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Farm Fit versus Gym Fit
Published: 4/12/2011
 I used to be an athlete.
I’d run and lift weights. For a few years there, I was even on a soccer team.
This winter, I signed up for a gym membership with my teenage sons. I vowed to lift, take yoga classes, run on the treadmill and use the other cardio machines.
And I did.
For about two weeks.
Quicker than a dieter’s collapse, I reverted to the habits acquired over the past 10 years:
-- Take long, daily woods walks with the dogs.
-- Clean the stalls, take care of the barn, and work with the horses.
-- Maybe stretch during a television show, if I get to it.
My entrenched lifestyle got me thinking about Farm Fit and Gym Fit. I have friends in both camps.
Which one are you?
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100 bales of hay to move?
No problem.
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Fence post holes to dig?
No problem.
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Load of grain delivered?
Cake.
- A cardio workout is running after the horses or beating them to the open gate.
Gasp!
- Aerobics classes?
I did them back when leggings were in.
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Run a mile or play tennis with my son?
Lord help me.
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30 minutes on the treadmill, with two percent incline at seven minute miles.
No problem.
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Six sets of crunches. Six sets of lunges.
No problem.
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Aerobics class yesterday. And will again tomorrow.
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Move aforementioned bales of hay?
Give me a conditioning plan and I'll do it next month.
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I worked hard today because there was a lot of work to do.
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I weigh xxx pounds. I fit into the same pair of jeans I bought 10 years ago. That
 was the last time I weighed myself.
- Sweats are what you change into when you're done barn work for the day.
- I wore shorts twice last summer. It was embarrassing. Plus, why change when you need to wear pants for nearly every chore?
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I worked hard today because it was Monday, Wednesday or Friday and I always work hard on those days.
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I weigh xxx pounds. I know because I stepped on the scale this morning, like I do every morning.
- Sweats are what you wear when you work out.
- Summertime, I live in shorts. I love to show off my tan and shape.
Cute story,I recently had to give up my gym membership and was feeling bad about it, but I realized that I do still work out every day. I have noticed little differnce in my shape cause if you scoop poop, lug a 16lb saddle, ride, lift grain bags or catch a horse that does not want to be caught, it's all the same!
I definitely have the "farm fit" attitude. I never weigh myself, but know I'm losing weight when I have to hit Goodwill for new jeans :) I love it when I get finished a lesson and my high school students are complaining about sore quads, thighs and abs when I don't have a problem at all. Plus, I can pick up, load, unload, and stack 100 bales by myself, if need be. Not too shabby!!
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