Given that we’ve been having a stretch of good weather lately, I’ve been trying to do a bit of extra work in our yard.
I’ve tidied up a few slightly-neglected areas, I’ve dragged some stuff to the garbage, I’ve replanted a few things, and we’ve been scrubbing our deck and our siding a little bit at a time.
Basically, I’ve been sitting/standing/moving/bending/turning in all kinds of unfamiliar ways and I don’t really notice all the different muscles I’m using until much later in the evening.
I’ve been doing a few stretches here and there but I’m still a bit twitchy as I sit down to read or draw at night and my muscles are not thrilled with me when I lie down to sleep.
Obviously, I need to do more dedicated stretching than I’ve been doing and perhaps I may even need to do a bit of a warm-up before I get started on my next project in the yard.
I find it really hard to remember to do either/both because I just want to get to the task at hand.
Do you do warm-ups and stretches before yardwork?
How about a cool-down and stretches afterwards?
I can’t be the only one who forgets all about it until much later, can I?
Anyway, here are a few videos I’m going to use throughout the summer but if you have any suggestions, I’d like to hear them. 🙂
This YouTube Short from a channel called Garden Fit is called ‘Are You Experiencing Common Gardening Aches and Pains? Try These Stretches!’ and the still image shows a woman with short white hair, wearing jeans and a green tank top, standing in front of some large outdoor plants.
This video from Sunnybrook Hospital is called ‘How to avoid pain while gardening | stretches & warm-ups’ and the still image shows a gardening trowel with a green handle lying on some soil.
This video from the Osteo & Physio channel is called ‘Full body stretch routine for gardeners to prevent injury | 12 minute routine’ and the still image features the title on the right hand side, a circle with an image of a woman in a sweater doing a neck stretch, and in the background is someone from the elbows down who is standing in a garden with a long-handled tool in their hands.
I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire.
I'm the founder and Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm a former president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival.
I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.
View all posts by Christine Hennebury
2 thoughts on “Lesson Learned: Christine and the Yard Work”
OMG. You are so not alone. Sarah, my mother, and I all hurt ourselves gardening. It’s almost a running joke in the family. We are all terrible at the “doing a bit each day” and stretching before and after. My mother does the most gardening but even she’s not immune to hurting herself. Sarah and I are both binge gardeners and it shows. Yikes. Gardening is the worst.
Well, this won’t exactly be helpful, because I found so little to make it comfortable that I never became anything vaguely resembling a gardener. And the last time I tried I was probably about 30. You are a hero for the work you do! And even after biking or running, I struggle to take time to stretch. Seems ridiculous, right? But it seems to be a pretty common failing of active people.
OMG. You are so not alone. Sarah, my mother, and I all hurt ourselves gardening. It’s almost a running joke in the family. We are all terrible at the “doing a bit each day” and stretching before and after. My mother does the most gardening but even she’s not immune to hurting herself. Sarah and I are both binge gardeners and it shows. Yikes. Gardening is the worst.
Well, this won’t exactly be helpful, because I found so little to make it comfortable that I never became anything vaguely resembling a gardener. And the last time I tried I was probably about 30. You are a hero for the work you do! And even after biking or running, I struggle to take time to stretch. Seems ridiculous, right? But it seems to be a pretty common failing of active people.