Nurses, shovel your way to a healthier you

It’s confession time.

I have a certain sense of personal pride when it comes to my overall fitness. I’d like to consider myself ‘fit’ or at the very least ‘not sedentary’.

I’d like to think that most physical ‘challenges’ that I may endure I’d be able to handle with a certain level of grace.

Well, it seems that I was wrong. Way wrong!

Ole’ man winter was out to teach me a lesson this past week. Where I live we endured a handful of days of lake-effect snow. Snow = shoveling in my book, and up until now I have never shoveled due to time constraints or just a general rebellious attitude. This year I decided I would take on the challenge.

Well over a span of 5 days I shoveled my drive 7 times. I won’t go into the gory details of how much I shovel. I can tell you that it roughly takes me 45 -60 minutes to clear my path.

I gotta tell ya, but the time the 7th time rolled around I could barely stand up straight. My shoulders were achy and my back was in knots!

I was walking around as if I needed a darn cane!!

What’s worse, my fellow neighbor who has probably 40 years on me (at the very least) was out there every day shoveling the same amount of snow with the greatest of ease!

I must be doing something wrong?

I’ve come to the conclusion that staying ‘fit’ and healthy requires no money at all most of the time. You can be tortured and lose all sense of physicality right from the comfort of your own home.

One thing is for sure, I’m bound and determined to beat the shoveling monster.

Here’s my physical fitness assessment on the shoveling monster’s terms:

High

You’re sweating, a lil spent, maybe even a lil sore, but you’re day is not over. You were able to complete the task in a timely manner. Intermittent breaks were taken, but you did not stop working through the needed task. No additional devices were used except for good ole’ elbow grease.

Medium

You’re winded. That shovel feels a tad bit heavier than it did before you started. You’re having a more difficult time standing straight up since your back is in knots from the task. You were able to complete the task, but you had to take a break (in the form of sitting down, asking for help, or just plain ole standing in one place). You may very well have recruited your neighbor or sibling.

Low

You didn’t complete the task. In fact so much time passed between start and finish that it’s ‘change of shift’ out there (a loss of daylight). You actually were hoping a passer-by would offer to help or take over for you. Your pulse is racing, and you may even feel a tad light headed from the lack of oxygen to your brain.

These are of course light-hearted definitions. In all seriousness folks what did we do before snow blowers and plowing service??

If the shovel monster has his way, I’m going to be one fit snowed-in nurse these next couple months!