Moving, strength, & physical labor

I’ve said this many times before, but I am not very good when it comes to physical work.  Over the years, when I’ve had to do things around the house like digging or carrying dozens of bags of soil from the truck to the back yard, or lugging hundreds of bricks from one place to another, etc., etc., I’ve noticed that my dad can work on and on and on, it seems, but I get freaking tired and just have to force myself to keep going.  I remember a little more than a year ago, I was at my grandfather’s house.  He grows squashes all the time.  These squashes have these very tiny pricks on them, but they are not so heavy that I can’t carry them.  My dad said that my grandfather gave us a squash, so he asked me to pick it up and put it in the trunk.  I went down to do so, carried it, and instantly set it down because it poked the crap out of my hands.  My grandfather just saw me, bent down, picked it up bare handed and carried it to the trunk.  Hahaha.  He’s like 80+.  Says his hands are a lot rougher so he didn’t need gloves, i.e., you are a pussy who isn’t tough and couldn’t do physical work if your life depended on it.

Helped L move this past weekend.  No, I didn’t just watch her move. Couple things I realized and/or remembered while doing so.  Moving is tiring.  I go to the gym regularly, but it doesn’t help because I still get tired much faster moving than I do lifting weights or running on the treadmill.  Strength is so, so, so, so much more handy when it comes to moving.  Now, I know and realize and am not a very strong person.  I’ve known for years, as I stated earlier.  But, its so crazy how much easier it is to lift and move stuff when you have the strength to do so.  I was carrying furniture with the help of another guy and it was still tiring and heavy.  L’s roommate’s brother helped us unload stuff.  He’s like 6’6″, and he’s freaking strong.  I’m getting the same furniture that required 2 people to carry out of the truck, lifting one end so he can get the other, and he’s like, “I got it”, picks it up and goes.  WTF!!  I helped him carry the fridge up the stairs, and after we got it up there, I was so tired, my hands hurt, and I was out of breath.  I don’t know how he felt, but I guarantee he didn’t look like I felt!

Put me in front of a computer or some desk job, and I can compete and do the job as well as the next person.  Ask me to lug furniture upstairs, well, I’m sure that over time I’d get used to it, but I highly doubt I’d do my job as well.  Just don’t tell my grandfather that.