Advertisement A radial arm saw, which was a gift from my dad, sits idly in the corner, either glad to rest or eager to get back to work, I’m not sure which.
An old table saw needs a new power cord for it to operate safely.
A cordless drill watches its detached battery pack silently drain.
These tools plus others I have could be put to good use to build a birdhouse, a shelving unit or even a deck. I think I would like to build these things, but I don’t.
This is perhaps a thinly veiled metaphor for the exercise equipment you may have at your home or the gym where you occasionally show your face. There are some great tools located at these places that you should really learn how to use.
People tell me that my radial arm saw is great, yet I find myself preferring the hand saw because I’m more comfortable using it.
What a waste, they say. If you’d just give it a shot, you’d discover how much you’d like using it. They’re probably right.
Have you tried out an adjustable dumbbell bench? I can’t speak for tools much, but I can tell you that a bench is a great piece of equipment. It’s versatile, small and inexpensive (if you wanted to purchase one for home use), and it’s easy to learn how to use. I can think of 20 great exercises you can do on one of these, exercises for your chest, back, biceps, triceps, abdominals and lower body.
A bench and a set of dumbbells. Dumbbells, too, you say? One couldn’t build a bookshelf with just a fancy radial arm saw. I would think you’d need nails or screws and a hammer or drill.
Like the saw, the bench is a good start, but you’ll need a little more to make it truly functional.
You could do a full body workout and never leave the bench. I’ll tell you how in my next column, coming Jan. 30.
Travis Erickson is director of undergraduate strength and conditioning concentration at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He writes a regular column, Muscle Minutes, for the Tribune. E-mail him questions at erickson.trav@uwlax.edu.
