L ike many Hyde Park residents, I've pumped iron at Hyde Park Gym. It did great things for my pecs, but not much for my yard. And when I mowed my lawn with a Toro power mower, the grass looked great but my lats sucked muddy water.

    I'd like to think it was some kind of rocket science that led me to figure out the relationship between these two phenomena. Rather, it was the fallout from having my garage cleaned out by a local druggie who didn't bother to ask first. All the power tools were gone in a matter of minutes.

    Among the few items remaining was the rusty, 1940's era push mower (also called a hand mower or a reel mower) I bought when I first arrived in Hyde Park back in 1975. I had a postage stamp size front yard and no back yard, so why bother with a power mower?

    I nipped up to Bucksaver's Corral on North Lamar, a used furniture store run by Buck and Penny Saver, and picked up a piece of gear that looked like it could get the job done. After the initial sharpening, it never needed repair, never gave me a heart attack trying to start it, never woke a neighbor taking a weekend snooze, and never prevented me from hearing a mockingbird when I was giving the St. Augustine a trim.

    Then a son was born, grew into a teenager, and needed a power mower for his lawn care business. I had to admit it was easier to wield a power mower than a push mower. But it spewed out more pollutants than a 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible and shattered the peace on my block for a half hour every week for half the year. Even worse was watching my finely chiseled physique soften and spread like warm brie at an August picnic. That's the American way with labor saving devices.

    Then the thief struck. Overnight I was faced with a shaggy lawn and sagging abs that more closely resembled a sack of flour more than a six-pack. A little WD-40 brought my old push mower back to life. AA Lawnmower on Burnet Road put the gleam back on the blades, and some serious shearing ensued.

    Some years back in Hyde Park, an entrepreneur tried to combine a laundromat with a gym. It was called Clean and Lean. It eventually went under, but the idea of combining a tedious chore with increased fitness lives on...

    Push mowing tones the whole body. Need a little more definition for your quads? Let the grass grow an extra couple of inches between mowings. Talk about cut! Talk about shredded! The delts, the traps, the bis and tris ... all get a primo workout. The larger the lawn, the mightier the man.

    This I guarantee: get yourself a push mower and put it to work before Father's Day, and by Thanksgiving your glutes will be something to write home about.