Ask HN: How can I do some functional workout while building something?
Let me give you some context for my question.
I am a 42 yo developer, completely sedentary for the last 15 years or so, slightly overweight. I am worried about my overall health and mobility going into old age, so I started to exercise a bit last year; the thing is that I am utterly unmotivated by any sort of workout.
I never ever had the slightest motivation to go to the gym or any weight training. It's not that I hate; I just feel bored to death, I don't know. And my current long-term health concern is not enough motivation for daily commitment, I know. I am sure I won't like the motivational tactics of something like CrossFit, where someone shouting, high volume upbeat music, and group commitment are supposed to motivate you. I don't work that way. I am trying Pilates with my wife. Just the two of us and a trainer. The scheduled sessions and my wife has been helping me adhere to it for the last few months, but I know I don't look forward to the sessions and that, at some point, will make me quit.
I hate running as well, but I love to play soccer and sometimes basketball. The thing is that living in a high-density big city with busy friends is hard to find somewhere practical to play it recurrently. I am committed to finding a way to play it weekly, but even so, it will be just one weekly session of aerobic training without the functional part (which is what I am more worried about).
So, I am looking into what would motivate me to do some functional physical exercise. I am a builder. Building something will certainly motivate me. I do that with software all the time. Building things that don't go anywhere just for the joy of doing it. So I started to wonder if there is a hobby out there that demands the body enough to put me in shape.
And that brings the question: what could I physically build that would be good enough functional training while learning the craft of building it?
I am looking for something long-term. It could take years to build something acceptable, as long as the learning process is also physically demanding.
There are some more restrictions. I live in an apartment without a backyard, so no space to build a shed or anything like that. But feel free to mention good ideas that fit my purpose, and I can try to find a way to fit them into my life.
My first thoughts went to things like carpentry, masonry, sculpture, farming, gardening, ceramics. I am not interested in hobbies where you don't build anything but are fun for some people, like dancing or rock climbing.
Any ideas, HN?