Here’s an idea – now the weather is getting a bit better and the garden needs our attention, why not turn our gardening into a keep fit routine?
For those of us who are a bit short of time, this is the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone. Not literally, of course, but fitting a workout into the same time we’ve allocated to making the garden look pretty will help spare up a few hours in our week.
Gardening burns calories and helps the cardiovascular system, reducing the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and other medical conditions. Half an hour’s digging can use up 250 calories, weeding will burn 105 calories, raking 100 calories and mowing the lawn 195, so with a little effort in the garden two or three times a week, we’ll soon feel fitter and have a garden to be proud of.
Gardening not only helps physically, but psychologically, too. Studies have shown that working in the fresh air and being among trees and plants reduces stress and relieves muscle tension.
Colin Holding, Head Coach of Wildfitness (www.wildfitness.com), a company which runs transformative fitness holidays, gives some advice:
WARMING UP
Do the less strenuous gardening chores, such a little light pruning, to warm up and get the muscles moving.
WEEDING
Instead of kneeling, squat or bend down (from the knees, keeping the back straight) to weed borders or move plants or pots. This helps to tone your thigh and buttocks. Get down as low as you can so that your bottom is as close to your heels as it can be. When you stand up you will be using your joints to their maximum range of movements. From a squat position you can weed or plant and each time you move along a border make sure you stand up and then squat again. With deep squats, you use the biggest muscles in your body – leg, thigh and hip muscles – and this will aid lymphatic drainage, pumping out toxins as you completely rely on muscular movement for this.
RAKING & FORKING
Take extra long strides while raking or use short, quick motions, and keep the rake close to your body, switching sides every 2-3 minutes. This helps strengthen arms and shoulders, and tones the abdominal muscles.
MOWING
Using a push mower rather than a power mower will give you a more strenuous workout.
HEAVY WORK
Heavier work such as clearing brambles and stacking wood can give you the equivalent workout to a light aerobics class.
Make sure you work at a steady, constant speed to keep your heart rate up at a set level, and don’t do too much of one thing – three hours’ digging is likely to result in a lot of aches and pains!
Writing by Hannah Stephenson