Become Farm Fit

Become Farm Fit

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Back when I was going to school, there were many groups of kids that would congregate together. Of the most feared were the farm kids. Why? Well, part of the reason is that they’d sometimes come right to school after doing chores and they’d smell like manure. So no one wanted to deal with the stench.  

But a bigger reason was that, even at the age of 15 or 16 years old, they were pretty doggone strong and as tough as a 2-dollar steak. The last thing you wanted to do was pick a fight with one of these hombres and be turned into a statistic.

The lesson you are going to learn today is not about getting beat up by a farm kid in your adolescence. What happened in the past is in the past. What’s more important is the manner in which they became strong.

There was a lot of labor-intensive work that they would perform on a daily basis. In modern times, this is often referred to as activities of daily living, or ADL for short. It involves hoisting, lifting, throwing, pulling, pushing and carrying of heavy objects.

When it comes to your body, you can take this same unconventional route to get whipped into shape. The following is a list of ways to build muscle and endurance without having to resort to gym equipment.

This is especially gratifying if you don’t like to be inside and you don’t like people getting in your way and you don’t like dealing with a host of the other atrocities that often go down inside the gym walls.

Fun With Tires

There’s nothing fun about getting snow tires every winter because they’re expensive. But when it comes to using giant, circular pieces of rubber for working out, there is awesome fun to be had. Especially when you can score these big-ass tractor tires from a local factory.

The simplest way to use tires is to simply flip them over a specific distance or for a certain amount of reps. This really builds power and strength through your whole body and it would be a great compliment to a Norditropin HGH dosage.

You can also slam a sledgehammer into a tire, or if you have actual demolition to do, use it for what it’s intended for. Lastly, the tire can be used as a prop to do push-ups, dips, box jumps and step-ups.

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Branches Make Good Anchors

Pull-up bars are great for building upper body and core strength. But not everyone has a pull-up bar and not everyone is willing to make one at home. However, you all have access to trees.

All you have to do is go find a good, sturdy branch that you can hang from and you all-of-a-sudden have access to a ton of pull-up variations. It’s a good idea though to wear a pair of work gloves. Just like the ones you would see farm kids wearing. This will spare your hands from too much brute-force trauma.

You can also tie a sturdy rope to a branch to do rope climbs or other creative drills that come to mind.

Pond Swimming

Most farms come equipped with a pond or small lake. Sometimes cows and horses drink from them, which is no big deal. But other times, they may use them as a public rest room. If option B is the case, then you best steer clear.

But, if the body of water happens to be off in the distance and in pristine shape, utilize it to its fullest potential. Run to it with your swim trunks on and then go for a swim.

You’ll be able to get your cardio on, and not feel confined to a pool, which gives you only a short distance to work with. Plus, the scenery will be far greater and you won’t have to worry about chlorine burning your eyes out.

Wheelbarrow Carries

You can never go wrong with a good old wheelbarrow. This tried and true tool has been around for ages to transport substrates from one point to another. Load that sucker up with rocks, cinderblocks, broken concrete, dirt, sand or whatever and then simply push it for a set distance.

If you want to get fancy and test your limitations, find a nearby hill and do reps, pushing it up and back down. Your legs will be on fire in no time at all.

Farmer’s Walks

The farmer’s walk is an actual exercise used in gyms across the globe. You simply hold a heavy weight in each hand and walk for a specific distance. This is a great drill for grip strength and overall power.

Well, it is fashioned off of the farmer, who would carry heavy-ass objects at his side. Back then, it was done out of necessity. You can easily go old-school and mimic history by carrying hay bales, buckets of water, logs, chains or whatever you can wrap your grubby little fingers around.

If you happen to fly down to visit the anti-aging clinic, you will likely have a suitcase or two. Instead of rolling them, feel free to carry them at your sides and you’ll know immediately what farmer’s walks are all about.

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Healthy food is healthy life. Handsome young man holding fresh yellow pepper and smiling while standing in the kitchen

Fire up the Ax

Nothing hits the spot quite as well as an hour’s worth of splitting wood by hand. You would be hard pressed to find a better upper body/core workout in conjunction with cardio.

All you need is a good ax and a pile of logs, and you’re off to the races. Chopping the wood is only one aspect of the job too. It still needs to be stacked and transported. If you find a buddy, you can throw the chopped wood to him and he can stack it. This is a great rotational drill for the core.

Lastly, you can stack a bunch of split pieces of wood on your arms and carry them inside your house or to a specific location. The isometric contraction you will get is a great biceps burner.

The Final Word on Being Farm Fit

Chances are, you do not actually live on a farm. But, you can get a lot of the stuff mentioned above and just have them readily available at your house to do workouts with. Or, perhaps you have a friend or neighbor who lives on a farm and they’ll let you train there.

It doesn’t really matter how you go about it. Just know that there is a whole other world of fitness out there that doesn’t involve sitting on a machine and moving a camshaft back and forth.