If you Google terms like “yard work injury” or “bad shovel posture”, you will find countless memes and images such as this one. This is evidence of a widespread problem: people do their manual labor with incorrect posture and force mechanics, leading to injury and discomfort. Even worse, many believe that their sloppy yard work counts as ‘exercise’ or a ‘workout’.
This is something I have explained many times to my parents, friends, and clients: work is not exercise. There are similarities, sure. You will become stronger and more enduring through physical work. However, there are major differences in the intention and therefore in the execution.
Physical work is a reactive form of movement. Get this thing done, then this thing, and do it fast. This means that little attention is paid to posture, form, technique, or mechanics. People chop wood swinging from the same side of the body every time and get weird pains. Folks rake or shovel with poor posture and end up all jacked-up.
Intentional exercise or training is a proactive form of movement. You are taking your time to build new movement patterns and physical capacities. Therefore, you pay careful attention to posture, form, technique, and mechanics. People learn to create balance and symmetry in their body through strength training. Folks lift and move with good posture and end up just plain jacked.
Another short and sweet blog today. I hope you get the point. If you stop and reflect on the differences in intentions, execution, and results from labor compared to exercise, I think you will see what I’m getting at.
SMART, FIT, AND CLEAN 
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