Exercise as we all know is good for the body and soul but the form that exercise takes can be the difference between ecstasy and utter misery. Pounding away on a treadmill is hard on the joints and going for a sedate non heart rate increasing ride on an exercise bike is a total waste of time. My favourite form of exercise is chopping wood.
Much of the wood I chop comes from my coppicing activities which I have discussed elsewhere. The wood that is not going to end up as posts, rails or other coppice products is loaded into the back of my trusty Landrover 110. The wood I’m coppicing at the moment is chestnut and is loaded in lengths, short enough to fit in the back of the Landy, so they’re sizeable lumps weighing up to 100 kilos. Carrying them is a fantastic all over workout as all the major muscle groups are exercised and heart and breathing rates are raised over a long period of time.
The cord wood then has to be driven to its final destination, unloaded, sawn up into logs and split. This is the fun part. I have a wonderful old axe with a good heavy head and using it has become something of a ritual as it has to be sharpened using a file and a well soaked whetstone. Once it has a decent edge on it I’m ready for action. There is an almost primeval joy in taking a log, standing it on a stump and splitting it. The axe goes through a full arc, the sun glints off the edge and comes down with a force that splits the log in two. I think of myself as being one with the axe as I have used it for so long I know exactly where the balance point is and I have a very well practiced technique. As you can see from the photos below I have a great deal of wood all of which I have cut and split myself. So, now you know how I maintain a healthy weight and keep my fuel bills down.
