Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting 2018 Fitness- Workout thread

It was far beyond "laying" diamond plate and it was in sum not just a workout but a fairly brutal one for the muscle groups I logged. I'll submit you are clueless about the realities of replacing a boat floor, and, just as importantly, the mods I made to the stringer system. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yesterday was a light day but my biceps and hip flexors are feeling it today. Again, I'll submit that it's been a loooong time, if ever, since the critics have moved 2 cubic yards of sand with a shovel and wheelbarrow over uneven ground. That's not a workout for some body parts? HA! Laffin'. They make fun, but they are empty windbags as far as basing their critique on experience.

Actually, though, it brings up a broader philosophical point.

For coming around on 30 years I've combined my personal DIY compulsions with the fact that I own a good sized rural property into a fundamentally healthy physical lifestyle where the act of getting significant exercise is just a part of daily life. THAT'S the point I'm often trying to make here. When I replaced the roof on my shop recently- which is when I took all that ply up a ladder solo- I accomplished multiple things. I saved about $6k, which is another way of saying I chose to pay myself $6k for the job; I insured the work was done to a high quality standard, because that's how I roll; and finally, to my point here, I got a spectacular amount of all-body exercise over a period of WEEKS. It goes on and on. This is not a new thing; this is my LIFE. And it WORKS. Anyone who meets me sees someone who seems, mentally and physically, like a much younger person. I move well on my feet. My balance is good. I'm cheerful to a fault because I feel good. My core hasn't atrophied away like so many people my age. As I said above, I fear no trail, which is not to say I think I can "out race" people up the mountain, because that's not my thing, but if there's a trail to be hiked, a "mission" as it were, I've completed it. Every single time. I started in with "death marches" when I was single-digits old in the NM deserts. We had enormous freedom as kids. We covered HUGE ground. And as one ages, that mentality of "git 'er done", if applied to daily life, and if that daily life presents the kinds of challenges and opportunities for exercise that mine does, the payoff is cumulative and HUGE.

I'm not in any way saying you can't do this at a gym. I read with some awe the gym workouts guys post here. I hold in very high regard guys who do that, and specifically, what some of the principle posters on this thread do, is amazing. Very cool. But the whole reason to BE on an exercise thread to to inspire each other and hold ourselves accountable. This summer, when I was literally buried in work in my shop for months, I came here and owned the fact that I WASN'T getting excercise. That's holding oneself accountable. But, going backwards here, there are OTHER ways to live a physical life than going to a gym. I think most here have college degrees; I have a couple. That has led most towards a certain type of life. I was lucky to stumble into a whole other way of accomplishing much the same thing, physically, as say someone who has a white-collar type job and then hits the gym. And it's been great. And I am sharing that success story here in much the same way say Mike is sharing his amazing story- which is a transformation into a true badass at an age most (sane, haha) guys are winding down into couchbound obesity! It's inspiring.

Haters gonna hate, and I could literally GAF about that. But even they know I'm speaking the truth here. They're too small to admit it, but they know. That's my "win". For everyone else, keep up the good works, and god DAMN if we are going down without a fight in this life! Right? Right! Use it or lose it. We ain't losing it, not like THAT anyway.