[dai]

I'v read on this forum that 10 to 15 window cleaners die from falls every year. That is tragic but there is another side to this.
How many of us older guys would still be as fit as fiddles if we were not going up ladders every day? I'm 62, did 27 houses yesterday on my tod with my trusty backflip. I weigh 15 stone but my legs never ache. I see guys I went to school with and they are knackered. We do 8 hours aerobic exercise every day. I would like to know how window cleaners fare against the general population in the heart attack league.
If we didn't climb ladders every day we would not be half as fit as we are. Two sides to every coin, Dave

[rosskesava]

Hi Dai

I'd never quite thought of it like that. You are right about the aerobics.

I read a few days ago that the biggest killer in the workplace is stess but it goes almost unrecorded because it's a silent killer.

I don't ever recall getting stressed from w/c other than the odd time when I've had to miss lunch.

I have a friend who is off from his work with 'stress' and I don't mean just being wound up, he is and looks quite seriously ill. All thin and gaunt and doesn't smile much.

I'll stick to w/c.

[gaza]

HOWdo you get stressed:you get up go to work take your brain out clock on
pick your brain up 8 hrs later clock off: that was the type of job I was doing 25 yrs ago,much happier earning my own living most the time execpt when its raining 2/3 days on the trot,then I get stressed cus I carnt go to work ,love my job that much.My lad has just had a week off with a broken flask.Never been ill for 14 yrs me and mrs been together,never had an headache.A new customer toldl me today sorry yesterday [collecting] my dads a window cleaner still at 72 wow!HE carnt get it out of his system apparently THE OLD BOY RECONDS IF HE PACKED IT IN HE WOULD CURL UP AND DIE!at 72 I would be happy just to be able to walk down to the local,apparently he puts his good health down to being a w/c  hope that answer your question

[Ian_Giles]

Dai,

I know what you mean, I'm 48 and I look at guys 10 or 15 years younger than me, many are quite feeble, have no stamina and you shake their hand and have to ease your grip for fear of hurting them (you feel the bones sort of scrunch in their hand)
I have in the past year or two met up with some of my best mates from my school days, a couple of them are so unfit it is scary. In fairness though a couple have maintained their fitness and strength.
One who was always sort of...well...not unfit or wimpy, but not tough and macho either.
Several years ago he lost his factory job and started landscape gardening and so on. He is fit and strong and has a confident edge to him he never had before.
A couple of the others stuck in desk jobs their whole lives have gone the other way, I don't mean  in their lack of confidence, but physically they have sort of shrunk inside (externally one is so fat, if he tried to do the backflips he could do when he was twenty there would be aftershocks measurable on the ricter scale for a week! )
Window cleaning definitely keeps you strong and fit, that also applied to WFP too I assure you!! Just a shift of emphasis on the muscles used is all


Ian

[gaza]

IAN  ;NO  WONDER YOU GRIP IS STRONG: carrying litres of larger around all night
  AVING A LAUFF

[The Bear]

Sorry to burst your bubble lads but window cleaning dosn't get your heart rate up  to aerobic levels,

I got a heart rate monitor and tried to convince myself that i was keeping fit,

sure it does you good climing ladders, but aerobic, dont think so!!

http://www.netfit.co.uk/wkaer.htm

[Ian_Giles]

Bear,
True enough regards aerobic levels, but I can work my butt off in the gym with weights, I can't get my heart rate up above 100bpm.
I alternate with the concept 2 rowing machine, now I can really max out on that!!
15 or 20 minutes on a weight station doing pyramids up to max weight, and then 2000m on the concept 2, I'm old, the best time I can manage for 2000m is 7min 40sec, drops to about 9min 40sec by the time I'm on my 6th and 7th set.
Sad to say, due to some knee ops (cartilage, seam bowling ) haven't got back in the gym for a couple of years.....this quite possibly accounts for the pendulous gut I appear to have grown

The physical side of window cleaning, or any other physical job, is good for you, if its a lifelong thing it maintains your strength and endurance.
If you are stuck in a sedentary job it takes effort outside of work, which of course means participating in sport that challanges you physically.
For many their enjoyment of sport is that of the fan or spectator

Now where is that nourishing tin of Stella.............


Ian

[The Bear]

Ian,

You miss the point about fitness, doing weights and maxing out rowing wont improve overall fitness.

A steady row keeping your heart rate at about 60% of maximum ( max is 220 minus your age) will keep you fit

It will also get rid of your gut, what you are suggesting will build muscle mass but not improve fitness.

http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/fatburn.htm

the only way to measure fitness is to check resting heartrate, the fitter you are, the less your heart has to work to pump blood.

Take up cycling and you will help your dodgy knee as well

All the best The Bear

http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/hrm1.htm

PS You can probably tell i'm an ex fatty. I am 5' 7" and was 15 stone, now i'm around 11 stone and plan to loose another stone this summer trying to emulate lance Armstrong on my bike

[s.hughes]

Look guys  w/c is definatley good for you. I was lifting washing machines up stairs for 18 months and couldnt loose weight. When I came onto w/c I carried a light weight ladder and bucket and what do you know 1.5 stone gone in no time.

Steveyboy

[AuRavelling79]

As we're off into fitness (and it's raining too much for me to be working) let me tell you my story - (pull up a sleeping bag).

I'm nearly 46, weigh 12st 13lbs and am 6'0" tall. (I want to be 12st 7lbs by my 46th birthday at the end of May.)

Between ages 24 and 37 with up and down fluctuations and failed diets and "stuff it" attitudes I crept up from 12st 6lb to 16st (up 50lb!) - my jobs were always sales/office and I spent my time sitting behind a desk or a wheel. In 1996/7 I went self-employed, did a bit of selling and bought £200 worth of window cleaning "to help me get fit" and get some extra money.

I read articles about diabetes and heart disease (as these are in my family) and decided I wanted to prevent them as best I could and be around for my growing family as a healthy Dad as long as possible.

The weight gradually came off and I dropped to 15 st by 2001.

Then I got serious about it and started eating more sensibly, reducing stress and cycling for an hour twice a week (more in the summer, less in the winter) - and my w/c round has steadily increased so that it has been my full-time occupation since 2001.

In 2003 I started hill-walking and go about three or four times a year on full days or weekends in the Brecons or Snowdonia. And do shorter walks most months too. I feel fitter now than at any time in my life - including my late teens/early twenties.

But the real key for me (maybe you too) is I know that when I get stressed I want to eat (some folk stop eating when they're stressed, others - it makes no difference) and window cleaning is the least stressful occupation I have ever had.

At rare times I hate it - but I never dread it! Mostly I love and enjoy it! And now I've gone pole-crazy for most of my work I love it even more - and earn more as a consequence.

MalcG of the "happy but not complacent" class.

[The Bear]

Malc g

Fully agree, stress was a factor in my weight gain, now i'm de-stressed no problem.

The Bear

[s.hughes]

When I get stressed I just dont eat so you could say that stress is good for me, but I dont like it. I dont rush my work anymore just relax and have fun.

Steveyboy

[rosskesava]

Oddly enough, I've put on about a stone and a half in the last 3 years.

To start with I lost a few pounds and my paunch dissapeared but then I started gaining weight and it's been slowly creeping up ever since.

As for stress....How's this for stressfull window cleaning?

Today we started a new job. 18 large windows around an aerobics gym. The lady who runs it asked that to begin with could we do the windows while she was there.

What she didn't say was that 'while she was there' meant while there was an aerobics class going on.

Talk about rapid heartbeat, sweating and stressed.

On a more serious note, yesterday we were chatting to a bloke who works in an office up in the city (London) which is a one hour cattle wagon journey by train. His doctor has told him to either learn stress management or change jobs. He hates his work, hates the company he works for and hates the traveling but he loves the money.

It made me think because I was in one of those jobs for years.

Now though I love my work and enjoy almost every minute and I think that has to be the best 'stress management' of all.

[matt]

talking of keeping fit

you dont have to use a ladder to keep fit

i do WFP and think i manage it,

here is my story

i work 3 days a week (mon - wednesday ) then i have my daughter for 3 days while my mrs works

now during those 3 work days i give all i have, i stop for 10 mins for lunch and thats it, today i worked from 7.30 till 5.30 (had some commercail to do)

now i feel bloody knackered, 3 days working at full whack gives you a workout

[rosskesava]

A few weeks back I saw a couple of WFP'ers who I've got to know quite well over the last year and during the chat I asked if I could have a go.

He told me what to do and I did about 5 or 6 double windows on the 2nd floor of a block of flats above some shops. It took me about 15 minutes as I'm a complete novice.

My arms and neck ached for about a week.

I reckon after a few months of that I'd be like Arnie. Well maybe a short smaller Arnie but still .......