10 Natural Exercises Ghanaians Do Without Even Realizing

Welcome to Ghana, the country where things are so hard everyday life feels like a gym.

Life in Ghana is bound to get you ripped by the time you hit your 30’s. Most Ghanaian young men are said to be rhomboid in shape and appear muscular but we hardly visit the gym too and most foreigners don’t get the secret behind this, but the simple truth is all around us … our lifestyle.

The food we eat, the jobs we do, chores we are assigned to are all hectic to the extent that they get you ripped without even asking for it.

Let’s look at some of these everyday things we do that gets us ripped without us even asking.

1. Pounding Of Fufu.

Pounding fufu alone can be compared to pushing down the lat machine in the gym and you will be pounding this till your siblings take over or you are old enough to leave home.

Pounding builds your triceps, biceps, chest. The professional fufu pounders at the various chop bars can vouch.

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2. Drawing Water From The Well.

Yes! In Ghana, we still draw water from the well especially around this time of the season where all the water runs dry. In case you are not familiar with the process, drawing water from a well is a lot of exercise, it can be compared to swimming. When drawing water, your whole body participates in the action to get the water to the surface.

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3. Masonry.

Most masons in Ghana are muscular, why is that? This is because tools which aid in the bricklaying job are not available so masons in Ghana are left with no choice than to use manpower.

While in some countries, there is a machine that mixes the concrete for you, it is different here in Ghana, masons do the mixing themselves with shovels and carry it to the site to be used. And when it comes to carrying the cement to the site, it’s is done by physical strength where they carry it on their shoulder.

4. Pulling of “Trucks”.

In Ghana, there are locally made trailers which are pulled in marketplaces to transport goods from one location to the other. They are commonly referred to as “trucks”. This job is just about pure strength.

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5. Kaya.

“Kaya” means load and in Ghana, there are many men and women who help carry heavy loads for customers usually in the market. It’s like a human trolly. The Kaya job is not only limited to shopping in the market but also lifting and carrying heavy stuff like bags of rice, cement etc. at their wholesale centres.

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6. Chopping of Wood.

In Ghanaian villages, people still use firewood, that means constant searching and axing of wood to make fire out of it. You want muscles? Try this out for a week and thank us later.

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7. Riding.

Bicycles and motorbikes which are used extensively in the northern parts of Ghana are also another form of exercise. Riding these little machines daily is the perfect leg exercise you need.

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8. Cooking Banku or Kenkey.

“Driving” banku, for both personal and commercial purposes is a good form of exercise.

9. Grinding of Pepper and Other Vegetables.

Before blenders, Ghanaians used to grind vegetables before using it, this involved aggressive hitting of these vegetables and grinding it to make it usable for soup or stew.

10. Routes To Our Various Homes.

Because most of our roads are still untarred and rocky, it’s hard work just to take a walk.