yardwork as exercise

Polishprinsezz
Polishprinsezz Posts: 249 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
has anyone used yardwork as their main form of exercise? i figured the overhaul my 1 acre yard needs would keep me busy several hours a week . i will get in shape and have an awesome yard too. doing stuff like digging weeds, shoveling and moving compost. plan to dig up plants and do lots of relocation too.

Replies

  • traynorj82
    traynorj82 Posts: 234 Member
    I will count yard work. Usually I end up sore and sweaty after working on my yard. I feel this could count for something.
  • Sinisterly
    Sinisterly Posts: 10,913 Member
    If you don't have one, invest in a heart rate monitor to let you know how much you burn :)
    FT4 is pretty decent, but I messed mine up when it got wet, apparently.

    I now have an FT7 and it has a couple of more features I enjoy, but it's a bit pricier.
  • wpwarrior88
    wpwarrior88 Posts: 1,503 Member
    I count yard work, especially the kind your are referring to! An HRM would definitely give you a more accurate burn than MFP! Have fun transforming your yard and body!!!:flowerforyou:
  • SuzyJRyan
    SuzyJRyan Posts: 6 Member
    Like Polishprinsezz, I too am using yard work/gardening as a big part of my exercise program. I have 2 acres of MANY gardens, and plenty of lawn to be mowed. Sometimes I spend 6 hours or more working out there, and at the end of the day I'm pooped out. But it seems like the calories burned (basd on the MFP database) seems huge. But I'm new to this, and really have no basis to say that. But I have no idea how to use a HRM. Could someone please tell me how one works, so I can determine if I should convert to one? I'm having a hard time eating my necessary "net calories", because I'm having a hard time believing the "calories burned" from the database. I'm on a weight loss plan with a goal date in mind, so I dont want to waste time doing everything wrong.
  • PJPrimrose
    PJPrimrose Posts: 916 Member
    I do not count gardening as a work out. I have a 1/4 acre of mostly flowerbeds. I count my heavy gardening/landscaping days as "active" in my activity level thingie. On the days I do not garden/landscape I put my activity level at "lightly active". That way I count in the calories without going overboard. IMHO working in the garden, even installing hardscape, is not the same as a targeted workout.
  • Polishprinsezz
    Polishprinsezz Posts: 249 Member
    how do you figure that vigorous yardwork cant be a work out? i have 4x as much property as you do. i do things like bale compost and shovel poop out of a chicken coop. i am constantly bending to pick things up, raking, pulling weeds, digging holes. my legs were on fire fr two days! so i know i got a good workout. why does it have to be some boring repetitive gym type stuff to be considered a workout?
  • bomftdrum
    bomftdrum Posts: 270 Member
    how do you figure that vigorous yardwork cant be a work out? i have 4x as much property as you do. i do things like bale compost and shovel poop out of a chicken coop. i am constantly bending to pick things up, raking, pulling weeds, digging holes. my legs were on fire fr two days! so i know i got a good workout. why does it have to be some boring repetitive gym type stuff to be considered a workout?
    It is still a workout. I have been picking up and removing concrete blocks in my yard and moving them to a trailer so my father in law can take them to his place. I am just as sore if not more by doing that then lifting weights. Yard work can be a work out, I don't care what anyone says.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    how do you figure that vigorous yardwork cant be a work out? i have 4x as much property as you do. i do things like bale compost and shovel poop out of a chicken coop. i am constantly bending to pick things up, raking, pulling weeds, digging holes. my legs were on fire fr two days! so i know i got a good workout. why does it have to be some boring repetitive gym type stuff to be considered a workout?

    There is a tendency to confuse "exercise" and "activity". All exercise is activity, but not all activity is exercise.

    Weight loss requires a sustained calorie deficit. It doesn't make much difference whether those extra calories by running on a treadmill or working in the yard for 6 hrs. So, from a weight-loss standpoint , yeah, yard work can help with the effort.

    Yard work is less likely to be effective as an exercise activity, I.e. Something that achieves a training effect. There are more variables, so it's not an unequivocal "no", but in general, it is usually too intermittent and the loads aren't high enough to achieve a training effect.

    Fatigue, muscle soreness, and sweat are not very good indicators of either quality of activity or evidence of a training effect. It's a common mistake for people to think that, because they experience muscle soreness the next day, that means it was a "good workout". Often it just means the person did something new.
  • NCchar130
    NCchar130 Posts: 955 Member
    Yardwork is the only 'daily activity' other than a workout that I count because it isn't a normal activity for me. I don't count things like housework or walking around a store, etc, because those are normal activities for me. Yardwork is something I do once a week or every other week (depending on how my husband and I divide it up) Spring - Fall and it amounts to anywhere from 1-4 hours of back breaking work on a Sunday. Sundays in Winter, I'm usually watching Netflix lol.

    If I spent several hours daily working in my yard, I would just up the activity level in my settings and not bother counting it as a workout.

    I don't wear an HRM and I agree with the poster above who said the calories counts in the database seem a little high. So I generally only count it as half of what MFP says and I don't necessarily worry about eating calories back on those days though I will if I'm hungry.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    depends...

    raking leaves all day is definitely a lot of calorie expenditure

    conversely

    using poor form to bend over all day and pull weeds may just tire out your back extensors... thats not really much calorie burn or exercise... its just using ****ty form to do a job... if my back hurts from lifting boxes like an idiot, I wouldnt consider that to be an indicator of a good workout.

    Id like to add that using an HRM for yardwork is not smart unless its a constant effort activity... if your lifting things a HRM is useless and will give excessively high burns

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