Why Did 2 Men Ask If I Had Back Pain After Hard Landscaping?

This week on Monday & Tuesday I did what some would say is back breaking labor. I did two days of landscaping for the relocated Energy Fitness in order to increase curb appeal. Highway 25 is a busy 6 lane highway that heads to Asheville, North Carolina right in front of our new building where cars & semi-trucks are going upwards of 55+ miles per hour. There is a middle turning lane to get into our incline driveway. The driveway needed more visibility each way so you don’t miss the drive. For those that know me I like to be thrifty and not wasteful. I just couldn’t stand the thought of paying money for dirt and rocks so I had a solution. The neighbors are excavating for a pool and have lots of various size granite and rocks which they will have to pay to take away. They also have a large pile of orange dirt in which I needed for 3 large planters.

Let’s back it up to Saturday to get a little backstory on my fitness and lifestyle that ultimately helped me to not have back pain! Two men that I spoke with during my project said “That’s hard on your back!” in which I replied no, my back doesn’t hurt. If you know how to lift properly and use good recovery methods you can avoid pain. Of course, good nutrition is important to be properly fueled and help your body recover. They both had a background history in cement work.

Saturday: ran 5 miles, hula hoop for 400 rotations, body weight leg exercises and stretches.

Sunday: I hiked a moderate hike 2.5 miles up for over 2300 feet elevation then hiked down. Calves were tight so I used massage pillow to loosen up a bit as well as other parts of my body.

Monday: strength workout which included plyometric squats and lunges, upper body and core preceded with 5 minutes on row machine and post workout stretching. End of day: swim to stretch it all out and loosen my muscles and trigger point ball on most of my body including the gluteus medius which can cause 90% of back pain.

Tuesday: it was really hard to get out of bed at 5 am for track work so I ditched in in lieu of a slow 3 mile run and some hula hoop followed by intense stretching and trigger point therapy. It really helped loosen my achilles which killed from pushing that cart of rocks across the dirt.

On Monday I notably reached for bigger rocks for the bottom of the driveway. The second day I was zapped and had to rally and use more concentration to use excellent form when lifting.  This means NOT pushing your knees out when squatting to lift the rock and on the ascent. Also, keeping the back straight and the weight close to your body helps with balance and good spinal position. The first day I had to push my 4 wheel garden cart up the hill from my house empty and go down the side yard of the rock site house, load rocks into cart, push back down hill and load in truck. When using the spade to dig holes I was making sure I wasn’t rotating my hips an odd way to make my low back (quadratus lumborum) flare up which can cause back pain. Also known as the QL, this muscle is the hip hiker muscle and runs diagonally from the spine towards the hip on the lower back. Twisting poses help to stretch this out as well as bending laterally.

Day 2 was better for loading rocks and dirt because I parked truck by house and just made multiple trips down the side yard of the rock house quarry. One time when I was super close to the truck with a load I hit a bump and all the darn rocks spilled out which meant double the work.

As you can see from the pictures below that’s a lot of rocks and dirt! Oh, I bought fencing too for installation another day. That post hole digging and the orange clay and rocks found whilst digging for the bushes were a beast. Had to also use a spade. I just can’t imagine doing this kind of hard manual labor everyday.

Feeling blessed I am strong enough, healthy enough and confident enough to do this one jobsite and for the beauty of the new facility for myself, our clients and all those that travel past. May a pop of wildflowers that will come up later, flowers and rocks bring beauty to our new community and bring Energy Fitness attention so we can help others reach their health and fitness goals and decrease pain.

CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT A FREE VIRTUAL FITNESS CONSULT (VALUE $87) or  of our other services listed above. Just give me a call or text at 901-466-6242 and we can get you started with a functional fitness assessment and a few things to do on your own before the Greenville/Travelers Rest area location is up and running (fingers crossed by mid-March or at least get you on the schedule).

South Carolina Energy Fitness relocated site update: As of 3-17-2022. We are still delayed as it was suppose to be finished with construction at the end of Feb. 2022. I have chosen the color for accent walls and other areas. Mudding for drywall has begin. Meeting someone to discuss wet area flooring on Tuesday. Measured flooring to determine where our 5 rubber rolls of flooring will be placed. Called the rubber flooring manufacturer and wow I can’t believe I will have to drop almost $1 k in rubber flooring adhesive ($150 for shipping alone). Deposit has been made for exterior sign design. Updated all the paperwork necessary to run the biz and keep clients safe. So looking forward to getting back onsite with clients and feeling the energy of the group and dynamics between clients and trainers in our new space.

Why put off your fitness…..let’s discuss your fitness & nutrition needs. All it takes is a call or text to get the conversation started. Maybe you can be one of the charter clients for South Carolina location, LET’S GET MOVING!