I was thinking about my day yesterday and the calories I’d burned doing the different activities I’d done. For me, they were unusual and the reason I noted them, pointing out the amount of calories we have the potential to burn when we do such things. I also considered what I had done was probably like what my grandparents did every day of their lives as they were growing up. We all concede that life was physically more demanding then...no big surprise. My grandparents were all born around 1900, and just went about life’s tasks without any thought as to how many calories they were burning...which was likely more than most Americans burn today completing similar tasks. Sunday, I raked leaves...most of them anyway...the old fashioned way, but I know my neighbors have blowers or use a tractor to pick them up, and I use a tractor to get the last few and to cut the grass. Holly and I did a walk just to burn off some calories that we couldn’t burn off producing our own food because we don’t produce it. I spent some time painting at John’s new place and burned some calories there instead of watching TV where I would have remained stationary...using only the muscles in my fingers to operate the remote control. I’m guessing they didn’t have access to any tradesmen of any sort...they likely built, replaced, repaired and maintained everything in their dwellings themselves. I have seen some pictures of my grandparents in their early years and one thing that does surprise me is that they had any meat on them at all. As much activity as they did to handle life’s tasks, how could they ever put on any excess weight?
So...we do what we can to burn the calories...or we get fat and/or let our muscles turn to Jell-o. I know I was doing both for a time, though I’ve managed to stem it through very conscious effort. What can you do? We’ve come far in using our intellects to create more and better ways to make sure we don’t have to stress our bodies. I suppose sometimes...the pendulum swings too far.
It had been raining most of the day, but I saw a window of opportunity right after work. I drove to the Metropark and quickly changed for a Survival Workout when the skies opened up and that window suddenly slammed shut. I waited for ten minutes, but there was no let up and it was too cold to do the workout drenched to the bone...I had no interest in a bout with hypothermia. I drove home with only one option...time on the trainer and an episode of ‘Soprano’s’. I suppose I could eat fewer calories and look for more manual chores to do around the house...but yeah...I think I’ll just ride.
Bike workout: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 120 bpm.Calories burned during workout: 850.
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