Real-Life Workout

I haven't posted here as regularly as I would like; if you read my personal blog, you know that my husband and I have been working ourselves to the bone cleaning, painting, fixing, and redecorating the stuck-in-1985 house we officially bought on August 2. Prior to that, we were busy jamming all of our wordly possessions into boxes and a few U-Hauls, and the process of removing everything from those boxes continues even to today (has anyone seen my favorite khaki shorts?).

I've been feeling bad that I haven't been as active of an academic as I should be, even in the midst of this chaos. I mean, I had excellent intentions of running a few times a week, and to be perfectly honest I haven't run an inch since April. But today, as I read some of the posts on this blog that I've missed during the move, I remembered that it's not the "formal" activities that you do that necessarily make the difference; rather, it's the little, everyday things you do that, over the course of the day, add up to some sort of workout. And today, after a score of little, everyday tasks, I am exhausted.

First, there's the basic lifting, pulling, pushing and shoving that comes along with moving. I am still hauling half-empty boxes between rooms everyday, pushing furniture into new places. Then there's the cleaning -- my left arm is sore from washing the bathroom cabinets last night (there are far too many cabinets in the bathrooms in this house!) -- and the incessant vacuuming and wiping of every surface for fear that the germs and dirt of the previous owners remain. Since we are still sans washer and dryer (grr), I cannot forget to mention the innumerable trips to the laundromat (which, with a young child in tow, is always exercise) we're making each week. Then there's the hauling of trash to the end of our very long driveway and the wrangling of recyclables (thank God for recycling or my trash can would be overflowing at the end of each day). But all of these activities pale in comparison to the major task I tackled for the first time at this house:

Mowing the yard.

Oh my goodness. Our yard at our old house took us 20 minutes to mow, start to finish. Add another 10 minutes if we used the trimmer. Today, I mowed for two hours solid, no breaks, and I even had the help of our sweet neighbor. The front yard was a piece of cake -- flat, straight, no tricks. It took a long time simply because it is so large and long. The backyard, however, was a nightmare. The part of the backyard closest to the house was easy to mow, but the grass there was so thick that I had to empty my mower bag every 20 seconds, it seemed. Then the yard slopes steeply down, where there's another level of yard at the edge of the pond. I was mowing this steep slope and I completely lost my footing, sliding flat on my back (right in front of the new neighbors -- slick!). Pulling that mower up the slope and then controlling its quick descent took every ounce of strength I had. By the end of the yard, as I mowed the last little strip of lawn next to the pond, I was sweating as I'd never sweated before and feeling shaky all over. My arms are still tired, my legs feel like Jell-O. I will pay for this with aching muscles tomorrow morning.

But. It was a workout. A real-life workout. And I need to remind myself that these real-life workouts count just as much as 20 minutes set aside to run, head to the gym, swim, or whatever. Sure, my "real-life job" isn't terribly active, but the life I lead beside that job most certainly is.

NOTE: The "ActiveAcademic" posting name is shared by Prof. Me and Betty (who rocks). This post was by Prof. Me (which is probably obvious).

Tag: Exercise