Did you spend an hour in the garden this weekend? Congratulations – you’ve completed a workout worthy of a gym session, and you’ve probably burned hundreds of calories.
Just 30 to 60 minutes spent on various tasks with green fingers can burn about 300 calories and train all the same muscle groups that you would use for swimming or rock climbing.
And there are smart ways to optimize this exercise. Read on to get the most out of your outdoor spring arrangement. . .
Annie Burdick reveals a selection of smart ways to optimize your garden workout, as it has been found that green finger tasks can burn about 300 calories (file image)
BREAK THE DAYS A LITTLE AND FREQUENTLY
Allocate your tasks so that you have something significant to do as often as you can.
Instead of reserving one afternoon a month for a huge gardening job, try dividing the work into 30-minute sessions several times a week. Weed one large spot at a time, then work in compost or scatter gravel in one day and do a planting project in another. You will get these 30 minutes in the garden for as many days as possible and you will feel better.
REPLACE THE WEIGHT WITH A WATERING MACHINE
To maximize calorie burning, these are the best exercises to focus on: garden waste collection, weeding, rowing, digging or turning the soil, and carrying full watering cans.
Increase your heart rate (the higher your heart rate, the more calories you burn). Focus on short, high-intensity activities – such as a minute or two of focused digging – and include rest periods to recover.
Landscaping, moving stones and pulling soil burns 400 to 600 calories per hour; grabbing and packing leaves is 350 to 450 calories per hour; and weed extraction is approximately 200 to 400 calories per hour.
Annie said pushing an old school mower engages key core muscles as well as your biceps and triceps (file image)
PUSH IN THE FOLLOWING TIME TO TURN ON THE LAWNMOWER
Use an old school lawn mower that relies on manpower, not an engine or machine (this is also a benefit to the environment).
Pushing a lawn mower engages key core muscles, as well as your biceps and triceps. In half an hour you could burn up to 200 calories, although this varies depending on your weight and the mower you use.
KEEP POSITION WHEN RUNNING
Increase your flexibility and balance by making your movements methodical.
When you practice yoga, you build a posture by holding it for long periods of time and then move on to the next movement intentionally.
Do the same in your garden. As you lean forward to pick up some tools, bend over to pick weeds, or reach out to prune some branches of a bush, focus on how your body feels. Rely on movement and the muscles you work with for a useful stretching workout.
WEED TO BUILD ENDURANCE
Annie said try to build endurance over time with aerobic activities such as weeding (file image)
Aerobic gardening tasks, which include movements such as pulling, pushing and carrying, will build endurance.
The World Health Organization recommends that exercise last at least ten minutes at a time to be considered aerobic. We should aim for 75 minutes of intense aerobic activity or 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week, or a combination of both.
If weeding for more than ten minutes in the beginning is too difficult, that’s fine. Start from there, then try for 15 minutes after about a week and build stamina over time.
DIG FOR VICTORY – AND STRENGTH
Different activities work for different muscles. Digging, for example, strengthens your back. If you pull a healthy weed, you will feel the effort in your hands.
Meanwhile, carrying a heavy watering can or moving a pot tests your forearms. When you squat to kill a flower, you can feel your hamstrings and buttocks stretch.
Choose exercises to focus on specific muscle groups – or switch them to hit them all.
NOW CONTINUE WITH STAR JUMPING
If you feel extra motivated, add short sets of other exercises between gardening tasks. For example, after you finish watering, you can do a set of squats. Weed a garden bed, then make a five-minute jump. Mow a strip of lawn and then make ten star jumps.
- Adapted from Ciara Doset from Gardening for Mind, Body and Soul, by Annie Burdick (£ 12.99, Summersdale). © Annie Burdick 2022. To order a copy for £ 11.69, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free delivery in the UK for orders over £ 20. The offer price is valid until March 9, 2022.