gardening fitness routine

Get fit and feel great from my head to-ma-toes

You could pay a small fortune in the gym with a personal trainer trying to develop your core, leg, back, shoulder and arm muscle groups… or you could get up and shovel something. No, really! Shovelling is a high intensity workout where, depending on your pace and stamina, you can burn up to 250 calories per 30 minutes of work. You can burn even more calories than that in lower temperatures as your body works harder to keep warm. The weeks between January and early spring is the best time of year to get the garden ready for new growth so get out and get shovelling! We have a great range of luxury tools to get you started.

Shovelling isn’t the only garden workout: weeding can burn up to 150 calories for 30 minutes of work. As well as being a great calorific workout, gardening helps you reawaken old muscles as you get your body bending and moving in new ways. From squats to lifts, gardening encourages you to give the whole of your body an effective workout.

Shovelling is great cardio and works a vast range of muscle groups so don’t forget to get ready. Like any exercise it’s important to warm up, so start with light gardening first and most importantly, don’t get too cold! If you get too cold your muscles will tighten up and you put yourself at risk of injury. Layer up and be responsible. Listen to your body when you think enough is enough. To give yourself the best chance possible of staying out in the cold while keeping warm you can use heated insoles, socks, gloves, gilets and so much more.

yoga in garden

Mind your back! With safety in mind do try to reduce the risk of strain with clever tools to help you lift bulky loads. Keep pathways clear and accessible to avoid sudden twists or strain while you move. Most importantly, lift with your legs and keep your back straight.

If you don’t do much gardening and the excuse is always that you simply don’t have room in the house for working out, why not invest in an extra room? No, not an expensive house extension, a garden room. Summerhouses are ideal spaces to adapt to your needs, whether personal gym, yoga studio or home office, a summerhouse gives you almost all the benefits of a house extension at only a fraction of the cost.

Working out in the garden isn’t just great for burning calories. With gardening you can expect to gain other great benefits such as decreased blood pressure and lower levels of cholesterol. Depending on the intensity and regularity of your gardening, over time you will strengthen joints, improve flexibility and even slow the onset of osteoporosis. Generally improving your fitness has a multitude of long term health benefits and doing so with gardening means you help out nature too! Building projects such as setting up water features and birdbaths are great physical activities with long term benefits for you and visiting wildlife.

There are a huge number of health benefits associated with exercising outside in this way. The psychological impact of growing a healthy crop of vegetables or seeing your garden full of beautiful blooms will give you a great sense of achievement. This kicks off the “feel good” reaction in the body where dopamine, well, makes us feel good! Hence the name. Dopamine has a range of health benefits including memory development and learning, decreases inflammation, improves sleep, and much more. Besides all that, you get tomatoes! Long-term, sustained cardio workouts (like the sort you’ll be getting in your garden) increase your levels of serotonin, which leaves you feeling happier and more sociable. There’s also a lot of research that shows just being outside can have a big impact on your mental health, leaving you less likely to feel symptoms of anxiety or depression.

gardening exercise

Jenny at PrimroseJenny works in the Primrose Product Loading team working on adding new and exciting products to the website. When she’s not writing, proofreading or drinking the strongest coffee possible Jenny loves to climb and can often be found halfway up a wall at the local climbing centre.

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