I regularly exercise about 5-7 times a week, there are very few days when I’m not out there running my obstacle course, or just plain running.  And that’s not even counting all the other normal chores I do on the property.

EVERYTHING we do is a workout when you live on a homestead!

 

After an hour of working, the average person will burn around;

240 calories raking leaves,

240 calories planting seedlings or shrubs,

280 calories pulling weeds,

300 calories digging or spreading dirt,

330 calories push mowing,

340 calories shoveling snow by hand,

360 calories cutting wood.

 

WOW!  What a workout!  Weather you are already homesteading, or want to be one in the future, working out is just part of the job.  And your body will thank you for going the extra mile!  You workout every day, so anything more is just a bonus!

 

My mother has always taught me that I could always have whatever I put my mind to if I work hard enough for it.  Advice that every mother says, but I don’t think that she ever thought I would take it so seriously;

When I was little and my father was in the military, my family got to go on this huge military obstacle course 20-40 feet in the air!  I LOVED it! (Okay, I was terrified at the time..  But I love it now!)  Ever since then, I knew that when I got someplace permanent to live, I would build me one.  7 years down the road, I’ve go my very own obstacle course in my own back yard!  Complete with swinging logs, balance beams, a 20 foot tall ladder, a sea-saw, and monkey bars.  The more I play around with the course, the more I add, the harder it gets, and the stronger my body gets.

 

 

Besides doing my full body obstacle course, I have taken up the new hobby of running.  I’ve always loved walking, my mother and I used to walk together all the time, but I’ve never been a fan of running.  But then I found this app called zombie run..  It’s a really fun app that lets you run OR walk at your own pace and gives you a story in your ear while you walk/run.  It’s almost like an audio book, but you’re part of it!  You pick up supplies for a town called Able that you are now part of, and every once in a while, zombies start making noises in your headphones, and you have to run from them.  Very entertaining!  Sadly, the device I had it on crashed and I  had to get an old used phone from my mother that only had the zombie 5K app.  I had never thought of actually running for fun, let alone a 5K!  But After two weeks of the zombie 5K app, I must say that I love running and that I’ve got much more energy for yard work (and the will to do it).  I look forward to running every other day, and running has a lot of health benefits.  It boosts the immune system, reduces stress, enhances your mood, and reduces your chance of having a stroke, diabetes, blood clotting, etc.  So in a way, I truly am running for my life..  😉

 

Besides running and my obstacle course, there are many other ways I stay fit!  In the winter months (which are plentiful up north), my long distance best friend and I do inside workouts that change every month and workout a different part of our bodies with every month.   To add to that, I’ve finally gotten my X-Box 360 Kinect out of hiding, and I’ll be getting to workout with that on the rainy days and warm 100 degree days when I can’t go outside this summer.

I’ve always loved working out, it makes me feel good and it has prepared me for this lifestyle.  I knew this lifestyle would be tough, and I was 100% mentally ready!  But I wasn’t ready for how physically draining it can be to do yard work from sun up to sun down with only a few hours break in the middle because of the mid day heat.  Your body gets used to it after a while.  You’ll still feel like crap at the end of the day and tired as heck, but less so then when you started out.

If you’re just starting out with homesteading, or gardening, take before and after pictures of what you looked like on your first year compared with your fifth year.  Even if your body doesn’t look much different to you, you’ll still laugh at how ridiculous you looked in your first year! 😉  I remember what I looked like when I first started out.  By the end of the day I was still clean, in some sort of ‘country girl’ looking outfit, and ready to quit before the sun went down.  Now?  I come in sweaty, dirty, dirt under my nails, covered in a layer of dust (<perks of living on a dirt road with a lot of farming traffic), and not in until the sun is behind the trees across the farmers fields across the street (there is a reason tractors have lights, doing work when the sun starts to go down).

So, that’s my advice for the day..  If anyone ever asks you what gym you go to, tell them your gym is your yard.  Don’t feel like you have to go that extra mile to workout, but your body might just thank you for it if you do.  And don’t worry about how ridiculous you look, because the only one who is allowed to judge you, is you!

 

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