Ya just brought tears to my eyes. My dad passed away 8 months ago and I miss him bad.
How about all you big, strong, tough T Nation guys give your Dad a call…just to say hi or even (gasp) tell him you love him. You will be glad you did. He will too.
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Dang man, Sorry to hear that. I just told my dad and he looked at me kinda funny then smiled. We just cut down a tree together not too long ago, I hated it. I will think twice next time we do it.
Back to the topic, I love the smell of the exhaust and the wood after you are done. I hate doing it but cant wait to do it again after Im done.
Chopping wood is one of the main things that convinced me to start lifting weights.
I’ve got a chopping block which I brought home from about half a kilometer away using a wheelbarrow. That was definitely a good workout - I’m quite sure it weighed more than me at the time.
I wouldn’t count it as a “workout” exactly, but it’s great exercise. When I go home to visit my family in the winter, I always show up at my uncle’s house to help him split wood. I think he thinks I’m a little crazy. I wish my parents hadn’t converted to gas.
Some quotes as Ronnie and I split wood and shovel a few driveways:
“Evebudee wanna warm fiar but nobudee wanna chop no damn wuud”
“Evebudee wanna leeve da house but nobudee wanna shovel da dam rud”
“Yeah, buddy, light snow”
“Yeah, buddy, light axe”
I love doing tree work, I used to do side jobs with my buddy that climbs, good way to make an extra couple hundred bucks in an afternoon and nothing makes you fell more manly, than carrying 100-200lb cut logs back to the trailer.
[quote]tumbeh wrote:
Some quotes as Ronnie and I split wood and shovel a few driveways:
“Evebudee wanna warm fiar but nobudee wanna chop no damn wuud”
“Evebudee wanna leeve da house but nobudee wanna shovel da dam rud”
“Yeah, buddy, light snow”
“Yeah, buddy, light axe”
Then we eat some grits with cheese and eggs.[/quote]
[quote]tumbeh wrote:
Some quotes as Ronnie and I split wood and shovel a few driveways:
“Evebudee wanna warm fiar but nobudee wanna chop no damn wuud”
“Evebudee wanna leeve da house but nobudee wanna shovel da dam rud”
“Yeah, buddy, light snow”
“Yeah, buddy, light axe”
Then we eat some grits with cheese and eggs.[/quote]
Lol, I didn’t know what the fuck you were talking about until “Yeah, buddy”. That is some funny shit!
[quote]GunnyBear wrote:
Have there ever been any studies on the health benefits (if there are any) of chopping wood? I ask because over the weekend I cut down a sizable tree and every night now I’ve been splitting the wood and stacking it (I still have about 75% more to go!).
I spend about 2 hours a night doing this using an 8 lbs mauler for splitting and when I am done for the evening I am soaked in sweat and dead tired. I figure I am getting a cardio and weight workout when I do this.
To explain this as a “workout” the process goes like this: I’ve cut the trunk into about 18 inch section with each section being roughly 2 feet in diameter (this was accomplished with a chainsaw of course).
I then stack one on the other (I’d say they weigh about 100 lbs +/- each) to elevate it so I can hit it better, then I start swinging my mauler until I’ve split that section (one section of this size can yield over 20 pieces split).
I load the split wood into a cart and pull it about 50 meters to my wood pile and stack it. Then I repeat. I like to think this is a good workout.[/quote]
You know, a lot of MMA guys (mixed martial artists) like to do sledgehammer work. Usually it’s best done against a tractor tire that they also flip repeatedly for DL.
I’ve grown up in a logging town, and some of these loggers and treefellers are huge. I used to split wood a lot when I was kid, it was always my favorite chore (what young kid doesn’t want to swing a sharp heavy object and smash stuff?).
Here in Oregon some companies are starting to use machines to fell trees because it’s faster, and some of the fellers are complaining because now they actually have to go to the gym to stay in shape.
