Homeotelic Fitness Activities

[Swerty]

I enjoy being fit, but I hate going to the gym. Biking satisfies the cardiovascular aspect of fitness while also helping me to get to my destinations (homeotelic...).

Has anyone come up with any similar activities for building upper body strength? Of course, there are hobbies such as rock climbing and jujitsu, but I'm looking for something more practical. If I had a fireplace, I could chop wood, and perhaps one day I could even build or purchase a manual washing machine.

The best option I have found so far is powerlifting my toddler, as it satisfies three goals: my dear toddler enjoys it, she is learning numbers from me shouting repetitions, and it helps me with my fitness goals.

I would love to hear any other ideas!

[frommi]

I also hate going to the gym, i only do exercies with the own bodyweight like push-ups, sit-ups, sprinting, neck strength training etc.

[chenda]

I just do a basic bodyweight regime 3 times a week, press-up, squats and door frame pulls. See -

viewtopic.php?p=242204&hilit=Bodyweight#p242204

[ertyu]

Certain skills use upper body strength - e.g. woodworking or home renovation. Gardening produces food and is a classic "exercise" recommended to retirees (and others). I did laundry by hand a while back (luck was such that a washing machine wasn't available), though just for myself as a single guy, and found agitating and rinsing large items to engage my upper body.
If you clean your own house and wash your car, you're already ahead of many.
If you have a lawn, using an actual scythe comes to mind, too.

[Swerty]

Thanks! The reason i dislike gyms is the monotonicity/boredom so doing bodyweight exercises at home falls under the same category
Cleaning and washing are already on the list. Currently don't have a lawn/yard but hopefully that should change soon.

[white belt]

I've thought a lot about this. The modern lifestyle will do everything it can to keep you from doing anything physical. Fossil fuel power has supplanted human power and animal power. The reality is that building strength from daily activities is harder than building cardiovascular capacity. As you point out, the easiest way to get cardio in is using human powered transportation methods. That's pretty straight forward.

Strength is much harder without doing specific exercise. You can do some basic things that will keep you in shape, but realistically an activity to keep an elderly person in shape usually won't be sufficient stimulus to create enough adaptation for a young to middle-aged male that already has a decent baseline level of strength. So gardening could be good, but only if you are hauling heavy loads via wheelbarrow or carrying pole on a regular basis. Trimming trees with an ax or hand saw could also be an option. Maybe if you're digging ditches for hours a day that could also work, but that's going to be lower intensity so it will build more aerobic capacity than strength. In the 1970's, brick laying was the occupation of choice for some California bodybuilders because it allowed them to use their strength while also getting a tan. I'll agree with ertyu that in-sourcing more daily activity could give some additional stimulus, but I don't know how well the strength will transfer to other parts of life. For example, making your own dough can be quite the forearm workout. Hauling water can also be a good workout, but see my first paragraph about how modern life will do everything it can to stop you from doing anything physical.

Traditional strong man events were based on typical farm activities, so you could research that for more inspiration.

[IlliniDave]

When I shovel snow or mow or do about any outdoor chore I turn it into a HIIT. I bought a kayak to fish out of instead of a 16-18' boat with a large outboard "like all my friends have". Many ways to be active outside of going to a gym. And many ways within many of those activities to take on more of the overall required energy yourself rather than relegating to devices. Then structure the activities around know effective workout strategies.

[AxelHeyst]

..Run greywater from your kitchen sink to your garden, but instead of running pipe just have your sink drain to a 5gal bucket under the sink with overflow protection. Then carry the 5gal water to your garden probably multiple times a day.

..Do same thing on the other side. Valve off water supply to your sink from city and install a foot pump system with 5gal tank. Have your water refilling station be on the opposite side of your property. (I carry my water ~150m but only every couple days as I consume ~2gal/day).



Bonus with this system is if you add a tank of water at your refilling station and keep that topped off from city, if the city water ever goes down you'll have a buffer of water. 50gal will go a long way if you really want it to.

If you can come up with a good reason to dig a bunch of holes in your yard, a post-holer is an excellent shoulder and upper back workout. Maybe just have two holes and dig one into the other in a loop?

See if nearby horse people will let you buck hay for them. (If you get an opportunity to catch flying bales of hay from a flatbed with a pull crane, go for it! Exhilarating.)

Is your house two story? Can you build a climbing wall to get upstairs? Or a campus board? Or a rope? The stairsteps are lava...

The only other way to make working out less boring is little hacks like "every time you walk into the kitchen you have to bust out ten pushups".

[Toska2]

Start a small business.

Yard cleanup
Dog grooming
Firewood by the bundle or face cord
Mobile car detailing
Wood chainsaw carvings


My two current part time jobs are my "gym" and I am trying to get out. There's not enough rest during the busy season.

[Western Red Cedar]

Thanks! The reason i dislike gyms is the monotonicity/boredom so doing bodyweight exercises at home falls under the same category

Carrying babies around sounds like a great option in your situation!

I regularly lift weights, but I think of the homeotelic benefits differently for lifting. I see the activity as an opportunity to practice mindfulness, focus on my breath, and destress or complete my stress cycle after work. It is one of the few times of the day that I get out of my own head for a prolonged period of time and focus on something simple that is directly in front of me for an extended period of time. It is also an opportunity to get out of the house, have some social interaction, and listen to a podcast.*

Perhaps a fitness routine could be an opportunity to do something socially with your partner or a friend if it feels boring. Or...perhaps it is an opportunity to challenge that mindset/perspective.

*I realize that this isn't really what you were looking for, but appreciating those aspects of strength training has reshaped my relationship with it.

[guitarplayer]

I do 200 burpees with a pushup and jump (these ones, but my jump is crappier than hers) every day and usually my aim is to do it first thing in the morning. It is homeotelic in that
* when it is cold, I feel less cold (would not work in a tropical country but it works fantastic in Scotland where I am based now)
* it raises metabolism throughout the day and so decreases chances of getting overweight / obese with all of the health implications associated with them
* it makes me enjoy cold showers which are shown to be good from the health point of view and saves energy on heating up water
* lasts only 15-20 min
* other than building upper body strength it builds general strength
* long term makes you look better with lots of background research in social psychology showing overall advantages of looking better than you would have otherwise

It takes a while though to get used to being able to do so many burpees in a row, there is a system to get there and it is described in the ERE book. It also probably takes a particular type of temperament to be okay to be doing same thing over and over again. But then again, most people brush their teeth over and over again.

[jacob]

This is difficult to answer. For example, many officials consider 3mph to be a "brisk walk" so if the bar is set that low, many things will qualify. I set it a bit higher, so these activities are what I would consider the physically toughest homeotelic fitness activities, that is, activities that actually makes a fitness difference, which I do. They're not great in any way, but it's also quite a bit better than doing nothing. If the goal was to build strength, say, get a job moving furniture all day long.

Breaking soil with a grub hoe. (A few years ago, I turned our backyard into French-style long beds (pictures on facebook) which requires annual effort in the spring to break up the grass. Previously I had been a complete wuss on the push-up and not able to break through my ceiling no matter what. All that work must have built some otherwise deficient shoulder muscles---enough to almost double my max reps.)

Using a push mower. (What remains of our lawn is very uneven, so it requires pushing the mower and grinding it into the lawn. There's a bit of core work involved.)

Rip sawing 2x4s. (Supposedly worth 600kcal hour which makes it comparable to light jogging. Mostly a triceps exercise. The problem here is that one can only saw so far before precision goes down.)

Planing boards square. (A #7 plane---I call it my carrier ship---weighs about 10lbs and needs a lot of downforce. Has the same precision problem as the sawing. It's only possible to do it for so long before precision suffers. Still it requires a certain amount of strength and endurance to accomplish.)

Playing Pokemon Go. (I'm weirdly addicted to this game. I don't think I've walked this much in years. This is partially because I'm speed-running the levels, defending multiple "gyms" within a 1.5 mile radius, etc. What I like about it is that the walking is a side-effect of the game rather than the other way around cf. Zombies, Run!)

[theanimal]

Chopping wood and carrying water are the most effective in my experience, as noted previously. I have not been able to find many more ordinary chores to be equivalent to lifting weights. Dealing with wood is arguably the most versatile. Whether it's felling a tree with an ax/saw, carrying the logs, bucking the logs into rounds with a crosscut saw or splitting wood with a maul. All are effective, deal with multiple major muscle groups and you will become very strong by doing so. I have found ripping boards to be equivalent to all of the above, the thicker the more strenuous the experience. Apparently in the 1800s, there were men who could cut an acre's worth of trees in one day with an ax in northeast US. That takes some serious physical strength and stamina, that I don't think is found in many fit people today .

Something else I have found to be effective is dragging heavy materials in a sled. We do not have a wheelbarrow, so I dragged 20 cu yd of soil from our driveway to our garden area. You can use whatever material you have on hand. I have done the same with gravel as well.

A good rule of thumb is to try to do activities as simply as possible, eschew motors and the easy path. Borrowing the neighbor's ladder down the street? Walk over and bring it back over your shoulder. Buying bulk goods? Walk to the store and bring a big backpack to load up. Going for a walk with your infant/toddler/kid/spouse? Carry them.

[Swerty]

Thanks a lot for all the answers and suggestions. Will definitely look into them. (Those i can while still living in fifth floor...)
I guess i should be carrying water and chopping wood well ahead of my Wheaton scale

[Jim]

This may not be the perspective you're looking for, but I think exercise is intrinsically a homeotelic practice, even when done in the absence of other productive work (as long as you're not getting injured or overtraining). The benefits are diverse, from enhanced mental well being, to increased work capacity to physical health and longevity.

You can arguably optimize this by doing exercise in isolation. Athletes and people with physically demanding careers or hobbies benefit from what's called cross training. It's often easier to tailor a workout regimen to meet the deficiencies of a lifestyle than it is to reprogram a lifestyle or create work to maximize your exercise potential.

That said, all the other ideas in here are fantastic. I often wear a weighted vest (or a backpack with heavy shit in it) when working outside or doing mundane chores like housecleaning. It's a great habit for enhancing core strength and works your shoulders/traps. To piggyback off theanimals answer, when your daughter is old enough, take her on a hike beyond her skill level and carry her when she taps out! She learns persistence, you get a workout and you both have a nice outdoor bonding experience!

[daylen]

Event setup, cooking, and cleaning up after a crowd of people. Perhaps as part of a nonprofit organization to feed those in need or university students.

[white belt]

Another hack, which may sound silly depending on your level of mobility and your location in the world, is to spend more time sitting on the floor in natural positions rather than in chairs/sofas/beds. This is an easy way to take hips, adductors, ankles, quads, etc to end range of motion throughout the day. Recently I really started to make an effort to sit on the floor and eat my meals at a low coffee table and it's made a huge difference in my mobility, which has translated into other fitness areas. I'm also a naturally inflexible person who very quickly loses mobility if I don't routinely move through entire range of motions, so in that way things like squats, deadlifts, snatches, cleans, etc were very helpful to improving my overall mobility. Sitting cross legged, squatting to poop, sitting in seiza, seem to also help a lot and don't really require any dedicated time like gym exercise.

[horsewoman]

Consider joining a classic rock band, as a member or a Roadie, if you are not musical. Lugging flight cases and amps around is a great workout, not to mention energetic performances.
That's obviously a little facetious, but not entirely. My hobbies keep me strong (said rock band and horseback riding).
So I'd suggest to actively look for leisure time activities that get you out of the flat.

ETA: I don't know if this is a German thing but we do have so called "Trimm-Dich-Pfade" (= "keep-fit-paths",). Those are on footpaths in the woods, with several stations, featuring rudimentary fitness equipment and signs how to use them. Great with kids, we did that a lot when our daughter was small. And last week actually, it was hilarious to see our teenage goth dangling head over from a rack and having fun.
https://youtu.be/bdOyRDOHgTU

[Slevin]

To second a lot of what @white belt said:
I work a desk job from home. So to improve my mobility I removed the chair and put the desk at a low height. Now every day I cycle through about a dozen sitting positions every few minutes, and at the same time get work done. So now I'm both working and improving all the things mentioned in the post above. I use some thick puzzle interlocking floor mats that I also use for weight training to make this floor. This also means I'm getting up and down off the floor dozens of times per day.

I clean the floors with a soapy washcloth on my hands and knees, kind of like the way you see in this video.

I have a pull up wall in my kitchen. When i come into the kitchen, I do a few pull ups. I also use this to hang every day (if you don't hang every day, try it). I also have a ton more of these little scripts (while a, do b) that add up to a decent amount of time over the course of a week. I would highly recommend adding some of these to daily activities and see what the results are.

Most of my dishes and cooking utensils are stored low to the ground in the cabinets. When I want dishes, I have to squat down to get them.

I eat at a low coffee table. There's a picture of it somewhere on this site, but idk where exactly. This means I also sit on the floor to eat (though we do have some meditation cushions we sit on too when the ground is hurting the knees).

I also walk / bike to the grocery store, and all of the stores near me. This is usually only a couple miles roundtrip at most, but it adds up.

None of these things are going to make you a greek god, that needs thousands of hours of specific training (or hundreds and steroids), but little things accumulate over the course of months and years to keep you more healthy and keep up the mobility you do have.