Get Garden Fit!

Most of us feel like we’ve put in a good day’s work, after gardening for hours on end. But can gardening really be considered as good exercise? According to the University of Virginia, gardening rates up there with other moderate to strenuous forms of exercise, like walking and bicycling. Naturally, this will all depend on what gardening task you are doing and for how long. Like any other form of exercise, you have to be active for at least 30 minutes to see a direct benefit. Although you may not always realize it, while enjoying yourself in the garden, you are also working all the major muscle groups: legs, buttocks, arms, shoulders, neck, back and abdomen. Gardening tasks that use these muscles build strength and burn calories.

Besides the exertion involved, gardening has other pluses that make it a good means of exercise and calorie burning. There can be a great deal of stretching involved with gardening, like reaching for weeds or tall branches, bending to plant and extending a rake. Lifting bags of mulch, pushing wheelbarrows and shoveling all provide resistance training similar to weight lifting, which leads to healthier bones and joints. Yet while doing all this, there is minimal jarring and stress on the body, unlike aerobics or jogging.

And if you want to shed some pounds to prepare for the potential feasting frenzy that is Christmas, take note of the following research from Iowa State University, which shows how some of the more strenuous gardening tasks can really burn calories.

• Digging Holes - Men: 197 calories, Women: 150 calories
• Planting - Men: 177 calories, Women: 135 calories
• Weeding - Men: 157 calories, Women: 156 calories

In addition, further research shows that gardening for just 30 minutes daily will help:

• Increase flexibility
• Strengthen joints
• Decrease blood pressure and cholesterol levels
• Lower your risk for diabetes
• Slow osteoporosis

So if you are planning to tuck into mountains of mince pies and tones of turkey , - you know exactly what to do if you want to avoid starting 2011 with an uncomfortably tight waistband!!