that guy who was going to start using them on the shovelglove board - I wonder how he is doing?

Merry Christmas,
Love from Phil, Joanne and Hudson.

Big Phil,

Thanks for the pushmower update and sorry for the delayed response.

A cast iron pan that might make a good short club stand-in (though I'm pretty content with my shovelglove forearms). Fits with the shovelglove principle of repurposing existing tools, and what tools they are. If you haven't cooked with cast iron, you should give it a try.

Belated Merry Christmas,

Reinhard

Sadly my cast iron skillet has a folding handle for storage, so it would be a little difficult to use it as a club

it does weigh about as much as the head of my Sledgehammer though

C.