Why Housework Is A Great Way To Exercise

Housework refers to activities done both outside and within the home.

Outside of the house, chores include gardening and painting the exterior of the home. Tasks within the home include cleaning surfaces, washing dishes, and laundry.

Housework is a great form of exercise. Thinking of its benefits may help you feel better about devoting time to the tasks and give you reasons to smile as you check another chore off of your to-do list.

Here we have a two-for-one special. You clean your house AND you burn calories while you complete the chores.

Many people insist that they do not have time to exercise. They cite heavy work schedules and busy lifestyles as the culprits. Those excuses do not apply here. Get housework done and get in a workout at the same time.

No extra time is needed to drive to the gym. As well, if you have young kids, a babysitter does not need to be arranged in order for you to scoot to the aerobics class at the local recreation centre.

Housework is also a great exercise as the body movements engaged in the chores burn calories. We are not talking a small amount of calories either.

For example, a 150-pound person who vacuums for 30 minutes burns about 119 calories. A person of the same weight who cooks for one hour burns 136 calories. Think about the amount of whisking, chopping, and mixing you do when you prepare your meals.

These activities are ways that you burn calories.

The number of calories burned depends on the weight of the individual. People who weigh more tend to burn more calories during the same exercise session than someone of a lower body weight.

Housework activities do not centre solely on one movement or one specific body part. The entire body is engaged as there are several items that are grouped into a list of household chores.

A typical one hour of household activities could include washing dishes, scrubbing floors, and cleaning windows. When you wash dishes, your abs are engaged and you tone your upper arms as you work to remove food particles from dishes.

When you clean floors, using your hands rather than a mop, you work your leg muscles as you squat down on the floor. You also stretch your torso as you scrub the floor.

While the cardio portion of your gym workout may include running on the treadmill, the equivalent form of exercise at home could be scrubbing the bathtub. Your arms and hands use a fast back-and-forth motion that raises your heart rate and you likely use your legs to balance as you bend over the tub. Calories are burned with the energetic movement.

Variety is important to staying focused in an exercise routine. Boredom may set in when, for example, you do the same aerobic activity each time you work out. You are then less motivated to continue with the exercise. Housework provides variety that keeps you focused on the activities and burning calories. Anther reason here why housework is a great way to exercise.

Variety is provided both by the different body movements completed doing housework and also by the variety of the household tasks. From raking leaves to vacuuming to dusting wall hangings, there are many different types of activities that comprise the category "housework".

Keep your variety level high and keep your chores manageable by breaking household tasks into chunks. Assign different chores to different days of the week. Not only will you have a clean house at the end of the week, you will also have a variety of activities that increase your heart rate and burn calories.

No money outlay is needed for housework, aside from the necessary cleaning supplies.

There is no gym membership, recreation centre drop-in fee, or gas needed to drive to the gym. You get the workout without having to pay to exercise.

As well, you can exercise in the comfort of your own home. For people who are self-conscious about working out around other people, this is an added benefit to using housework as a way to exercise.

Housework is a great way to exercise for several reasons. The variety of tasks keeps you motivated, and you do not have to extend any money to engage in the activities. You clean your house at the same time as burning calories, and you work out your entire body rather than focusing on one muscle group. Clean house and enjoy the health benefits!