Country Living

For some men, it all comes down to a single choice: city living or real living—in the mountains, or desert, or forest, or rolling countryside. Days spent in the great outdoors, away from the cacophony and mass of urban dwelling.

Of course, you can spend time outdoors each day in cities and towns. You can walk in a park. You can get an outdoor job steaming bubble gum off sidewalks. But that just doesn''t compare with true country life. Certainly it''s more beautiful, perhaps even spiritual, to live in the country or mountains. But it''s also much harder: longer drives, harder chores, physical isolation. It''s a different day-to-day life, to be sure.

This being a book on conditioning, we''ll focus on just one aspect of the country life: The man living in rural and mountain environs faces fitness opportunities—and challenges—the urban and suburban man does not.

For instance, he probably doesn''t have access to a gym.

He may have a long daily commute to and from work in an urban area, meaning he spends even more time sitting than his urban counterpart and has even less free time available for working out.

He probably doesn''t have a patch of grass he can mow in 20 minutes like his suburban brothers, but rather a gangly field-size lawn that takes all Saturday afternoon to tame. Good exercise, by the way, if you use a push-mower, says Jonathan Robison, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist, nutritionist and executive co-director of the Michigan Center for Preventive Medicine in Lansing.

He''s more likely to have a quarter-mile-long driveway in constant need of maintenance—snow shoveling in the winter, pothole and rut smoothing in the spring and summer. Good exercise, by the way, if you''re physically up to it, says John Emmett, Ph.D., exercise physiologist and associate professor of physical education at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

He''s more likely to have animals that need to be fed and watered, stalls that need to be cleaned, fences that need to be maintained. All fine physical labor.

The mechanical equipment required to maintain a rural spread is heavy and bulky. Just hooking up a plow to a tractor is a major, albeit short, weight-lifting routine.

The lifestyle may require and encourage substantial physical activity. And the environment and terrain offer opportunities aplenty for recreational fitness activities.

We''ll help you work on the strength and conditioning needed to live the outdoors life in style. Then we''ll suggest ways to enjoy the unique environment. Finally, we''ll show you the right way to do that most common of chores: splitting logs.

The Strength You Need

The air in most rural areas is cleaner than in cities, notes Dr. Emmett. And that''s good, because he wants you huffing and puffing.

Often the demands of rural living are sudden or seasonal, he notes. Like a mountain of snow to shovel. Or a mountain of logs to split. You may have bulging biceps, but your heart may not be up to the task, he says.

So Dr. Emmett''s first prescription for rural and mountain dwellers is aerobic training. Build up your stamina so you can put in long, hard days and still have energy remaining for short blasts of hard effort.

The base-level cardiovascular routine would be to get your heart pumping hard for stretches of 20 minutes or more, at least three times a week, Dr. Emmett says. You don''t want your heart beating too hard—just enough so you work up a sweat. You can do this gardening—hoeing, for instance—or pitching hay, or posthole digging, or recreationally—biking, running, playing basketball.

It''s important that you find a way to get an aerobic workout indoors, as well, advise Dr. Emmett and Charles Swencionis, Ph.D., head of the health psychology program at Yeshiva University in New York City and co-author of The Lazy Person''s Guide to Fitness. You need to keep your heart and lungs in shape year-round—even when you can''t get outdoors comfortably. Snow is no excuse for falling out of shape.

Second, Dr. Emmett says, work on upper-body strength.

So many physical demands of rural life involve the upper-body muscles—arms, back, shoulders—he points out. Actually, Dr. Emmett recommends a regular, full-body strength-training program, like that found in the Core Routine on page 121. But, he says, pay particular attention to upper-body conditioning. "If your upper body is weak and you''re engaged in activities requiring upper-body strength, you''re putting an even greater strain on your heart," he says.

Next priority in terms of muscles is to strengthen your back and abdominals, Dr. Emmett says. All that lifting, carrying, chopping and shoveling puts a mighty large strain on your back; conditioning can keep you from aching or getting laid up.

Particular exercises Dr. Emmett recommends:

* Bench press for chest and shoulder strength

* Biceps curls for lifting power

* Overhead triceps extensions for chopping power

* Crunches for back support

* Back extensions for lifting support

* A stretching routine to guarantee you have a full range of motion

The third aspect of health and fitness for the outdoor worker, says Dr. Emmett, is hydration. Carry a water bottle, cooler or thermos with you. Think of yourself as an athlete, whether you''re working in the garden or digging postholes. You need about eight ounces of fluid every 20 minutes during heavy physical activity, he says.

The Wilderness Gym

The rural outdoors lend themselves to myriad fitness possibilities. Among them:

* Incline work. "Literally use the hills as resistive equipment," says exercise physiologist John Amberge, director of corporate programs for the Sports Training Institute in New York City. "When you''re walking, hiking or biking on an uphill elevation, you don''t have to go at the same pace as on flat terrain to get a great workout."

* Running. Try cross-country running, says Dr. Emmett. "Instead of following a specific road or track or being on a particular piece of equipment all the time, get outdoors and run up hills, down hills, on gravel, on grass. The different surfaces and terrains offer great cross-training. Work different muscles. You get in a little endurance work, a little speed work, just by virtue of the changing terrain."

* Cycling. You could do both on and off-road cycling. Rural and mountain areas often offer quiet, safe trails and roads to ride. While not a total-body fitness activity, bicycling does build lower-body strength and, if done at a level that gets the heart into training range and holds it there for 20 minutes or so, is a good cardiovascular workout. "Get a training stand for your bike and bring it indoors and use it as a stationary cycle during the winter months," advises Dr. Swencionis.

* Advanced mountain biking. "Take advantage of beautiful nature and get a real workout on rugged trails," advises Amberge. Serious mountain biking, he says, combines muscular and aerobic work.

* Rock climbing. "Most of us probably wouldn''t climb at a pace and pattern for a long enough period to qualify this as a cardiovascular exercise, but it''s a great muscular strength and endurance activity," says Amberge.

* Chores. "Gardening, wood chopping, these sorts of activities are rarely done continuously in fitness training range—which would really be quite a workout—but the activities themselves have a caloric expenditure value and build muscular strength," says Amberge. "When they''re added to your weekly volume of activities, you see a beneficial lifestyle pattern."

Study the exercises in the Core Routine on page 121 and you''ll see ways to incorporate their moves into your daily chores, Amberge adds. For instance, you can do curls or squats or lunges gripping buckets of feed corn in each hand, or with logs at the log pile. You don''t have to have specialized equipment.

* Skiing and skating. "Cross-country skiing and ice-skating both offer muscular strength and endurance benefits," points out Amberge. When sustained for continuous bouts of 15 to 20 minutes or more, these activities will improve aerobic capacity, he adds.

Proper Log-Splitting Technique

Sharpening a Skill

We may split hairs over technique, but we all think we know how to split a log.

But 18,000 would-be Paul Bunyans injure themselves with an ax or hatchet every year. So, really, we don''t want to chop you off at the knees, Bud, but what''s the harm in reviewing a little technique?

* Start by getting your ax together. A maul is the preferred variety. A maul has a head like a wedge, with some weight on it. Make sure the head is on tight and the blade is sharp. Save the hatchets and handheld tools for kindling. For log-splitting, you want the big guy.

* Get your gear on. Veteran log whacker Bob Billings of Maine recommends heavy-weight high-topped boots and safety goggles.

* Use a hardwood chopping block. It should be at least 16 inches in diameter.

* Stand your log upright on the block. You''ll cut with the grain. Spread your feet wide, plant them firmly and grasp the maul. Hold the handle with your hands close together, about two inches from the end.

* Get in position. Rest the blade on the center of the log in front of you and keep your eye there.

* Raise the maul. Now gently, smoothly, swing it straight up over your head.

* And let it drop. The maul should fall directly on the target, using your hands to guide it. Let the maul do the work. That''s what you bought it for.

Some don''ts:

* Don''t split unseasoned wood. It will fight you and, besides, it won''t burn right and will soot up your chimney. You''ll know dry wood by its weight and its cracks and splits. A log gets lighter as it sheds its moisture.

* Don''t use an ax as a wedge, pounding it into a log with a sledgehammer. You''ll hurt the ax—mess with its head, so to speak.

* Don''t use the back side of an ax head as a hammer to drive a wedge. Why? Well, when you raise the ax, you have the blade pointing at you. Enough said? If using a wedge, pound it with a sledgehammer.