How To Get the Most Out Of Your Garden And Your Exercise Time

Do you like gardening? Do you see it as a form of exercise? Personally, I see it as a hobby but an active one – so much better than slouching about. One of our regular contributor Zack Spring from Travel Fit is here today to talk a bit about gardening. Here goes:

If you’ve ever tried to pull weeds for longer than 10 minutes, you know exactly which muscle groups feel it in the morning. The workout is unmistakable. After just a few weeks in the dirt, you have the abs, biceps, and calves to prove that you don’t even need a gym membership for a lot of the year. Yet, as with any exercise regimen, there are always ways to step up your game and get more intentional about your time in “the zone.”

Now every garden is unique, so the manual labor it takes to keep it up will vary. But the one thing that every garden has in common is that it needs to be tended almost daily. Since our physical bodies need exercise daily, the two make an unbeatable combination of calorie burning and fun. Here are three examples of activities that will help you amp up your workout and ramp up your garden.

Plant
Trees

Planting pre-grown trees is not only a way to get in some heavy lifting; maintaining trees can be quite a bit of work. Short term, the trees will need to be consistently watered and secured to stakes while they are growing. You should also consider adding compost to the area surrounding the tree to provide additional nutrients. Composting entails using organic matter (e.g., vegetables, leaves, coffee grounds) to help grow your plants. As they grow taller, you will be reaching for those limbs to prune them back. These tasks can easily become an upper-body workout with lasting effects on your landscape as well as your arm and core muscles.

Rake
Leaves

Instead of letting the leaves clutter the rest of the yard, take some time to rake them into piles and haul them off your beautifully landscaped yard. As you lift and drag the rake across the yard, your arm muscles experience resistance, and you burn calories while building strength and endurance. Those extra steps around the yard will help, too. Don’t be surprised if your ab muscles are tight in the morning from bending and leaning to pile the leaves into your wheelbarrow.

Use a
Watering Can

If you plan to get in some exercise while growing your garden, try to do as much manual labor as possible. For example, fill and refill a watering can while watering the flowers one at a time. This small adjustment from using a hose to a watering can will help you get in some extra steps while walking back and forth to fill it up. It also requires you to do consistent arm movements, tilting and moving the watering can until you’ve finished watering the whole garden. Make sure you switch arms between each refill so that both arms can benefit from the workout.

To get the most out of your gardening exercise time, make sure you take deep breaths during each activity, drink lots of fluids, and take breaks when you need to. All of that vitamin D from the sunlight can reduce stress and work wonders on your relaxation levels. Just remember to take proper precautions to cool down and avoid sunburns while you are enjoying it.

As with anything, know your limits. If you
become light-headed or overheated, head back indoors to rest before you
continue your physical exercise. Gardening is a hobby that is beneficial to
both your quality of life and physical health. Get the most out of your garden
while your body gets the most out of the workout.

Once again, many thanks to Zack for this wonderful article. Be sure to show some love and check out his site – Travel Fit . Enjoy your gardening and take some time to explore the following fitness-related digital products too:

 

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