Here’s something I hadn’t done in a long time, yet became a necessity again with the coming back of sunnier and warmer days: gardening. And now that we’re about to buy the house we live in, taking care of the big garden behind it is a task we can’t overlook. So, this afternoon, instead of hitting the gym, we went outside, under the warm spring sun, and began to take care of the old branches on our trees.
To be fully honest, I don’t like gardening; it’s never been a hobby for me, and it probably never will, just like I’m not great at finding much fun in cooking. Add to this the fact that there’s much to do, after the house was inhabited for almost two years, and that we’ll still have to take care of this for long. However, having a proper garden means that I’ll be able to grow my own vegetables, which is enticing enough a reward for me, especially now that I’m decided to eat in a healthier way. All good things in the end, after all!
My boyfriend and I set ourselves to work, and when we were finally done, a full hour had already passed. We weren’t aware that it had been so long, cutting and carrying branches, trying to see which trees we could keep intact and which needed a serious cut, and taking down the huge brambles rooted in a corner of the garden. It doesn’t end here, though: we finished more than three hours ago, after several unsuccessful attempts at buring part of the brambles, and I’m feeling like I’ve gone through a full workout at the gym.
The lesson I got out of this? It can be summarized very easily: we shouldn’t sketch these “everyday” tasks out of our exercising scene, when we have the opportunity to perform then. Most of my ancestors were after all taking care of their gardens or even whole fields during their whole life, and when it comes to such active gardening - not simply trimming down a few roses in a pot, that is - I am not surprised that the physical effort can be felt.
Sure, I didn’t go to the gym today, but if I’m feeling sore from it, it probably means that I worked muscles that I tend to overlook during my workouts - worked them on a longer time frame, also, not during a few reps only. Who knows? If I had performed this kind of task everyday for many years, maybe I wouldn’t have gained as much weight as I had. If I start doing that regularly enough, even as a chore and not for pleasure, maybe it will also provide me with a source of exercise that, all in all, will be under the sun, not locked in a gym room.
I probably won’t know what influence it can have, given that I absolutely don’t intend on giving up going to the gym just to check this. Still, I’m convinced that it can only be a benefit, and not something useless.
- Kery
