I'd always heard that gardening is good exercise, but as a grownup, my "yard" consisted of a few potted plants on a concrete patio, so I never gave the idea much thought. Then we moved to a house with front and back lawns, plus a whole lot of weed-choked landscaping. As spring finally surfaces in Seattle, I'm experiencing what I can only describe as backyard boot camp.
It all started with a manual push mower. Near the end of last summer, my hubby-to-be got a hankering for a new toy — er, tool — and picked up the highly rated Fiskars Reel Mower. Compared to our gas mower, an old hunk that the previous owners abandoned in the tool shed, this new mower was a sharp machine in every way. It was also really hard to push. Wimps through and through, we gave up and stuck with the automatic for the last few weeks of the season.
Not this year. The reel mower is a far more eco-friendly option than our gas-guzzler. It also happens to be a killer workout. According to the calorie calculator I checked, a 180-lb man can burn around 485 calories per hour mowing the lawn manually. That translates to a bit less for me, but it's still an impressive stat. This past weekend, I spent nearly two hours mowing our seriously overgrown lawn, in addition to my usual daily workouts. Booya.
Other gardening activities fare well for fitness too, from digging and wedding (around 400 calories per hour) to less strenuous stuff like planting seedlings (still a respectable 300 calories per hour). Every time you squat or lift or pull, you're toning your muscles too. That's pretty awesome, right? Plus it's free and you get to enjoy the fruits (and veggies) of your hard work every time you walk outside.
I know a lot of gardeners who marvel about the peaceful, meditative process of nurturing a yard. Not me. Every blade I cut and every weed I yank is like a gym session, complete with sweat and grunting. And I like it that way. It's less of a chore and more of a reason to celebrate with a post-gardening margarita.
My man and I are getting married in three months, so I (crazily?) volunteered to do all the yard work until then. I may have calluses and perpetually dirty fingernails, but thanks to this extra outdoor exercise, I'm certain to look smashing in my slinky white dress.
What about you? Do you look at your overgrown backyard and see a fitness boot camp waiting to happen?
(Image: Shutterstock)
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I was just thinking of this yesterday when I was cursing my lawnmower and thick grass. My mower may be gas powered, but it's the non-self-propelled kind and a serious workout for back and legs. I try hard to hold my arms so that it actually is a real workout of appropriate muscles.
Also, invest in a decent pair of gloves to avoid the dirty nails and callouses. You might still get a couple, but it definitely helps.
We need to get a lawn mower this year.
How long would it take to mow the lawn with a reel mower?
Our yard isn't big (I think 20 ft. X 15ft in the back, a little smaller in the front), pretty flat, all grass (right now)... is getting a reel mower doable for people NOT looking for a workout?
Spending a couple of hours on Sunday clearing out crabgrass in my vegetable garden area was a major strength workout (I was sore for a couple of days!).
To answer Ann Veal: Yes, it is doable. We have a small yard as well and I don’t use this kind of mower for a workout, but because it makes sense in such a small space. It only takes about 20 minutes tops. I do recommend wear gloves and you also need to stay on top of it. Waiting a few extra days to mow means more effort. Your lawn will punish you later and you may have to go over everything a second time!
I knew I liked gardening for a reason other than food!
Ann Veal--My front grassy area is about 10x6 and the tree lawn is about 3X25; my back grass is around 10-15X10-20 (depending on the part--there are lots of flowing beds). My last yard was a quarter acre of grass and I used a reel mower on it, though it took longer than 30 minutes. I have a reel mower and it takes less than 30 minutes to do it all. I really enjoy mowing the lawn without the noise and/or fumes of a power mower.
For a yard the size of yours, I wouldn't bother with a power mower--it is more trouble than it is worth. Just mow regularly and keep the mower sharp --we get ours sharpened by a professional knife and tool sharpener once a year.
I'm glad to see an article on the benefits of a push mower. I dislike noisy power mowers on an otherwise lazy weekend morning, and do you know that 1 power mower run for an hour creates as much pollution as running a car for 340 miles? So push mowers are cheaper, easier to maintain, give you a great workout and are not dangerous to the environment. Why use anything else?
We have a 30 x 40 back yard and a 30 x 20 front yard and it takes about 1.5 hrs to do the whole thhing push style, and taht includes stopping to move furniture and pck up yard bombs. Our mower (which we found abandoned in Brooklyn) hums along beautifully--not hard to push actually--and it so much safer than the noisy, stinky gas hog.
My workoiuut for the past two summers has been uncovering huge buried boulders in the yard and hauling them to strategic locations. Butt, back, and thighs have never looked better. And neither has the yard.
Our yard is too steep for a push mower -- in fact, we have to hire (collectively for the 6-house cul-de-sac) a landscaping service with a stable riding mower. I'd prefer a more eco-friendly option, but it's just nor practical with a 15 foot change in elevation between the front and back yards.
PLEASE wear shoes or boots when using push mowers. Accidents may seem improbable, but sharp blades and bare toes are not a good combination.
We also just bought a manual mower this season due to the push gas mower being stolen. I was a little skeptical, and it was a LOT of work. Mostly due to the patchy lawn being over-grown. But now that we powered through that, I think it will be a breeze (comparatively)!
So I agree, so far, my landscaping gave me a workout this past weekend like no other. And we are staining the deck this weekend!
Paul McMullen was an Olympic middle distance runner when he lost several of his toes in a flip flop/lawn mower accident.
He was able to return to running (and is probably the world's fastest 8 toes miler...), but it took years of hard work during what should have been his prime racing years.
Wear boots!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McMullen
I don't know what it is with you kids and flip flops, but seriously, wear better footwear for mowing and other work. Or for the subway, for that matter! Podiatrists love young folk -- you are giving them lots of work.
I was just wondering where all of the aggressive flip-flop comments are coming from. I'm under 30 and wearing shoes while using machinery is a no-brainer. Then I checked the photo. Woops! Yeah, wear shoes!!
We have a zero-turn mower for our big yard (in fact, my husband bought it before we closed on the house!), but used a reel mower for our city yard. Between it and an electric weed whacker we could get the outside finished in an hour!
My legs and glutes are always super sore after gardening. I do lots of squatting in order to pull weeds, so I definitely get my leg workout in. Isn't it nice killing two birds with one stone :)
I wish I could use a reel mower, but my lawn is way too big. As it is, with an electric mower, it still takes me more than an hour. I don't have a self propelled one, and constantly have to flip the cord, so I think of it as a bit of a workout. Or maybe I just say that so I don't feel bad about laying in the hammock between laps.
Why use a gas mower? Because my lawn is too unruly for a reel mower. Where I live, mowing season starts in late February and ends in early November. In the height of summer (approximately April - September), I'd have to mow every two days to be able to use a reel mower. Mowing once a week with the gas mower is enough, thanks!
When we start out, I'm full of bravado. "I'll do some EXTRA squatting and bending and lifting to maximize the gardener's workout." Fast forward 3 hours and I'm laying spread eagle in the grass, begging my husband to bring me a cold one. But I always feel great the next day.
It is particularly satisfying to sit and relax in one's yard and enjoy the smell of gardenias and honeysuckle when you've nearly broken your back to get it to look perfect. We did our springtime tuneup last weekend and it makes me so happy!
My Neuton electric mower is perfect for my smallish yard. I've never used a gas mower, and did, a couple of houses ago, use a reel mower. Memories of an hour or so with it in dreadful heat and direct sun each time cured me of the itch forever.
It was stock photography, people. She wasn't telling us to wear flops and lose a toe in the process of the backyard workout.
My husband uses a push mower in Seattle too. With a small-ish yard, it makes perfect sense.
Gardening is some of the best exercise I've ever gotten, and unlike mindlessly using a fitness machine in a gym, you get to be outside actually accomplishing something!
The first mower I bought when I got a house and a yard was a reel mower. Unfortunately it was of a cheap persuasion and now the gears are stripped so the blades don't actually turn... which is a problem. Also the grass grows unevenly in my yard for unknown reasons and by the end of the season all the mower would do is push the grass over. (If I was ambitious I would try to rake the grass different directions to see if the mower would have better luck cutting it.)
Last year I borrowed a corded electric mower and I didn't mind that very much. One of those will probably be my next big purchase for the house.
If I can help it I will never use another gas powered mower. It's nice to smell and smell like fresh cut grass and not exhaust from a two-stroke.
Love the push mower for our small yard. We can mow early without fear of bothering the neighbors, and the push mower doesn't mind wet grass as long as it isn't too long. For a small, relatively flat yard, they make perfect sense.
I know that this comment section is pretty much over, but I just wanted to say that we purchased a reel mower (Brill powercut 33, if anyone's interested), and it cut fantastically. We had longish grass by the time we got around to it, and the thing went right through it. Quibbles are that it's sort of narrow (33 cm), it clips the grass at a maximum height of just about 2 inches which may be too short for some people, and it tosses the grass clippings behind it, which, because we waited a while before cutting, was quite a mass of clippings. Being the lazy gardeners that we are, however, we let it sort of 'melt' into the lawn and now the clippings aren't visible. All in all, a Great purchase.