To be quite brutally honest, ANY melee weapon is going to require serious strength and endurance if you plan on swinging them for any length of time, even a simple two pound gladius. And how do you know I'm not already in training for 12/22/2012?
Also, keep in mind that the .22 I have in mind is a bullpup-style rifle. The machete is for the close-in work, which was why I listed three weapons. By far, though, I'd try to stick to ranged whenever humanly possible.
ETA: In high school, my introduction to helping my dad with carpentry was 1) Grab hammer, 2) Use hammer for 20-30 minutes, 3) Down asprin before I could start feeling my arm again, 4) Try not to scream. Yeah, I know what kind of bitch swinging heavy objects can be.