2909: Yardwork Workouts, Prisoner Workout and Other Non Traditional Exercises by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

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[00:00:54] So, press play on good sleep tonight, because a good tomorrow starts with a good night's sleep. Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily. This is Optimal Health Daily, Minimalist Fitness, Yardwork Workouts, Prisoner Workout, and Other Nontraditional Exercises by Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net. And I'm Dr. Neal, your very own personal narrator.

[00:01:22] Hey there, happy Saturday, and welcome back to another weekend edition of Optimal Health Daily. This is where I read to you from some of the best health and fitness blogs on the web, and always with a bit of my commentary at the end. And you know what? Sometimes with my commentary in the beginning. And in fact, the other day, while I was working out, I was listening to a book. And as I was listening, the narrator read an inspirational quote, which I thought was fantastic. And guess where that inspirational quote came from?

[00:01:50] None other than today's author, Leo Babauta. I remember listening going, hey, I know that guy. So can you tell I'm excited to read to you one of Leo's posts? So with that, let's get right to it as we optimize your life. Minimalist Fitness, Yardwork Workouts, Prisoner Workout, and Other Nontraditional Exercises by Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net.

[00:02:17] This morning at 6 a.m., I took a heavy brush cutter tool, which is a long, thick, wooden axe handle with a big curved blade at the end, and began swinging it at tall, dense sword grass and sugar cane stalks. I hacked away until I cut most of it down. Then piled it on a tarp and hauled it away. One tarp load at a time, for more than an hour. Then I mowed my lawn for a couple of hours. That was my workout for the day.

[00:02:46] In recent years, I've been using yard work as my workout on days when I'm not doing any hard marathon training. And it's been amazing. Swinging heavy tools and hauling heavy loads is a full body workout that is functional and strenuous. Try lifting logs and throwing them. Try chopping wood and pushing a lawnmower at a fast pace. Try digging into dirt with a pick and shovel. It's hard work and you'll get a great workout. Functional Training

[00:03:14] While my main focus recently has been my marathon training, I run four to five times a week, usually between 7 and 14 miles, sometimes with faster intervals and sometimes with hills, my other passion in the last couple of months has been functional strength training. What's functional training? Well, it's doing exercises that mimic real-life movements, instead of exercises designed simply to grow a muscle bigger or to look better.

[00:03:41] So instead of doing bicep curls to isolate the biceps, you would do chin-ups and get more muscles and joints involved in coordination with each other. That's because in real life, we almost never lift anything with just the biceps. We use our entire bodies to lift things. Picking heavy things up, throwing them, jumping, squatting, these are functional exercises. The benefits of functional training is that not only do you get stronger,

[00:04:10] but you do so in a way that will be useful in other life activities such as work or sports. Your muscles will grow bigger, but also will be coordinated and work together in balance. You'll be able to translate your exercise to real-life strength. So the workouts I'll talk about here will all be functional exercises. Yardwork workouts I didn't invent yardwork workouts. They've been around for a while, but I've been enjoying them recently

[00:04:37] because I've been helping my mom clear the jungle at her property while getting a great workout. Yardwork workouts are functional almost by definition. You're doing real-world movements with every exercise. You can invent a million different exercises, but here are some of my favorites. Note, please be careful to lift with your legs so you don't injure your back. 1. Swing an axe, sledgehammer, or some other tool. Use an axe to chop wood,

[00:05:07] or a sledgehammer to drive in stakes or crush things, or a brush cutter to, well, cut down brush. This is a great workout because you're swinging something heavy and using your entire body to do it. 2. Lift heavy things and carry them. Pick up rocks, logs, cinder blocks, anything heavy, then carry them to another place. And of course, lift with your legs. 3. Push or pull heavy loads.

[00:05:37] In my workout this morning, we loaded a big tarp with big piles of vegetable matter, and then I pulled the tarp and unloaded it. Great for the entire body. Pushing a heavy wheelbarrow or pulling a loaded sled works just as fine too. 4. Lift heavy things and throw them. Pick up a rock, or a log, or whatever you have handy, and throw it. 5. Push a mower. I can attest that if your lawn is nice and thick,

[00:06:05] this is a great full-body exercise. 6. Dig. No, this doesn't refer to digging a story, although you can do that with this post, of course. Use a shovel and or a pick to dig dirt. Don't forget to switch hands so you get a balanced workout. 7. Weed. While pulling weeds doesn't often require too much strength, it is a good workout for your hands and forearms, and it involves lots of squatting, which is great for your legs.

[00:06:33] And 8. Add running, jumping, and bodyweight exercises. While these aren't things you would normally consider yard work, they can be great additions to a workout. Do some quick sprints, stair climbs, jumps, bounding, push-ups, jumping squats. You get the idea. Prisoner workouts. I learned about this workout recently from my sister Katrina and tried out the workout from Mark's Daily Apple. You're trying to get a functional full-body workout

[00:07:02] with limited space and equipment. Basically, here's the workout. Burpees. Do 20, then rest, then do 19, then rest, then do 18, then rest again, and so on. Work all the way down to one burpee. This alone is super tough. Now, if you're new to this, you might want to start with just 10 and go down from there. Next, push-ups, then tricep dips, then pull-ups,

[00:07:32] then squat jumps, jump lunges, and finally planks. Now, to mix it up, you could substitute other exercises as well, such as thunder rolls, prisoner squats, or body blasters. A few other non-traditional workouts. 1. Kettlebells Kettlebells are the darling of the fitness world right now, mainly because they offer versatility and are very functional. You can use them in so many different ways and combinations to get in a great workout.

[00:08:01] 2. CrossFit Several commenters in my last Minimalist Fitness post referred me to CrossFit, and I have to say it's awesome. CrossFit is all about functional exercise. Their site gives you a workout of the day, or WOD, which is usually short, but very challenging. Warning, this is not for beginners. Even very fit people will have trouble with these workouts. I suggest scaling down the workouts of the day. If they say to do 50 pull-ups, for example,

[00:08:31] just do 1 or 5 or 10 or whatever you can handle. If they say to use 95 pounds, use 50, and slowly work up to the full workout. The workouts incorporate bodyweight exercises, powerlifting, gymnastics, running, and lots more, without a lot of equipment required. And 3. Sandbags Basically, a bag full of sand, but the fancier ones have handles and are thick so they don't break. The beauty of the sandbag is it allows you to add weight

[00:09:00] to bodyweight exercises. You just listened to the post titled, Minimalist Fitness, Yardwork Workouts, Prisoner Workout, and Other Nontraditional Exercises by Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net and I'll be right back with my commentary. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. Leo had a number of great tips. The bottom line is, when it comes to workouts, you can get very creative. Well, that's really true

[00:09:29] for any healthy lifestyle choice. But when it comes to fitness, if you hate the gym environment or are bored or need something new, Leo has just given us a bunch of creative ideas. Of course, some of the moves he mentioned might be more appropriate for those that are a bit more advanced in their fitness journeys. For example, if you've never performed a burpee before, it would be a good idea to learn how to perform one correctly before trying to perform 20 at once. Now, if you didn't like any of the suggestions that you heard today,

[00:09:59] that's okay too. Because again, the main takeaway is that if you're bored with your current routine, just know that there are options. We just may need to get a bit more creative. All right, that'll do it for the Saturday episode. I hope you're having a great weekend if you're listening in real time. And I'll be back here tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits.