Yes, well I'm pretty sure I broke several of the cardinal rules today, at least the muscles in my body are complaining about it. Squats and duck walk while planting onions and potatoes. Upper body workout while pulling off winter mulch. Combo of squats, lunges, etc. Building new compost pile. I promised myself I'd pace myself. That lasted all of two days. If I can get out of bed tomorrow I'll do it again.

Greetings All....

Gardening is NOT for sissies!!

Lugging those 40 pound bags of topsoil and composted manure, racking up all the leaves your so-called 'neighbor' blew into your yard, chasing rabbits with a shovel, making a gallant effort at getting a headstart on the weeds, bending over or getting down on your hands and knees to see or verify what did or didn't make it through the winter.... And this is all before the REAL work begins!

I've tried to convince my son to come help me in the yard/garden instead of PAYING to go to a gym/fitness club to work out....

Last weekend I spent pretty much all of the daylight hours out in the back yard, hand clearing the beds out and checking the plants. I kept telling myself it was better than regular exercise. I tell ya, on Monday morning I squatted to get something and could hardly get up. Now it's Saturday morning and it's time to do it all over again!

Off to the garden!
Sandy

The funny part is I work out 4-6 times a week year round. I use our treadmill, a bowflex, and do floor excercises, but none of those compare to a day in the garden!

Next time I go to the doctor and she asks if I have been exercising I can truthfully say yes.

I spent one day removing mulch from my gardens. The next two days my neck and shoulders were sore and I couldn't think why, thought my back and legs might be stiff from gardening but they weren't. The fourth day I was removing more mulch and then I knew why I had ached. Bend over, remove mulch, look up, remove mulch, look at new growth, look up, bend over, remove mulch, look up....LOL.
Guess the first day's workout conditioned those muscles as I didn't have any problem again.

Bobbie

Me too with the soreness. I've been trying to get myself in better shape the last few months. I have type 2 diabetes and my main goal was to get by glucose levels to where they really should be. A few pounds of weight loss and exercise have done that and I'm really pleased with the results. I'm currently working out at the gym 3-4 days a week, doing a half hour of cardio and a half hour of strength training and I've really seen results. But, on the other hand, I've been a little slow getting out to do the spring cleanup in the garden. I finally got going yesterday and spent a few hours clipping last years growth and cleaning up. This morning, there I was with a kind of stiff and sore back (between the shoulder blades) and the same thing in my thighs, from the back of the knees about halfway up. So, whoever said gardening wasn't exercise anyway? We ALL know better then that! Isn't it great to see the garden getting in shape though?

Absolutely! With the rain the last couple of days, leaves are popping out all over.