Farming your way to a better body

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| posted Feb 2, 2010

Washed out and out of shape, growing tired of mundane urbanite living? It may sound like quite a bleak picture but this time of year we are all feeling the greys. An unusual holiday break may just be the answer to all your fitness woes...

Upon reading of farmstays in unsuspectedly exotic locations Swide got thinking... what if fruit-picking and various forms of cattle handling became a fresh new alternative to regular exercising? No matter how many resolutions we may have tried to hammer into our reluctant brains no one in their right minds actually *want* to run on treadmills in sweaty grey gyms. But make that a ranch in far away Western lands - naturally we're picturing a cowboy or two along for the ride - and imagine running for an actual reason, say chasing a runaway cow... And bam! Mens sana in corpore sano.

Highlighting just a few of the many options and exercise techniques:

Fruit and vegetable-picking in Ibiza

We say, ditch the dancefloors of your younger days and enjoy an altogether more earnest and authentic side of the island. A farm such as Can Marti boasts its own production of fruit and veg and since guests are more than welcome to joining in you should turned into a bronzed farming god/goddess in no time.

Pig farming in Sweden

Much running around in plastic clothes to make you sweat profusely. PLUS pigs do have a reputation for their higher sensitivity which might actually make a nice change from your emotional-as-a-rock colleagues. Try Stora Holmen if you can decipher the Swedish.

Coconut harvesting in India

Think rope climbing with an actual purpose as you climb those trunks to reap its fruit. The technique as executed by locals looks like it might take a bit of work at first but then it would just be a matter of unleashing your inner monkey et voilà, a chief coconut picker and think of think of spending a day holding onto a tree would do for those thighs... Here for major details.

Rice farming in Thailand

Looks kind of like curling (which admittedly might not the most intense form of exercise) but in an altogether much nicer decor and with much more stylish accessories (loving those wide-brimmed hats). It does look like hard work so expect little chatting to your colleagues but major opportunities to find yourself or whatever your stressful urban living requires. Read more here.

Cattle driving in California

Yeeha etc etc. Cheesy as anything but ... appeals to our romantic sensibilities (that Brokeback Mountain very much revived our old cowboy fantasies), horseriding is brilliant exercising, plenty of sun to tan those greying limbs and the hope of a roll in the hay (another valid form of exercise). Where do you sign up! (Here.)

Aurelie Bellavigna

Source: The Times

Photo credits: Various