Getting into the garden can be as good as going to the gym. Fitness consultant Craig Wise has the details.

Recently, I was part of a conversation about gyms and the convenience of 24-hour gym access, when one person in the group asked, ‘How did we ever exercise before all this access and a gym on nearly every corner?’

The answer is simple – we did stuff. And by ‘stuff’, I mean we mowed our own lawns, cleaned our own homes, washed our own cars, and more. These days, our lives are filled with convenience.

What if we took a step back and started doing stuff again? The garden, for example, can be a great place to stay active and get fit. With the warmer weather and longer days coming, getting out there isn’t so much of a chore as it was, and the health benefits are more than a bonus.

Your garden gym

Here are some garden activities that are also great exercise.

Mowing

Just about every garden has some lawn, and pushing the mower is a great workout. A petrol mower, which is the standard these days, will give a leg workout. But you get extra points if you go old school and use a push mower – this will add some upper body action to your garden workout.

Raking

Using the rake is an integral part of garden maintenance, whether it’s collecting dead leaves or grass clippings. The rake helps the top layer of the garden to breathe and clears away debris to give it the sunlight it needs.

Raking is a bit like using a rowing machine at the gym. It will give your upper body a good workout, especially your shoulder and back muscles. The leg muscles will also get some action when you pick up your pile of raked leaves or grass.

Digging

Another activity that can give you a good all-over workout is digging the garden and turning the soil. The act of turning the soil before planting is great for aerating the soil – and also perfect for working the shoulders, chest, and back.

Weeding

Any gardener knows just how quickly those evil weeds rear their heads and spoil all our good work, so pulling out weeds is a neverending exercise routine. It’s a good shoulder workout and can be excellent for hand dexterity and strength. If you’re doing a lot of getting up and down, the legs will also get a workout.

Things to think about

When gardening, just as with gym exercise, take care not to damage your body.

• If you spend time on your knees in the garden, use a cushion, keep your back straight, and don’t sit on your heels. Be sure to stand up and stretch every 10 to 15 minutes.

• For digging, use a long-handled, lightweight spade and don’t overload it. Bend at the knee and step forward as you raise and lower each spadeful of soil.

• Bend at the knees when picking things up.

• And for your mind: make time to stop and smell the flowers.

Grow and connect

If you live with young people, try making gardening a family activity. Ever since our girls were young, we have made a big thing of growing fruit and vegetables at home. With busy lives, it can be time consuming, but it’s great family bonding time, as well as a time to educate and broaden our girls’ minds. Being connected to what they eat and the process of growing it gives them a greater appreciation of fresh food than they would have by just grabbing it off the shelf in the supermarket (and it can help the food bill, too).

What if you don’t have a garden?

Perhaps you have a friend or family member who would welcome some help or collaboration in their garden. Why not ask them? Gardening with someone else can be a lot of fun.

There are also many community gardens all around the country that allow for varying levels of involvement and commitment. An internet search will bring up the names of those near you and the contact details for enquiries.

Growing mental health as well as plants

Gardening has a positive effect on not only your physical but your mental health:

• Allowing your creative side to bloom in the garden can leave you with asense of pride and achievement at a job well done.

• Sometimes the scents from plants and soil can stimulate or trigger long forgotten memories, which in turn may relieve stresses related to our everyday modern lives.

• It’s well documented now in scientific studies that soil contains anti-depressant microbes.

No wonder gardening can make us feel so good. It’s a full workout, it can help you connect to nature and to other people, and if you’re growing and eating your own fruit or vegetables, you can use that to help build an even healthier lifestyle. Gardening ticks all the boxes.

Counting calories burned

Just half an hour of weeding can burn plenty of calories, and some of those heavier duty activities like hedge trimming and weed-eating can burn even more.

This year, the Harvard Medical School published the number of calories burned, per 30 minutes, by doing various activities, depending on bodyweight. Here are some of the outdoor activities.

First published in the Spring 2021 issue of Diabetes Wellness.

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