Homesteader-cise:

Lifestyle Health, Fitness, and Fun on the Homestead

by Jan R. Cooke

One day awhile back a group of us got talking about exercise, workout routines, and gym memberships.  I listened and then told them I was using a system I called "Homesteader-cise".  After some laughing and a couple of teasing comments I got the opportunity to explain to them what it was all about.  I want to share that with you. 

HOMESTEADERCISE - Exercises, fitness, strength training and fun that are a part of the homestead/rural lifestyle, using the normal everyday equipment and tools that every homestead has. 

Why is it even necessary to talk about fitness and exercise?   

William Morgan Ph D, an exercise researcher from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, states that, “Society has lost many natural forms of exercise, like farming, when it changed from a manual to a more automatic culture.”   

The National Center for Health Statistics tells us that just 30% of Americans are physically active (30 minutes a day, 3 times a week) and almost 4 out of 10 are sedentary (less than 10 minutes of activity in a two week period).  Data from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta says that since the mid-seventies there has been a huge upswing in the prevalence of overweight and obesity for both adults and children.  With adults aged 20–74 years the prevalence of obesity increased from 15.0%  to 32.9% in the last twenty years. 

Over the last 50 years, so many things have gotten in the way of a healthy lifestyle.  Much of modern living interferes with good health and fitness, from the commuting time to work, to watching too much TV (4 hours 35 minutes per day on average), to far less physical work for most people.  

We, as homesteaders, are on the right path to improved physical fitness and health.  The chores of the homestead, the daily routine, the normal lifting, stretching, carrying, hauling, and pushing are an easy way to ongoing fitness and health.  This is fitness as a lifestyle choice. 

Meanwhile  back at the homestead.....

First you have to get your workout gear on...... spandex shorts... NOPE.  Form-fitting tank top...NOPE.   $180  Nike cross-trainers....FOR SURE NOPE.   For our workout it is very simple...  Jeans, T-shirt or denim work shirt, steel-toed work boots (or rubber boots if it is muddy), work gloves and a bandanna or ball cap...  that is it, all set.

Next, to the gym...  no sweaty, smelly gym for us!  We just step out the front door, take a deep breath and there it is...  the whole place is the gym.  Exercises and activities performed  outdoors  in fresh air offer increased aerobic benefits.  More clean air in helps improve our breathing technique.  Better technique increases stamina.  More oxygen to the muscles reduces that lactic acid build-up in the muscles.  

What about the fitness equipment?  Well, it is all right there, too.  Shovel, rake, hoe, wheelbarrow, bow-saw, hay bale, the pile of rocks, and the expanse of grass with the lawn mower,  as well as sheep and goats to chase.  Of course, don't forget the (grand)kids to play tag with, or to chase and keep up with.  Gardens to be weeded, fences to be built, and the endless list of the thousand things that have to be done on the homestead.

Oh!  And did I mention rocks?  A whole  bunch of rocks.  You no longer need to look at the rocks the same way.  They are now an integral part of your exercise plan.  There! don't you feel better just knowing that?

 (continued)

Home    1  2  3  4  Next