Garden gym

Using your garden

Planning your New Year’s resolutions? Exercising or becoming healthier in general probably features somewhere on the list. Before you splurge on an expensive year-long gym membership that, in all honesty, you may not end up using, take a glance at your garden. You may not realise it, but many of the activities we gardeners engage in outdoors count as exercise, and quite strenuous exercise too.

Gardening is classified as moderate exercise by many organisations, which means you burn off 3 – 6 times more energy per minute than you would sitting down. Keeping up that activity for 30 minutes to an hour can burn around 300 calories – the same amount as a 30-minute, 5km run. Higher-intensity activities like digging or mowing burn more, but any movement around the garden has its benefits.

Studies have shown that burning calories isn’t the only health benefit. Gardening is also great for coordination, improving dexterity and functional movement. Actions like planting or pruning, or simply moving around the garden for long periods, also aid in aerobic endurance. One university study even found that digging can improve bone density, especially in gardeners over 50.

These benefits come from the full-body engagement that gardening requires. It includes all four types of exercise in one activity – endurance, strength, balance and flexibility. It also engages most of your muscle groups, providing a great allround workout rather than a targeted one.

If you feel you aren’t getting enough exercise out of your weekend gardening session, there are a few ways to up the intensity while keeping it enjoyable:

• Plan your workout. Start your gardening session with a light stretch and move into planned activities that are separated into sets.

For example, rake for one minute, move onto digging, and then return to raking for a defined amount of time. This process replicates the typical workout routines prescribed by personal trainers, engaging all parts of your body and

CHANGE FOR GOOD

improving endurance without tiring yourself out. Be sure to stretch well afterward too, to prevent sore muscles later on. • Watch your form. We’ve all made the mistake of bending over incorrectly when planting or picking up a bag of compost, and feeling the consequences the next day. When performing any gardening tasks, use the strength in your legs and arms by using the correct form. This engages the correct muscle groups and prevents back and neck injuries. • Put down the gadgets. Gardeners love our gadgets, and they may be difficult to part with. But if you’re looking to use your garden for exercise, manual is the way to go. Mowing, chopping or trimming may be far easier with the tech provided, but you’ll be surprised how much more exercise you get performing these essential tasks without them. • Get planting. Digging is the most high-intensity gardening activity you can perform, using your strength and burning plenty of calories. To up your gardening exercise game, focus on digging by planting a range of new plants in different parts of your garden. Not only is this the best form of exercise, but it’s also one of the best parts of gardening – planting something new.