I’ve said the connection between body and mind are keys to good health. Both must be worked and exercised regularly. Strength and peace are good. I’ve mentioned previously, too, that the life of a farm boy was the inspiration for what’s become known as ‘Loaded Movement’ training...
I had the choice opportunity to spend time on a farm today. It wasn’t a farm for show, or to impress anyone; with a pretty new house, shiny tractors and new cars free of dust. It was a working farm upon which generations of people lived and worked together to support the needs of a family who lived close and loved well; a place where the business of survival and livelihood was the combined work of the body and mind. It’s interesting that we spend money and hours in school and time developing written training programs in the attempt to help people mimic the work of a farmer. A real farmer who sits outside, playing with his new pup because bonding is the first step toward raising a good working dog. A farmer; who enjoys a peaceful morning and appreciates the rainy days not because they’re an excuse to be lazy, but because both rain and sun are good for the earth he depends upon. A farmer; who climbs hillsides, climbs up and down from equipment, lifts and pulls and pushes and moves and builds…who works from before sunup until the day is spent. (And who still takes time to drink a cup of coffee with his lifelong friends every morning, and bowl at the local club once a week…and waters flowers for a neighbor) A farmer knows the ins and outs of agriculture and the propagation of livestock. He uses his body and mind together; a farmer is a strong man.
That’s what a trainer tries to get people to do: use both body and mind, together. One disadvantage a farmer might have: he might not have known how to work safely from his youth, as many of our youth experience, and an old farmer, like an old cowboy, might have a bad back. (If that’s you, read last week’s Fit Tip to help you strengthen that back.) If done right, the work of a farmer, a rancher and a cowboy, is the sort of thing that will make and keep a man strong, a woman, too.
If you can’t return to the farm, work like a farmer; it might not make you skinny, but it will make you strong and more peaceful. Strength and peace; those are good things.
Sally Windham is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor in Blanco, TX. Please send questions and comments to sally.windham@yahoo.com
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