Getting Fit for Self-Build

[Ferdinand]

Just musing.  

 

@Sue B said on another thread.

Quote

Picking up one of the internal wall boards on David's site was an eye opener due to it's weight - we could barely lift it!!

 

This is a comment from one of the thirty-something girls at our gym after New Year. 

Quote

When you see the new year in deadlifting both men and women at a wedding you know you’re on to a corker of a year!

 

We have seen a few injuries reported on BH around backs, lifting, muscle pulls etc, in addition to the rips and cuts and falls and cracks.

 

Is there mileage in specifically looking to get a bit fitter, learn about lifting etc before starting, especially as there is something of an overlap between self-builders and the type of people who perhaps have more sedentary office-based jobs?

 

I have done more gym-ing / cycling / dancing and so on over the last several years, and I find that while I am not comfortable moving eg plasterboard around as my builders tend to be, I am much more comfortable hefting things like 20-30kg packs of flooring etc around, than used to be the case. Having done some weight-lifting and flexibility work at the gym has been a real benefit.

 

Professional tradespeople, another self-build demographic, are probably better on the general fitness and manual handling side, but it seems to me something that professional chair-sitters, keyboard warriors or more elderly potential self-builders might find a benefit here.

 

Thoughts?

Ferdinand

 

 

Edited January 2, 2019 by Ferdinand

[joe90]

I am sure getting fit before working on a self build is a very good idea, personally after three years on my build  I am now just old and knackered (and looking to sub out the heavy work left ?).

[jack]

I suspect that to see a real benefit will take at least several months and probably a year or more of proper training. Learning how to lift things would be faster, and certainly worth doing imo.

 

That said, I firmly believe that everyone should be lifting heavy things and doing high intensity interval training, no matter what their age or current fitness level.

[scottishjohn]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

Just musing.  

 

@Sue B said on another thread.

 

This is a comment from one of the thirty-something girls at our gym after New Year. 

 

We have seen a few injuries reported on BH around backs, lifting, muscle pulls etc, in addition to the rips and cuts and falls and cracks.

 

Is there mileage in specifically looking to get a bit fitter, learn about lifting etc before starting, especially as there is something of an overlap between self-builders and the type of people who perhaps have more sedentary office-based jobs?

 

I have done more gym-ing / cycling / dancing and so on over the last several years, and I find that while I am not comfortable moving eg plasterboard around as my builders tend to be, I am much more comfortable hefting things like 20-30kg packs of flooring etc around, than used to be the case. Having done some weight-lifting and flexibility work at the gym has been a real benefit.

 

Professional tradespeople, another self-build demographic, are probably better on the general fitness and manual handling side, but it seems to me something that professional chair-sitters, keyboard warriors or more elderly potential self-builders might find a benefit here.

 

Thoughts?

Ferdinand

 

 

buy a gorilla gripper for 8x4 boards one handed 

 

getting a bad back --will be with you for ever --I know 

so don,t tempt fate--its not the weight its the funny angles you twist to lift things 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/183430311050

 

myabe some cheaper if you hunt  around

If you doing plaster boarding single handed buy or rent one of these cheaper than 2 visits to the back man 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/201969018140

Edited January 2, 2019 by scottishjohn

[Dudda]

It’s not just physical training. It’s also mental training like when you wake up Saturday morning after a long week at work and it’s snowing outside. The last few months have left you knackered and you’ve to go to a freezing site to keep pushing on to make it watertight with all day Sunday still facing you as well.

 

edit: and on your own!

Edited January 2, 2019 by Dudda

[JamesP]

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

  I am now just old and knackered  ?).

Seems familiar. Carried in 150 sheets of 12mm plasterboard last week and now have to fix to walls and ceilings (shoulders screaming).

I would say I feel stronger having started my build in March 2017, my knees were very sore for months but now far more stable and pain free.

At 54 I try not to rush and take risks especially working on ladders and scaffold, consider every lift and ask for help if possible.

@scottishjohn I have the drywall lifter, excellent kit.

 

 

 

[Onoff]

A Manual Handing Course beforehand perhaps?

 

Never had them in my day. Been regularly carrying a 56lb weight in each hand since the age of 16. 35 years later I've got disc trouble to show for it. Maintaining a solid core seems to act as a natural "girdle" but it took me a long time to realise it.

[scottishjohn]

a manual handling course???

that means you won,t be lifting anything then  --25kg If i am not mistaken as being the max for one man lift 

a bag of cement is  25kg

I remember when a cement bag was twice that 

plenty of wheels +tyres that are more than that  now 

[scottishjohn]

43 minutes ago, JamesP said:

Seems familiar. Carried in 150 sheets of 12mm plasterboard last week and now have to fix to walls and ceilings (shoulders screaming).

I would say I feel stronger having started my build in March 2017, my knees were very sore for months but now far more stable and pain free.

At 54 I try not to rush and take risks especially working on ladders and scaffold, consider every lift and ask for help if possible.

@scottishjohn I have the drywall lifter, excellent kit.

 

 

 

wait till you get to my age  you just a boy 

 67 and starting to do a build  this year --.LOL

must be nuts!!

[Declan52]

There is now no min amount when you do that course.  It's more that you try to estimate the weight and see if you would be comfortable carrying that weight. Some larger  people can lift 25kg without even thinking about it others would struggle.   Then it's technique after that. 

Nothing more punishing than lifting 50kg bags of cement first thing in the morning. 

 

[scottishjohn]

3 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

There is now no min amount when you do that course.  It's more that you try to estimate the weight and see if you would be comfortable carrying that weight. Some larger  people can lift 25kg without even thinking about it others would struggle.   Then it's technique after that. 

Nothing more punishing than lifting 50kg bags of cement first thing in the morning. 

 

try telling HSE  and your employees lawyer that if you have a worker with a back problem 

 can,t think of any gearbox on a modern car that,s less than about 40-60kgs

 

old viva was fine --not now they all FWD boxs with difs 

Edited January 2, 2019 by scottishjohn

[Declan52]

I done the course a few months ago for work and they stress that you should only lift what you feel comfortable with.  And you should only lift as a last resort.  You should look for either help with lifting it by using a piece of machinery, forklift for example,  or another pair of hands. 

[ToughButterCup]

I am fitter now than I was 4 years ago because of the build. 

 

Knees and back were knackered last century. I am well aware of the signs and need to '' listen '  to joints and muscle groups and adapt what I'm doing accordingly;

• spend the first few minutes of each day cleaning up ( to warm up - get slightly out of breath for 10 minutes) 
• mixing concrete - use a mixer
• scaffolding - use proper ladders (well-designed steps) and work slowly
• parging a wall - break it into sections and taper the work
• kneeling for extended periods - use proper high quality kneeling pads
• have a day on paperwork if I'm  tired enough to be unsafe
• lifting (scaffolding for example) - straight back, bend knees  or get the digger, or use a pulley
• have a quick 10 minute kip after lunch if needed
• if it's really hard work, get Debbie to do it.

 

[Onoff]

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

a manual handling course???

that means you won,t be lifting anything then  --25kg If i am not mistaken as being the max for one man lift 

a bag of cement is  25kg

I remember when a cement bag was twice that 

plenty of wheels +tyres that are more than that  now 

 

Yep. I do one weight at a time now.

[Ferdinand]

Thanks all.

 

I have found doing functional training - and in particular using weights from 10kg up to 70-80kg around for the different exercises - useful generally for knowing what will work for me and what is foolish to attempt.

 

Personally, as a non-sporty desk-jockey I have always been a little inflexible (not quite Ent, though), and Yoga stretches and torture postures. I now sympathesise with flamingoes. 

 

I have also picked up on the importance of warmups and warmdowns.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2019 by Ferdinand