Stable Exercise and Winter Weight Control Program

As the temperatures fall, my jeans begin to tighten.  I usually accept that this as The. Way. Things. Are.  During spring and summer, I loose weight.  Fall and winter, I gain weight.  The trouble with accepting this as a fact of life is that every year I seem to loose less weight in the temperate months and gain more in the intemperate. My skinny jeans are most unforgiving of this trend.

This year, I moved the horses from livery back to my full and complete charge.  Cleaning stalls and acquiring the amount of food & bedding required to keep four horses helped me to loose the additional 20lbs that clung on me over the last five years of paying someone else to to the hard work.  My skinny jeans favored me.

But after Thanksgiving, the waist band is starting to bind.  And Christmas Cookie Season is just around the corner.  I do not want to unpack the fat jeans.  So, I decide to turn stable management into a gym.  Yes, cleaning stalls burns calories, but if there is no sweat involved- as in the summer, the weight hangs on steadfast to the love handles.  By altering how I clean the stalls, I manage to produce the much needed sweat and return to pre-Thanksgiving weight.

Adding lots of light layers of clothing is a must for sweat inducing labor.  One big coat makes me too hot.  It must be a slow sweat.  Instead of trying to scoop as much poop as possible on each forkful, I scoop smaller forkfuls faster, increasing the aerobic-ness.  The addition of lunges really adds to the workout.  Realizing that I scooped and dumped always on the same side, I re-positioned the wheel barrow so I had to lunge, scoop and twist the other direction as well.

By the second stall, I have a good, even sweat going, and feel the routine is worthy.  I make sure I am breathing well [exhaling on exertion, inhaling on recovery], using good balance during twists to support the weight on the fork, and using each side of my body equally.  I finish by briskly sweeping the alleyway, incorporating more lunges and twists, equal on both sides.

Cleaning the stalls this way takes me an hour to do what normally takes forty five minutes, but afterward I am glowing and feel quite energized instead of the normal feeling of thank-god-that's-done.  And I don't have pay  to go to a gym and spend an hour sweating there, which pleases me no end.

Lucy has weighed in on the subject with her usual enthusiasm.  Her useful advice: after any period of inactivity, perform a deep Downward Dog Stretch.  Then, the Lucy Fur Method of Extreme Fitness calls for: terrorize bunnies at top speed for an hour or until the Humans call you and offer a treat.

I'll stick to the Stable Routine, leave the bunnies to Lucy, add in the Downward Dog and I am confident that I can enjoy a few Christmas treats with out the Wrath of the Skinny Jeans.

Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
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