Alternative Exercises

Friday night I was invited to an old family friend's house for dinner. It was a nice evening that I spent catching up with folks I have known for over 20 years. In Indian culture, virtually everyone you meet is either an uncle or an aunt regardless of whether they are your blood relations or not. In my case, I have a handful of blood relations in this country, but I literally have dozens of uncles and aunts who have watched me grow up. Pranav uncle, Niyati auntie, Manoj uncle, Amita auntie, Raju uncle and Mohna auntie are all family friends who have known me for years and they tend to dote on me like true family.

As such, they knew me during my chubbier days and over the course of conversation we arrived at the topic of exercise. We all universally agreed that exercise was probably one of modern man's least favorite 'induced' activities. I mean come on! Running in place on a treadmill for upwards of an hour? Peddling a bike that doesn't go anywhere? Lifting weights with no outcome other than to give us sore muscles? What's the point and why torture ourselves so?

Scientists and doctors love to come up with explanations but there is still the matter of this being activity with no real reason behind it. I mean if you enjoy getting sore and lifting until you can't lift anymore, more power to you. But for those of us working adults out there, like myself or my 'aunts' and 'uncles', we need to accomplish something at the same time. So our conversation came to alternative exercise methods. According to some studies put forth by Manoj uncle, a person can burn 1200 calories during the course of the day without really doing anything. Right there is a major arguement for lazing about. Unfortunately, just like with regular exercise, it doesn't do much for accomplishing the day's goals. Scratch that one and move on.

Pranav uncle suggested mowing the lawn. Now there's an excellent one. You're pushing a couple of pounds of metal around the yard for a couple of hours. You will definitely break a sweat and for us guys, the smell of gasoline makes it seem like an even manlier task. I guess this is how some NASCAR drivers feel on Sunday! Okay, good one! Now what about inside the house? Well, have you ever emptied a dishwasher? Many people wash their dishes and then leave them in the dishwasher since they will end up in there anyways. True, but you are again denying yourselves opportunities for exercise. Bend down, get the plate, stand up, put it in the cupboard. Perfect aerobic exercise!

So you see? As my 'family' pointed out to me, one needn't spend hundreds of dollars a month or year going to the gym. A domesticated bachelor can get the same workout for a lot less money, and knock out some chores at the same time! ;-)