The burly Southland loosehead is more action than relaxation, and says that is what makes his latest injury frustration tough to take.
Mackintosh is out of rugby for six weeks after a knee injury.
"It's pretty heart-breaking.
"I suppose to put it in perspective it's not life-threatening or dangerous, but I had done a lot of hard work to try and get myself pretty fit," he said.
"I survived the hard games, the two pre-season games, and then the real stuff comes along and I get injured."
Mackintosh (24) was injured nine minutes into the first game against the Brumbies at Carisbrook when he took the ball up and was twisted in a tackle.
He tried to play on for another 20 minutes but eventually left the field.
It was initially thought he had strained the meniscus of his left knee, but it turns out he has ruptured the popliteus tendon at the back of his knee, and also damaged part of the capsule at the back of his knee.
"It is one of those injuries which is pretty rare.
"It had the doctors and surgeon pretty stumped.
"They reckon there is only one other person in New Zealand, a rock climber, who has suffered from it."
Mackintosh has been advised to rest and slowly strengthen the knee.
He is hoping to be back to play the Bulls in Palmerston North on March 28.
If not, the Highlanders have the bye the following week, so he should be available to play the Reds in Invercargill on April 11.
"The good thing is I can rehab quite well with swimming, doing weights and keeping my fitness up.
"The boys had a tough time last week with a bit of stuff flying around the media but we just wanted to focus on the game.
"We talk about closing down games but in saying that there were opportunities we had which we failed to take.
There are a thousand different ways to lose games.
We've just got to find the right way to win them."
Mackintosh said he would stay mainly in Dunedin for the next few weeks, as he wanted to contribute to the team.
As vice-captain he was part of a wider leadership group, which he said was new this year, and really helping the team.
Making the All Blacks was not a consideration and he just wanted to get back on the field and play well in the last five or six games.
