Plus the property is worth a lot now. Better than instead paying fees to a SmartFit gym here. Also I punch at about pro heavyweight power and can keep that up all day too. That's the forge of course. I developed a hammer which allows me thrust more than swing. In a way, really pounding the metal.
I recently cut down about 400 bamboo trees on my property by myself with a chainsaw and let me tell you, that kind of work will whip a man into shape real quick. A couple of years ago, I went to the beach for the weekend and when I was hanging out by the pool, I saw some guy on the other side who was ripped as hell. I went to the bar for a drink and he ended up over there at the same time, so I complimented him and asked what his workout routine was. He said, "Oh, I don't go to a gym or anything like that. I'm an arborist and my specialty is climbing huge trees manually and cutting them down piece by piece."
Exactly, I would look at bamboo as a project to build from but use a machete* though welding a chainsaw its actually pretty hard work if a big one, the opportunity to exercise is expended too fast. Its trading in a way, your time for a product. I absolutely agree on tree surgeons etc. Well noticed. I knew a guy in England who was a strong man, ripped and also built like a swimmer but better and he spent his days trimming tall trees and all that work. *That I custom made
A thing I'm sure I'm known for here is all the corrections I make to posts. I have the banana hands but also when I've been labouring, my hands and arms are sore. It's very hard for me to type on a phone, normal computer keyboard I'm fairly clean typing on. I guess I should go back to ice baths as these calm the slight tremors fast but it's.. Unpleasant haha.
I was searching for research on why gyms are so damned boring to most people and curiously one view is that the gym obsessed people it's not boring to.. Are themselves very boring. Not meant to be a jibe, but we all know somebody from gyms who just can't switch topics and think everything can be solved by working out or changing a suppliment etc. In everything, balance. Health and fitness can be interesting if you know enough about it but one should diversify too. "Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don't think about what you want to be, but what you want to do. Keep up some kind of a minimum with other things so that society doesn't stop you from doing anything at all." ~Richard Feynman Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Book) View attachment 319899
One of my all time fave books when I was younger, he was a real genius. Although strangely reading a book penned by a genius did not turn me in to a genius. Seem to remember The Character Of Physical Law is also rather good (difficult to tell though if I would still like it quite as much were I to reread it now).
Also to the point of your thread, I dislike gyms and am very happy with 30 mins of taichi and a few chin ups and press-ups most days
This is very true. Back when I went to a gym on a daily basis, I would see some amazing physiques from both men and women, and I used to wonder why I NEVER saw those people out in public anywhere (even the beach), and I mean never. Then one day I realized why... It's because they rarely go out in public outside of the gym. Their lives literally revolve around eating, sleeping, and training. Sure, they might have a 9 - 5 desk job somewhere, but running into them at their job is very unlikely. Their daily routine is so set in stone that they rarely make time to do anything outside of it.
I disagree. If you work your muscles hard and they reach their genetic potential or anywhere near it, then you will look better. Therefore, aesthetics are part of the equation whether you seek them or not, assuming you are not hiding those muscles under layers of unnecessary fat. Boring? Hardly. If you work out to your very limit, that can be many things, but boring is not one of them. Besides, if you do work out to your limit, then it needs not be a long workout or even a frequent one. And the endorphin rush after the fact is totally worth it. In my opinion there are many fairly worthless exercises that have no evolutionary relevance. But systematically focusing on the few that work your major muscles as they were intended to be worked can give you a balance that other activities such as the ones you described simply cannot. And certainly not as efficiently. And they are probably your best bet to ward off age-related sarcopenia as long as possible. When I was younger, I went to the gym 3 times a week for 2.5 hours at a time. Yeah, I was misguided, to put it mildly. It came to the point where I was no longer looking forward to going despite the cardio bunnies on display. I suppose I got good results despite the overtraining because I was young(er) and robust enough to withstand it. But it was overkill. Presently, I work out at home first thing in the morning, for only about 30 minutes, 3 times every 2 weeks (every 4 or 5 days). It is incredibly intense, taking each set to absolute concentric failure and then resting just enough to catch my breath to properly perform the next exercise (between 45 and 75 seconds, depending on the movement). It is not boring. Testing your limits is very challenging, therefore, by definition it cannot be boring. If anything it is addictive. But if I overdid the volume and frequency, and didn't go to failure, then, yeah, it would get boring and interfere with life. I know I said all this before, elsewhere in the forum. But it bears repeating.
I recall borrowing it from my dad who was given it at Christmas in the mid '80s and reading it through in one sitting. It was that or "Godel Escher Bach an eternal golden braid" which I did finish but digested over the next year Something that stuck with me for life he said in the book: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool".