Work with your whole body!
Often enough I have blocks of pretty much physical work to do. This time it was clearing up a piece of garden that we rented end of last year. There was loads to do and even though I had borrowed an excavator for the really tough work, there was loads of weight to lift and move and loads of digging and so on to do by hand.
The garden hadn’t been used in years and was really a mess.
I’ve done a lot of physical work like this in my time and I haven’t always enjoyed it. In fact often enough it became a real pain in the neck or the back really.
Nowadays my whole way of going about this kind of work has changed and I can thoroughly enjoy being really physical. So what made the difference?
It was back five years ago or so that I had such bad back ache that I could hardly move, let alone lift something. I’d had this problem before and thought I was just wearing out and that I’d have to stop using my body for hard physical tasks eventually.
I went to an orthopedic doctor and asked what I could do, saying that I was prepared to invest energy into making things better. He prescribed me 50 units of core and back training, telling me that my main problem was false lifting and moving in combination with lack of core strength.
I did go to most of my training units and very soon I could feel my back getting better and better. Now a few years later I haven’t had troubles with my back since. It really was a matter of core training and using my body in the right manner when I do hard physical work. I have learned to use my whole body and not to be lazy about it.
Don’t be lazy about how you move, especially when lifting weights and other movements that are strenuous. Have a little stretch and warm-up beforehand and inbetween; Keep your back straight and don’t be too lazy to go right down into a squat when it’s best to do so.
Get outside and move to your roots!
wild-horse 03/2015
