A-List Monday: Roofing vs Exercise
For the last week, I have been helping to re-roof a neighbor's house. It has not been easy! Not only is standing at an angle very uncomfortable, but it also uses muscles you did not even know you had! However, this may be better than a workout! Everyone who has made a New Year's resolution to work out more should just start doing construction instead.
FYI, the roof we put on was metal, which entails metal panels about 3 feet wide and 8-10 feet long. The roof was pretty steep on most of it, which makes it hard to keep the panels from sliding. I have illustrated these concepts below with my "excellent" art skills (which are at about preschool level).
3 ways Roofing is like exercise:
{1} Roofing is like Yoga. You are constantly stretching, kneeling, crouching to reach a stapler without having to move too far while holding a panel, doing the childs pose in order to screw in the panel you are holding down with your body, or doing a downward dog in order to hold down a panel without it slipping.
{2} Roofing is like aerobics. You are walking up and down the roof, hopping over things, running across the panels and best of all, crouching and standing, crouching and standing. I once took a salsa aerobics class in college. Let me tell you, roofing makes you twice as sore the next day!
{3} As shown above, roofing IS weight lifting! I must have screwed in several hundred screws over the past few days. This is no easy feat, since the metal panels are difficult to screw. You have to put some muscle into it. Well, when you don't have any arm muscles to speak of, this is HARD! My arm is like jello today! Just the right one though. Also, the panels don't (unfortunately) walk themselves from the ground to the roof. They have to be carried! This means military presses for everyone!
According to LoseIt, you burn 300 calories an hour by roofing x 8 hours = 2400 calories per day. It's like running a marathon! So, for all you January resolution makers, instead of joining a gym, go join Habitat For Humanity! It's cheaper AND it's a better workout.
Have you ever done any home improvement work? Did you like it? Were you sore the next day?
FYI, the roof we put on was metal, which entails metal panels about 3 feet wide and 8-10 feet long. The roof was pretty steep on most of it, which makes it hard to keep the panels from sliding. I have illustrated these concepts below with my "excellent" art skills (which are at about preschool level).
3 ways Roofing is like exercise:
{1} Roofing is like Yoga. You are constantly stretching, kneeling, crouching to reach a stapler without having to move too far while holding a panel, doing the childs pose in order to screw in the panel you are holding down with your body, or doing a downward dog in order to hold down a panel without it slipping.
{2} Roofing is like aerobics. You are walking up and down the roof, hopping over things, running across the panels and best of all, crouching and standing, crouching and standing. I once took a salsa aerobics class in college. Let me tell you, roofing makes you twice as sore the next day!
{3} As shown above, roofing IS weight lifting! I must have screwed in several hundred screws over the past few days. This is no easy feat, since the metal panels are difficult to screw. You have to put some muscle into it. Well, when you don't have any arm muscles to speak of, this is HARD! My arm is like jello today! Just the right one though. Also, the panels don't (unfortunately) walk themselves from the ground to the roof. They have to be carried! This means military presses for everyone!
According to LoseIt, you burn 300 calories an hour by roofing x 8 hours = 2400 calories per day. It's like running a marathon! So, for all you January resolution makers, instead of joining a gym, go join Habitat For Humanity! It's cheaper AND it's a better workout.
Have you ever done any home improvement work? Did you like it? Were you sore the next day?