It’s hard working in landscaping when the temperatures climb into the upper 90s during the middle of the afternoon. Aside from sweating every last drop of water out of my body, we’re also constantly exposed to the sun and burns are a serious problem. I worry that I’m going to develop skin cancer someday from all of this relentless UV exposure. You can try to use sunscreen, but working in that heat for eight to nine hours everyday sweats it off your skin. Even if you reapply sunscreen, it can be hard to get it to stay on at all. However, the sun exposure and extreme heat is just half the battle. The other part of the struggle is having the strength and stamina to power through eight hours of constant manual labor. It’s a lot of lifting and hauling, especially when we’re trimming trees and piling the branches on the scrap trailer. Thankfully I finally found a way to improve my stamina at work. Going to the gym several times a week for cardio and weightlifting has done wonders for my strength and physical endurance. I don’t get exhausted as quickly or severely during my work shift if I’ve been going to the gym to do weightlifting on a regular basis. I have considered hiring a personal trainer to take my fitness to the next level, but for now I’m getting enough out of my gym membership to make the cost worth every penny. It’s also nice having a workout planner app on my phone where I can learn workout techniques while following a personally tailored workout schedule.