Desk bound job and manual graft don't mix (for me anyway)

[flanagaj]

I'm 53 and up until 18 months ago, I was doing 5-9 hours of exercise a week.  So I was very fit, but I now found that if I do manual graft, it completely wrecks me the next day.  Yesterday, I did a load of hedge cutting on site, before the big start next week!  This morning though, I feel like I have been hit by a truck and am thinking to myself "how the hell are you going to build a house".   Any other desk bound individuals out there who are a similar age, able to comment whether they too find manual graft gets you the next day.  I'm fine doing it, it's just the recovery that kills me.

Really hoping, that the more manual graft I do the easier the next day will be.

[Pocster]

20 minutes ago, flanagaj said:

Really hoping, that the more manual graft I do the easier the next day will be.

This !

Your body does adapt . Hair grows round it eventually - I know this to be true 😂

[JohnMo]

38 minutes ago, flanagaj said:

I'm 53 and up until 18 months ago, I was doing 5-9 hours of exercise a week.  So I was very fit, but I now found that if I do manual graft, it completely wrecks me the next day.  Yesterday, I did a load of hedge cutting on site, before the big start next week!  This morning though, I feel like I have been hit by a truck and am thinking to myself "how the hell are you going to build a house".   Any other desk bound individuals out there who are a similar age, able to comment whether they too find manual graft gets you the next day.  I'm fine doing it, it's just the recovery that kills me.

Really hoping, that the more manual graft I do the easier the next day will be.

I was was 57 when I started, lost 2 stone building the house. Every morning was hard work at the start. But I paid for an assistant, I collected them every morning to go to site. That makes you get up every day early (not Saturday or Sunday) and do a full days graft. After a while you get fit again and your body gets used to it.

[Post and beam]

I am 65 and know that i am not in the best of condition. I have lost weight in the past years build, especially outdoors when it was very cold.

But my knees are shot and back is very immobile. This has not improved. Yes i am wiped out the next day and no it has not got any easier

[nod]

I’m 64 next month and getting up for a third build 💪🏻

[flanagaj]

I was feeling really optimistic until I read @Post and beam comment.

[nod]

1 minute ago, flanagaj said:

I was feeling really optimistic until I read @Post and beam comment.

It’s a different kind of fitness Something you can build up 

Our son in-law is 38 6”8 tall 18 stone and a gym rat 

He came helping me load concrete blocks for a day and really struggled 

[ProDave]

You MUST keep moving.  You cannot store fitness.  It will go away very quickly of you stop doing things.  In the "off season" we try and go for a good long walk a few times a week to keep things moving.

[SteamyTea]

Wish I was as mobile as I was when 53.

There needs to be a medical conditioned called (expletive deleted)ed.

 

Just remembered, went to buy some new trousers the other day, and apart from going to the kiddies section, Tesco don't make them small enough for me anymore.

So if you know anyone that wants to slim down, tell them to help.

Edited Friday at 09:30 by SteamyTea

[marshian]

14 minutes ago, ProDave said:

You MUST keep moving.  You cannot store fitness.  It will go away very quickly of you stop doing things.  In the "off season" we try and go for a good long walk a few times a week to keep things moving.

^ This in spades for me - I do most of my DIY in summer and most of my car stuff in winter both use very different muscles but it balances out (60 yrs)

[saveasteading]

I find I can potter all day. Anything much more physical is doable but writes off the next day. So I make a point of having a few different jobs on the go, heavy mixed with light, and so the posture and muscle use change.

I am instructed by experts, that resistance work is crucial to long-term fitness too. They confirm that  shovelling, carrying, barrowing all tick that, but I half fill the barrow.

 

In the garden, hedge cutting is the most tiring and causes strain. I used to have a  big 'look at what I've achieved' session. Now spread over 2 or 3 days, and there is plenty else to do.

I heartily recommend 'no-dig' cultivation. No digging obviously, but it grows vegetables much better too.

 

What's most difficult? standing up from kneeling.  I'd like a remedy for that.

[Oz07]

Am I the only one not pensioned off yet 😅 

[Crofter]

I was 37 and working as a fish farmer during our previous build.

Doing the house felt like a holiday compared to my job 😂

 

I'll be ten years older and a coming from a more sedentary lifestyle during the next one. I expect it's going to feel a lot harder!

[BadgerBodger]

Don’t think it’s much easier if you’re younger!!! I’m not yet 40 and I’m still feeling the pain!!

 

If it’s not your day job any task can really put a strain on you as it uses different muscle groups. 
 

I’m pretty fit, one of those swim, bike, run guys, but last week, steel fixing, laying drainage, shoveling hardcore, general carting, power tools and hammering roof nails really (expletive deleted)ed me up. Only just got over it today, ready to start the cycle again!!! 
 

I do have a “desk job” though…

[Gone West]

31 minutes ago, BadgerBodger said:

Don’t think it’s much easier if you’re younger!!! I’m not yet 40 and I’m still feeling the pain!!

It will only get worse . I started my first new build when I was 59 and it was fine. I'm 74 now, doing a renovation and am knackered.

[-rick-]

This might be a bit late for @flanagaj but has anyone got any suggestions on getting fit before starting a build? ie, what to focus on?

 

My guess is focsusing on broad (+core) fitness/stamina, rather than heavy weights or similar but any specific suggestions would be useful.

[Alan Ambrose]

Your stamina will improve over time. But a bit of self management mixing hard labour, light work, driving machines, paperwork etc will help together with some proper rest. Also, employ other people with muscles to manage your own labour. The bonus is that you will get a lot fitter.

[BadgerBodger]

Resistance training mixed with cardio likely. What ever doesn’t exhaust you too much for a hard days work ahead of you 😂

[saveasteading]

16 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

employ other people with muscles to manage your own labour.

Agreed. Their muscles, your attention to detail. 

Hanging about watching the labour can annoy people, but doing something else nearby can work.

[-rick-]

6 minutes ago, BadgerBodger said:

Resistance training mixed with cardio likely. What ever doesn’t exhaust you too much for a hard days work ahead of you 😂

 

I was thinking of things to do when dealing with architects and planners, not once you actually got on site. Doing the excercise then also hopefully gives a outlet for the frustration of dealing with the planning aspects 😛

[flanagaj]

3 hours ago, -rick- said:

This might be a bit late for @flanagaj but has anyone got any suggestions on getting fit before starting a build? ie, what to focus on?

 

My guess is focsusing on broad (+core) fitness/stamina, rather than heavy weights or similar but any specific suggestions would be useful.

If you don't want to do barbell training, I would get some kettle bells.  You can do so many things with them.

[SteamyTea]

27 minutes ago, flanagaj said:

get some kettle

And make lots of tea.

Works for me.

[G and J]

7 hours ago, -rick- said:

This might be a bit late for @flanagaj but has anyone got any suggestions on getting fit before starting a build? ie, what to focus on?

 

My guess is focsusing on broad (+core) fitness/stamina, rather than heavy weights or similar but any specific suggestions would be useful.

Being a bum (aka being retired) has its upsides.  Last year I did over 100km a month on my water rower and my weights three times a week.  It gave me a start.  I now walk around site slower than I’ve ever walked, but I can carry on for the full day.  I now can lift heavier weights than when I was doing weights. 

 

I find a bath night each and occasional anti-inflammatories tablets help.

But I’ve not managed to lose much weight.    😕 

 

[JohnMo]

14 minutes ago, G and J said:

But I’ve not managed to lose much weight

Your either a skinny one already or you need to work harder. So get a move on. Too much time sat in your bum writing on buildhub.

 

No buildhub for me while I was building.

[G and J]

9 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Too much time sat in your bum writing on buildhub

Guilty as discharged. 
 

The problem is my chippy won’t stop work unless I plonk tea and McVitie’s dark chocolate digestives (other brand are available) in front of him then he’ll stop to talk over plans, etc.  And it would be rude to expect him to eat alone. 
 

J posts on here too, which is why it looks like we are on a lot.  I can’t type and dunk biscuits at the same time. 
 

And there has never, nor will there ever be a time when I can be called a skinny one. Built for comfort, me.