I was out gardening yesterday... I live in a house that sits on a lot of clay-ey soil, so the lawn - in the back where my "apartment", aka the first floor is, looks out on clay and tufts of weeds.
So yesterday I bought 20 30-pound cinderblocks, and have arranged them in a line from my driveway, all the way across to where the bones of a room that never got made (by the person who put this house together himself - it's a prefab house) sit.
And hefting those 30-pound blocks, thanks to my work gloves, was a workout. Ended up taking 2 nice hot baths last night.
Today, rather than buy 26 more cinder blocks, to create three squares which are to contain flowers, within the border I've already created, I'm going to make wooden frames - or rather, dragoon my dad to do so for me.
But there'll be plenty of hefting still to do - bags of wood shaving to surround the wood frames, and planting soil inside the wood frames, and some flowers.
If you're a gardener, you know how tiring it can be - even if you're not lifting 30-pound cinder blocks. It's teh stooping and kneeling that gets to you - isn't it? You may have the muscles in your arms to lift things, but your back and hamstrings aren't quite as fit as the rest of you.
To counteract that feeling of soreness, there are a few exercises you can do.
Specifically - squats, with either a light-barbell or two dumbells, and the deadman's lift.
The lift is where you stand with your legs straight, bend over, grab hold of a light barbell, and then straighten up - using only your back and stomach muscles. The barbell comes up only because you're holding onto it, not because you're lifting it with your arms. This is a tremendous exercise for your back.
Start out with light weights and work up - if you hurt your back, it'll trouble you forever, so make sure you don't lift and twist, for example, or try to lift something that's too heavy for you.
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