4) Body Wellness: Stretching, Exercise and My business motto? I guess hahaha

Fortunatley for myself, I get all the best exercise at work. Loading trailers, mobiizing projects, moving materials, demolition, labor and masonry before demobilizing and roloading and unloading the trailer again. This is why the nutrition is so important for me, but also, making sure that I maintain mobility in my body is in the peak of importance as well. As one who regularly lifts and carries "too much" my body has come to adapt and will only get stiffer if I do not actively work to mitigate and rectify these impacts of the labor intensity on my body.

I have my diet all squared away and planned out, maintaining weight is crucial as I move through the season. An old Journeyman in my first year said, "It's a marathon, not a sprint." and I don't deny it, but a factor of the reality of the situation is, "but you want to win the marathon though, right?" At the time I was working for my first contractor as an apprentice and if you don't work, you don't stay. What do contractors want? They want it done right and well and they want it done fast. They are in business and if you con't deliver, they will find someone who will.

My first season owning my own business I dropped 40 lbs between the beginning and the end of the season. I got tired, my diet slipped. Things were just unhealthy, I had way too much going on. I was fine with it, but it was clearly too much to have going on without a set and regimented diet. I might need to eat even more, I don't know yet. Anyway, not the point here. We are here to talk about stretching and exercise. Now, I don't need the exercise and I am working to manage critical use of my body to deter negative impacts of the exercise I get from work.

My focus is on the recovery of my muscles and the mobility of my body. Lifting heavy weighted, bulky and odd shaped objects at work, 200lb generator with no wheels, 200lb plate compactor, 94lb bags of portland cement, 60-90lb 5 gallon buckets and all types of stone and masonry materials, leads to a strain of protection that gets put over my uscles when I lift. These objects are bulky and heavy and it is easy to get hurt. It's almost become a psychological conditioning this behavior on my body.

A little bit of nutrition, sports science, psychology... we do it all, but more than anything, Restoration and Repair Masonry LoL, did we get into global economics yet? Man, I learned how the stock market works, investing is easy, but investing with morals is a mark of wisdom. Alright, where were we? Ummmmmm, well, the strain and psychological conditioning of the behaviors from the physical work that I perform have left me with super hard, super tight and super strong muscles, but have left me personally neglecting my interior chain for the more stable anterior chain and the tension in my muscles to protect my joints and ligaments while lifting heavy objects and to prevent injury elsewhere has left me with dampened mobility in some ways. This happens all the time, guys get strong and their mobility in some regards goes with it. I myself simply see that for the sake on lengevity, this must be "fixed, repaired or made right". I cannot continue to lift these ways and perform like this without having consequences that go throughout the rest of my life.

To explain breifly, the Anterior Chain are the muscles that run up from your foot allong thr outside of your legs up the length of yout body, flanks, glutes, lowerback, back, shoulder, triceps while the Interior Chain is from the inside of your feet up into the groin, the core, up to the pecks and into the biceps.

Enter the stretching and "exercise", for myself it is paramount to hit mobility exercises and aerobics. I already have the strength and the muscle, of which I have a diet to maintain this muscle and to fuel the muscle, I just see that aerobics and mobility aerobics are going to do everything I need. My muscles are so tight that I cannot even stretch them. The only way to get them to stretch is to warm them up with aerobics and then work them, but why bother with that, when I can do both at the same time? Hence, "Mobility Aerobics", fantastic stuff, it is stretching and light exercise at the same time, which is exactly what I need. I have a lot of movements in masonry that call for type 1 muscle activation. Type 1 muscles are the fine movement and slow moving portions of the muscle, the majority of the mass while type 2 muscles are for fast and quick movements. I myself just started doing "mobility Aerobics a few weeks ago", as someone who started doing them daily in my off season time and have gotten basic quality results.

Really, the most important thing for me and my body, but yet every human body is "Maintaining Mobility". I say, "What is it to be successful in business and have millions of disposal dollars at 60 years old, but have a big belly and not be able to move freely anymore?" This isn't just for me, but anyone. It's one thing to go for a walk every day, but another to roll around on the floor and I don't want to say that the 60 year old woman rolling around the floor will live longer than the one who doesn't, but on a simply "quality of life" level, one has a more mobile life and this will also protect them from dangers that come about in older age due to a loss of mobility. I recommend aerobics, they are great and available in all types of beginner and light weight. I recommend mobility aerobics, which are similarly available in all types of beginner capacities. For me, I have to hit these things hard and hit them 2 times a day right now, but for others, just a simple daily or 2-3 times weekly can have a sizeable impact on their mobility and longevity.

Mobility takes time and men are notorious for the choice not to stretch. "Bigger muscles and no stretching! Let's Go!!!!" Hahahahaha, but it isn't healthy, safe, sustainable and caertainy, does not "Win you the marathon". Mobility, staying mobile, fast, agile and ready, these will allow you to be ready and prepared for the work that lies ahead. "Lift these heavy objects! Move 4,000lbs by hand today and again tomorrow morning, Let's Go! We don't have all day!" Hahahaha. I'm not only in business, because I'm good at what I do, but I was a good employee, contractors are in business ot make money and my contractor made money on my work ethic, which is why I knew I would be successful in business for myself. My business motto is "Safety, Effort and Quality!" Safety first, we make sure our surroundings are roped off for public safety and that we are operating in a safe way and capacity, this opens up the door for us to put in some effort, being mindful of our surroundings and then the only thing thats important from there, Quality! That's right, quality, quality, quality. If it's not good, do it again, get your head right. Safety first, then you don't have anything else to pay attention to, so put in some effort and make sure your quaility is on point. "Safety, Effort and Quality!"

A lot of tradesmen, they work hard and then they crash, they are done for the day. they don't stretch in the morning, lunch or in the evening. Some also have poor diets and neglect hydration. It's just not responsible and it doesn't pay out in Quality and Safety, because they give the effort. Not that they can't and don't get the Quality and the Safety, but ... well, let's not get into estimate or projected risk assessment. Global Economics! Hahaha Alright, wrap this up here.

I started working in the yard of a masonry contractor and went through the apprenticeship to be a profesisonal mason before starting my own business. What I learned is the importance of diet and maintining my body's mobility and this wisdom is almost priceless, so please, if you read this blog, review the information I've shared and consider it for yourself. I myself am in the most extreme ends of physical activity, but simply to say that "Mobility in relation to longevity and quality fo life can almost be seen to be essential." I put too much research and effort into the "Body Wellness" sector not to share this information, so here we are, have to share this stuff. For good Aerobics and Mobility exercises, just head to youtube and pop it into the search bar until you find whats right for you.

Stay well,

Peace, Love and God bless,

Craig Lamach