I really don't get it ?

Tim C

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I really don't get it. Everyones fanatacism with health. The whole physical activity fad. What's the point?
I grew up a normal child. On the farm, then in the 'burbs, then a small country town. Well-rounded, I s'pose. When my parents bought a country truckstop, I was in my element. I just didn't know it. From 11 years old, I never had to sit down for the dreaded meal. I would just walk in the kitchen, make what I wanted and leave. I lived on Hot Dogs with the lot and chips with Maggi gravy. Coca-cola and Chokitos.
At 12, I needed glasses. At 13 I was 14 stone. Not a good way to start high-school...So I hope y'all can understand my cynicism....I left school at 15, and took off (ran away) to Queensland working in the shearing sheds as a Rouseabout. Needless to say, the weight didn't hang around long. At 46 I'm 12 stone, and if heredity is anything to go on I will soon need to be hanging onto as much as I can!
Exercise is for people who don't work hard enough. Simple as that. You can also burn off as much with your brain, if you use it. Pushing yourself has very little to do with physical exertion and more to do with active habit-forming. That is unless you are intent on dying of a brain embolism or massive heart failure. Then, by all means, run your guts out, lift that 350kg benchweight...What a load of egotistical hype.
A lifestyle where you are constantly pushed is not as bad for you as pushing yourself from time-to-time. Not as damaging to the body or mind. Only thing is then your joints wear out like mine. So now I exercise my brain more- but in this political climate, that also is now pushed to its' limits.
I used to love footy. But we moved to an area where politics and athleticism ruled. I trained for 2 years, and never saw the field.
So that formed my opinion of recreational exercise also.
The comradery I know and knew was that of the outback, the dry and laconic, yet fiercely protective mentality of the bush. That of the shearers and ringers, wrought through interaction despite difference. Not the soggy, paternalistic back-stabbings of suburban friendship. Not the naive and self-centred boastings of the local footy hero. The near-wordless gestures of my comrades were the absolution of my faith in the bush. This is the true Aussie spirit. Not the so-called Aussie knocker, who compares rather than helps. Not the politician who is an Aussie knocker for their personal benefit.
My mates are the ones shearing 200 a day, when the city wusses are knocked off because it's 38 degrees. I'm the rousy and the woolclasser doing the lot. Not the political rep hiding behind a shirk. And I sure-as-Hell won't be going for a jog Saturday morning.
 
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Mark

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I know what you are saying Tim and most of us wouldn't have to exercise if we all sheared 200 sheep a day geez that would keep anyone fit! However, someone has to push pens and shine seats if there wasn't we wouldn't be chatting on this cool piece of software :)

So if those people (I'm one of them) can't get enough natural exercise in the day then we have to (should) make up for it by artificially adding it in to compensate.

Some days I do get enough exercise just from working around the property so I don't go for a jog or give my home gym a pounding but more often than not I do need to factor some PT into my day.

If I didn't do extra exercise I would soon become very unfit and unhealthy that's for sure!
 

Mark

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Your original post was about the benefit of scheduled exercise not politics. This is an exercise forum o_O

Edit: I see you deleted the relevant post - thanks. For forums to run well and so members and visitors can search for and read about certain topics we should try and stick to the original thread topic whenever possible. Of course this doesn't mean we have to be sterile without banter etc or can't ever move sideways off topic... you know what I mean :)
 
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Jenni

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I'm with you mark. I am a pen pusher and most of my exercise comes from working in the yard. I hate cardio and it doesn't like me but I am a fan of weight lifting to keep up strength which deteriorates very quickly when you sit on your butt.

I must admit I am pretty slack when it comes to exercise. I agree with Tim though on the fact it would be great if lifestyle keeps you fit rather than it being a chore (except if you love it of course).

I don't like the idea of the standing office or the treadmill desk. They seem a bit crazy. Although I would love one of those Gamer work stations.

I read somewhere that a sitting down job is one of the worst jobs for your health and body.,
 

Mark

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Yeah, I much prefer 3 sets of hard tennis or a day in the garden than one of my 10k runs or a gym workout for sure!

Weight training is exceptionally good and if you could only choose one type of exercise weight training should be it because you actually do get quite a bit of cardio work in a good gym workout plus the benefits of resistance exercise, which becomes more important as we age.

As Tim alluded, a shearer is doing both weight training and cardio just by doing their job - no wonder they look so fit in those blue singlets! Iconic Aussies hey :chuffed:
 

stevo

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There's a video or site I saw that describes the Chair as the worst invention ever as it's slowly killing us. I much prefer lounges where I can lay across it and put my feet up while I watch TV. .. ahh yeah we are slowly killing ourselves aren't we as we make life easier.

I always thought you could probably eat what ever you like as long as you were active enough to work it off, but you'd have to be pretty active to burn all that crap food and sugar that people eat so much of.
 

Tim C

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Yeah, chicken and lean meats are nice, and you can do a lot with them, but give me a well-cremated greasy Merino wether chop, any day. Shoulder, leg, or loin makes no difference to me.:eat: I inadvertantly eat pretty well because I like creative cooking, and self-sufficiency. :)
I don't know if it's the chair Stevo, or the bureaucrat riding it that's killing us.
 

Tim C

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Here's a little pic of "tea" tonight. Just for a comparison.:)
camera 128.jpg


It's just a little serve of cremated baa-lamb forequarter, and murdered vegetables. I shan't go into details about the horror the vegetables suffered, but the baa-lamb was already well-and-truly dead before it suffered any of the sadistic and murderous attrocities inflicted upon those poor vegetables, let alone the torture those herbs experienced when I dried them!

I don't know if I can live with myself anymore, maybe next time I'll just go to Maccas and let someone else deal with all that suffering, before I enjoy....:whistles:
As the post is called, What's the point? A 10km run, then sit/lay on the lounge and eat half a packet of licorice allsorts. Now that's calling for type 2 diabetes. The poor old body is just a product of Mother Nature. So if you flog it out, then load up on sugars, well, I'm sorry, but Dear Old Mother Nature is just gonna load you up. This process is basically genetic modification. Over multiple generations, it will weed out all but the strongest, but in the short term, it means that if you and yours are susceptible to degeneration through sugar intake...you ain't gonna have any(surviving) progeny.
However, all I have to do is elbow the woman in the ribs, and out pops another baby. No asthma. No allergies. No IVF.
The vegetable-rights people are the same ones promoting a sterilisation of Mother Nature. Get rid of all those natural bred Country Hicks, and their weird ideoligies, like eating meat! We can't have any of that monogamism going on either! You have to be gay, bi or celibate to have a say in this world!
 
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Mark

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It looks damn good to me! I got slak tonight and made fried rump steak with asparagus (shop bought) and homemade pickled beetroot - that was it... :oops: I suppose it's healthy enough but you've got more veggies and fibre in your meal, plus that onion gravy over the lamb looks delicious :)
 

Jenni

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Tim that looks great... You can cook for me anytime... :eat:

Was steak and pasta salad for me last night. A one off quick purchase from the supermarket on way home from work.

Had a Adventure rider motorcycle course all day on Tuesday, fell off 3 times and was riding in 35deg heat with all the gear on. Lucky the instructor helped to pick the bike up otherwise I would still be there.. Wow was that day hard work on the body. Still feeling it.

Then sat in a clients office all day yesterday.. recovery day lol.

One extreme to the next.
 

Tim C

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Yeah, a lot of young bucks like riding motorbikes. But even one days mustering in stony country is enough to knock the shine off it for many. You don't realise how many muscles you have until they all ache. On Yandama Station we had 2x Honda CRFs, an XR and a Suzuki DRF. That was my bike. The Hondas had skinny hard seats and stiff suspension. They had ample power, if you could hang on over the rough and through the dry creekbeds. But the Suzuki had a wide, soft seat, soft suspension, a cooling fan for the motor (you can cook a bike idling along behind a mob),a full sized, high powered headlight, and a sump-guard. It also had bark-busters (hand guards) and a carry-rack back and front. I inadvertantly carried the water, hats, coats etc. for the others.
 

Jenni

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I think that is part of the problem that I am not young anymore and don't do enough of that sort of exercise so hits hard and takes days to recover.... I own a Suzuki DR650 single, no cooling fan. I also have bark-busters and carry rack, sump guard and larger tank. Even though it is a lighter bike than most other adventures it still has a bit of weight making riding on the rough stuff harder work. Also the older you are the more potential for damage when you fall off.

I think we all need to do a large variety of exercises and doing the same gym session week in week out doesn't make you a fit and healthy person. I have been to the gym a few times and laugh at the women with makeup on and hair done on the treadmill not even getting up a sweat. That is why I so much like acreage properties. They force you go get outside in the fresh air and get physical in all sorts of activities from splitting wood, lifting, mowing, raking to digging a hole. Natural exercise.

I look at people at my parents age. My oldies have acreage, and are naturally active people, always doing something physical things because they have physical things to do, and they go for walks if they haven't done enough activity for the day, they are slim and have no sickly ailments. Then I look at others who live in a unit, with limited activity, most are overweight and on meds.

The gym has a place no doubt and so does the home gym (I have one) because of peoples choice of lifestyle. We can't all have a physical job because the number jobs just aren't there and we need those behind a desk to process it. We wouldn't even be in contact nor be able to share knowledge to encourage others to take on a more self sufficient lifestyle if it wasn't for nerds behind a desk.

Tim you are right mental activity is so very important.
 

Tim C

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Too big mate. A 650 is a road bike, no matter the layout. Try skull-dragging that one out of a dry creekbed, or push-starting it even.
Gyms and home gyms are the sure sign of a slanted society, of the disparity that exists between rich and poor, city and country. Academic idealism and hard work and effort. One treadmill cost would keep me in food for 6 months. Most buy them, use them once then it goes out on hard rubbish day. Then someone like me scrounges the motor out of it for a wind generator.
Too many behind desks altogether everywhere. 13% of the population of SA work for the government and public service- that is a staggeringly high percentage. Yet the few left in public service who actually do physical work complain about the amount and complexity of compliance these types enforce to keep themselves in jobs. Seppo-style litigation instead of ownership of responsibility. Ideology over common sense. The main mental activity in these places is the sly conniving of every cent possible to uphold their extravagant bludging lifestyles. They exercise their brains in a way that I consider criminal intent.
Most of us WOULD have physical jobs, if the government hadn't shipped manufacturing overseas and privatised essential services. Telecom, Railways, Highways, power, water, would all employ more under a government services banner, whilst paying appropriate wages and not being intent on profit for the big-boys, but rather improved infrastructure and wages. The imposts and penalties should be to limit imports, not penalise the majority. That would help to level the playing field, so Aussie business could survive and employ more people, without having to jack their prices through the roof to pay electricity, water, insurance (also privatised) and payroll tax. The only bank should be the Reserve bank. The other rogues should be locked up. There should only be one level of government, either Federal or State. Not both.
This would make for an altogether healthier and happier society, with a clear and level playing field.
 

Mark

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I used to ride a 600 in the Army mainly to keep convoys in check and recons in the bush - it was heavy to haul cross country and I came off several times. To get our licence we had to do a 3 week course at Puckapunyal - log jumping, obstacles, and all that poop... there were quite a few broken bones. The course ended in a roadtrek first city driving through Melbourne then onto the Grampians and back along the Great Ocean Road - my backside has never been sorer :p

After my parachuting accident and all the fancy surgery to fix my right arm (and everything else) I never renewed my civvy bike licence because if I break it again my surgeon reckons they'll have to chop it off. Anyway, I must admit motorbike riding is fun especially cross country but yes it's hard work and great exercise!

Does bike riding beat a workout in a home gym? Probably :)
 

Tim C

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Riding a bike in the city is probably more dangerous than parachuting- I lost count of doors I kicked when people cut me off without seeing me. You give way to everyone riding in the city, or die! I snapped both bones in my lower leg a few years ago, turning the foot backwards. Them doctors fixed me up good-as-gold, a pin, a plate and 13 screws.:)
 

Jenni

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A 650 is a road bike
Yeah they call it an adventure bike because it does both road and dirt an in between bike. Its surprising where you can take them. The DR are really popular for rides up to the cape or across the desert but people take much larger bikes. The DR is one of the lightest of the so called adventure bikes. Its a good all rounder go anywhere its 166kg fully fueled. Problem is if you drop to a 450 then its hell on the highway which you generally need to ride on to get to a decent off road track. Which we we try to do to avoid the traffic and the police as they are tough on speeding just not worth the grief.

Ouch Tim nasty.

Ouch Mark nasty also..
 

MichelleMD

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Exercise is mainly good for those who work indoors all day (accountants, lawyers, teachers, and students) or for those with physical disabilities. Then there are people like me who had something prevent them from living an active life long enough to gain weight, loose endurance and/or loose muscle strength. There is nothing wrong with adding more exercise to your life.
 

Ash

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I spend a lot of time explaining to people how important weight loss is for their health, because the vast majority of them are not active enough to maintain a healthy weight range. The beauty of technology and innovation is the appreciation of mod cons and how they make our lives easier, safer and also better. However its down side is the general state of laziness people have assumed because they no longer have to sweat to do tasks that we used to have to labour over by hand.

Then again, when I was told by the solar installer that I needed a trench to be dug to lay the cables back to the meter board, and that they were not going to do it, I tried to give it a go myself. 80 meters didn't look too far for me to try. But I had to make it at least 500mm deep, so I gave up pretty quickly. It would take my time-poor self months to get it done. So naturally when I asked a guy with a digger to have a look, he laughed at my paltry effort and I realised we can't reasonably do by hand what the earth movers can achieve. So I know now to leave my physical energy for more fruitful tasks as well as the enjoyable ones...
 
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