Feeling challenged? Want to flog a tree? Tree flogging may be a healthy way to exercise! Excited?
One early morning, at a public park, I met a woman flogging a tree. Very odd. I asked her what she was doing. “I’ve been flogging trees,” she replied. Flogging trees. That’s a new one! She continued, “I’ve been doing this for the past year. Four times a week. It has been my main exercise since my accident that resulted in a leg injury.”
For some formerly active people, an injury van be a depressing life-changer. Being active is more than motivational. It’s integrated into your body and mind. Those inactive may, if pushed, will temporarily respond and extinguish their behavior. An active person confronting a permanent injury or sickness, will find anything to substitute the loss. This desperation is challenged and there are new adaptations. One woman conjured a rather creative result – flogging trees as a healthy, productive activity. Tree flogging manages calories and tones several muscle groups.
Very unique, it’s one person’s personal attempt to overcome a disability that stopped her from jogging. For this woman flogging trees is a positive and healthy alternative lifestyle, yielding great results. Many disabled people reach out to adapt, often overcoming amazing challenges. Using a flogger to flog trees is one’s personal method to whip herself back to an active lifestyle. People facing inabilities often extend beyond the norms of their existence. Others find new inner possibilities and satisfactions they were previously unaware of.
In the past, tree flogging was a term used with an axe. It meant to cut a tree down. This tree flogging did not visibly damage the tree. She used a form of whip – a flogger. She was striking the tree with the flogger. Odd? Strange? It deserved more insight.
The tree flogging woman had once been a runner (ran 3 marathons) and told me she had fractured her right tibia and knee ligament. As a result, when recovery wasn’t as expected, she bought a flogger for practice against walls and other hard vertical surfaces. She uses it for muscle build-up and cardiovascular wellness. She flogs trees as often as she can. I must admit, this middle-aged woman had really significant arms and shoulders. We didn’t pursue the subject much further. She seemed very intent on flogging that old tree. (At least she wasn’t speaking to it.)
Any type of physical activity uses energy, tree flogging is a physical activity, somehow akin to throwing or batting a ball. Baseball often requires vigorous physical movements, so playing regularly is an effective way to burn calories. I compare flogging a tree to pitching a baseball without having to retrieve the ball. This delivers a burning rate of about 204 calories. For the flogger, flogging a tree is lower impact than baseball but a decent calorie burner. With experience and technique, you might be able to burn up to 30% to 50% more calories depending on speed, repetitions, and aim.
Apart from this odd activity, her calorie theory is somewhat correct. Jogging at 5 miles per hour, 45 minutes, a 120 pound person burns 327 calories with moderate impact. General walking burns only 122 calories.
Floggers are generally considered to have multiple falls or tails, and includes everything from about 5 falls to over 20 falls. These allow balance and add weight. They are generally longer than average whips for greater difference between the user and the tree. Low impact flogging uses craft technology to reduce wrist or carpal tunnel injuries. In a balanced flogger, the handle offsets the weight of the falls. This puts the balance point at the inside leading edge of the handle and puts less stress on the user’s wrist.
A recreational flogger must be chosen if you engage in flogging trees for their safety. It is suggested that flogging should not focus on one tree. You should rotate among other trees in the park with thick trunks. Many floggers have soft lashes and softer leathers to help prevent tree damage. They are far different than what you see in those old sea adventure movies.
A good flogger has rhythm. Sending the whip around at too fast or slow a speed can cause tangles and unintended blows. Tree flogging requires meditation and focus, as with most exercises. Flogging trees is not for everyone. It requires discipline and motivation. The physical exertion and catharsis of this type of exercise seems considerable.
Once you do find your rhythm, you must also regard the width and breadth of your flogging action. Flogging is an extreme exercise that activates your arm, shoulder, and back muscles. You must always be conscious of your posture. Twisting when flogging may have slight muscular development on your abdominal muscle group. Think of golf or baseball batting.
The woman added that flogging trees helps lower her anxiety and negative stress. Though there are no current studies to support this. A 2014 study presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in Austin, Texas, found the practice of this type of multilateral, extreme exercise alters blood flow in the brain, which can lead to an altered state of consciousness similar to a “runner’s high” or yoga. The brain changes seen in the prefrontal and limbic/paralimbic pain regions were activated when participants either received pain or gave pain by the roll of a dice. Tranquility is felt due to the high that is caused by the lack of blood flow to the area, therefore reducing anxiety.
In some ways, extreme and unique measures may help people overcome physical disabilities as viable alternative solutions to problems tapping into deeper consciousness.
I did caution the woman that tree flogging might be considered extreme endurance physical exercise that may lead to other problems in her future. She noted that she has been advised of these risks but she pampers her body with massage and TENS after exercise. “Living active,” she told me, always include risky steps. Flogging trees is her thing to overcome her mobility problem.
It is unknown whether local park authorities sanction tree flogging. I would guess there have been close to no incidents of tree flogging (at least in public areas). Do trees feel the emotional effects of being flogged? Do they have sensitivities to consider?
If you are excited about tree flogging as an exercise, I believe floggers may be in some home for use by discriminating adults that might engage in consensual role play or alternative lifestyles.. There are guides to find a flogger for your tree flogging needs. There are many online resources including Amazon among others. Practice and try your purchase to test suitability for tree flogging.
Indeed, seeing people flogging a tree is extraordinarily peculiar and strange. I’d say bizarre might be appropriate. Yet, for some with slight mobility problems due to leg injuries, there are lusts to find ways to tone muscle and build cardiovascular endurance. Tree flogging helps provide those while building discipline and consciousness. It burns a fair amount of calories to help you manage weight.
It is healthy exercise that you can do solo. A flogger is the only equipment you need and most are portable and light to carry. I’d suggest storing it in a bag. Prepare for spectators curious about a person flogging a tree.
Imagine. You’re physically active. You walk, jog, run, skate, bike. You set goals to compete others and your self. Then you have an accident. Those activities are past tense but they were very significant to your daily living. There are other options. While tree flogging doesn’t come to mind immediately, this woman’s sporting approach to flogging a tree doesn’t seem so ridiculous after all.
People with disabilities seek to be as normal as possible. This woman found flogging trees to be a life saving experience for her. It keeps her in shape. It focuses the mind. It even relieves stress. It burns calories. Tree flogging is an outdoor activity. She can set competitive goals for her flogging abilities. Flogging a tree really isn’t as bizarre as you might think.
When mobility is compromised and you seek new forms of healthy activities, out-of-the-box thinking alternatives often seem valid in those circumstances. Following conventional ideas may not apply to special needs. So formerly active individuals are forced to go beyond the norms into the rarely tried. Tree flogging is but one of many. The trials and results are often amazing.
Sensory and mobility challenges are vast in a world that doesn’t necessarily shape itself for the exceptional tasks of health and activity strives among the many who can’t do what normality dictates. People with disabilities of any kind try to find their distinct paths – often less traveled. More often risky to the points of absurdity.
Flogging trees as healthy exercise for other people, without physical challenges? Who knows? It might be a new passing fad. All you need is the will, a flogging device, and a solid old tree to begin. At least one person is already flogging trees. Want to be another? It isn’t as absurd as you might think. Flogging does require practice.
Does flogging interest you?
Check with your physician before a challenging physical activity. As with any exercise regimen, start slowly.