Think exercise is a chore? Turns out you’re onto something!
Between work, family, and tasks around the house, there’s limited time for much else, including exercise. A recent Canadian Men’s Health Foundation study showed that time constraints prevent men from exercising more.
Meeting movement guidelines doesn’t always require going to the gym or playing sports. Just getting off the couch and being physically active around the house improves mood, reduces disease risk, and helps you sleep better.
How much physical activity do guys need?
According to the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, men under 65 years of age need:
- At least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activity each week
- Muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week
- Several hours of light physical activity, including standing (if you’re able) every day
If that sounds intimidating, don’t worry. By spreading your active time across the week, it becomes much easier to build up to meeting the guidelines. Across seven days, you’re looking at roughly 22 minutes of physical activity per day, or smaller still, two bouts of 10 minutes per day.
Sitting is the new smoking
Another important part of the guidelines involves limiting sedentary time, which is sitting or lying down, to eight hours or less each day.
This means breaking up long periods of sitting as often as possible and limiting recreational screen time to no more than three hours. (If you’re over that amount, you might be one of the 83 percent of Canadians with a sedentary lifestyle.)
Sitting for too long has enough negative health effects that it has been called “the new smoking.”
Reduce sedentary behaviour
If you’re among the millions of Canadians who work at a desk and have to sit all day, here’s some good news: Any activity helps to offset the adverse effects of sitting. Add more movement to your workday by:
- Walking while talking on the phone
- Taking standing breaks every 30-60 minutes. Standing for just two to three minutes is beneficial, and it’s even better to stretch while standing
- Inviting your coworkers to go for walking or standing meetings
- Using a standing desk
At home, you can:
- Listen to a podcast or watch a favourite show while using a stationary bike/treadmill
- Turn off the autoplay feature on your streaming service to introduce a binge break
How to turn chores into exercise
There’s more to household chores than simply getting them out of the way (although that does feel good). Here are ways to amp up everyday tasks and turn them into a workout.
Mowing the lawn
Pushing a mower at a speed that makes you sweat provides moderate to high-intensity cardio exercise that works your back, glutes, hips, and core. Remember sunscreen and water on hot summer days.
If you want to make it more intense, consider a manual push-reel mower.
Washing the car
Skip the drive-through and wash your car at home. You’ll work your biceps, triceps, and shoulders. Alternate your scrubbing hand to ensure both arms get a workout. Also, change the direction of your circles periodically to work different muscles.
When you reach down for the bucket, keep your back straight, bend at the knees and do a deep squat to strengthen your quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
To get in more vigorous exercise, do extra calf raises when you wash the upper half of your car, add extra squats while washing the lower half, and use the bucket of water for a few rounds of bicep curls.
Gardening
Depending on the task, gardening can range from low-intensity physical exercises to vigorous intensity. It works the legs, glutes, shoulders, stomach, arms, neck, and back.
Light shovelling, bagging leaves or grass, raking, pulling weeds, and trimming trees and shrubs are moderate-intensity activities. For vigorous-intensity exercises, try heavy or rapid shovelling or carrying heavy loads.
Change gardening stances to use different muscles. If you’re raking, put your left foot forward and use your left hand on the lower handle. Then, switch the right foot forward and your hand positions. If you’re weeding, switch the weed-pulling hand from time to time.
If you want to make it more intense and increase your heart rate, take a cardio break every 30 minutes to run on the spot or do jumping jacks.
Pull weeds from an alternating lunge position to work your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves.
Vacuuming or mopping
Put on some good tunes and get to work! Move large items for a full clean combined with moderate-intensity exercise. Take those area rugs outside and give them a good shake.
Remember to squat correctly (bend knees, chest forward, back straight) when lifting anything heavy.
Do a front lunge every time you step forward for more vigorous exercise. Bring your front knee directly over your ankle at a 90-degree angle. Then, push off your front leg and use your core to return to the start position. Keep your chest facing forward and your back straight to maintain good posture.
Cleaning your windows
Make a day of it and clean them inside and out. Exaggerated circular arm movements will build chest, shoulder, and arm muscles. Alternate arms and switch from clockwise to counterclockwise as you go. Reach as high as possible to work your ab and waist muscles (obliques).
For a more vigorous workout, increase the speed and add calf raises when reaching the high spots.
Lacking time, energy or motivation?
“The most common barriers preventing people from getting active are lack of time, energy, motivation and confidence,” says Dr. Leigh Vanderloo, the Scientific Director at ParticipACTION. “It’s important to remember that roadblocks are going to pop up along the way—life happens, after all—but being ready for these challenges gives you a head start. Get creative and avoid all-or-nothing thinking. Some activity is better than nothing, and more is always better.”
As well as turning chores into workouts, Dr. Vanderloo offers these strategies to overcome barriers to exercise:
- Schedule time to get active in your calendar and treat it as a “must-do” item, just like you would with a medical appointment. If your scheduled outdoor activity is cancelled due to bad weather, have a backup plan and take your workout indoors.
- If your evenings are busy bringing kids to their activities, use the time you wait for them to walk, jog, or wheel around the field, arena, or community centre.
- Meet a friend for a walk or run. Not only is it motivating to have a buddy to exercise with, but it also keeps you accountable.
- Reward your progress. If you’ve met your goals, for example, book a massage at the end of the week.
- Build your confidence. Start working out at home or in the neighbourhood, then progress to the gym.
Six big-time benefits of getting more active
Dodge disease and accidents
Physical activity contributes to a healthy immune system and reduces inflammation. This can help with everything from healing wounds to fighting colds to reducing the risk and severity of heart disease, some forms of cancer, arthritis, symptoms of depression and anxiety, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, dementia and overall cognitive decline, and muscle and bone injuries.
Improving your balance, core strength, and stability can be game-changers when preventing trips and falls, which are the leading cause of injury-related hospitalizations among older adults in Canada.
Reduce stress
As well as getting away from daily stress and enjoying some you-time, engaging in heart-pumping activity calms your mind and body by inhibiting the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol.
At the same time, “people who take part in regular movement are better at handling stress and are able to stay calmer and maintain a stable mood,” says Dr. Eli Puterman, an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Kinesiology. “Starting small can be the best way to ease yourself into a movement routine. A brisk 20-minute walk is very beneficial for mental and cognitive health. And if you cannot find 20 minutes, try 10 to start. See what that feels like, and if it feels good, plan to increase it by a few minutes every week. “
Boost energy
Getting your body moving increases energy-boosting neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Researchers have found that healthy adults who engaged in as little as 20 minutes of low-to-moderate physical activity per day, three days a week for six weeks, reported feeling less tired and more awake.
When you increase your heart rate by moving, oxygen travels to your heart and lungs, improving your cardiovascular system, endurance, and stamina. When you make morning workouts a regular part of your routine, you’ll notice improvements like a consistent boost in your energy, powering you through the day.
Sharpen your mind
Problem-solving, memory, and concentration all improve following physical activity, in part due to the release of a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
There’s also evidence that parts of the brain grow as people get fitter, which delivers longer-term brain benefits. Regularly active people are more productive at work, think more creatively, and are less likely to make mistakes than those who aren’t active.
Sleep better
Sleep is essential for many reasons, including your mental health. According to Dr. Vanderloo, “When you feel tired, stressful situations might feel more intense, or problems might seem more magnified. When you lack sleep, your ability to regulate your emotions is compromised. Quality sleep helps regulate your moods better.”
Physical activity gets your body ready for a good snooze. It can also help you sleep for longer, improve sleep quality, and decrease the time it takes to fall asleep. However, you should avoid strenuous activity close to bedtime.
What is your favourite way to add more movement to your day that isn’t considered traditional exercise? Share in the comments below!
I washed the car and mowed the lawn yesterday, I worked hard and I was very sweaty. Feels good to get things done, feels good to get active and my wife was very appreciative. Makes me feel good. Win-win-win :)
Hi there,
I enjoyed your article on turning household chores into exercise.. Since the beginning of May I have been on a mission to get healthier. I’m 74 now, and when I was working i did a daily bicycle commute to work, but after retiring at 68, I slowly became sedentary.
I realized I had created a seemingly insurmountable problem by making poor choices in diet and lifestyle. It seemed impossible to reverse my circumstances because of chronic back pain that limited my ability to lift or to be active.
But then a few months ago I had a moment of clarity and decided to take a passive step toward weight loss and I began intermittent fasting. 18 hours with no food, and a six hour window for a moderate meal.
This produced immediate results as I cut my calorie intake in half and began losing weight. Surprisingly my body adjusted quickly and I realized I was eating way more than I required to sustain a relatively inactive lifestyle.
The pivotal consequence to the fasting came when coincidentally eliminated sugar. My back gradually began to hurt less. I realized it was probably the inflammatory properties of sugar that were contributing to the pain.
So I started walking and increasing the intensity and distance as I lost weight and became more conditioned.
It’s still early days but I’m down nearly 30 pounds and walking on average, about 3 1/2 miles a day, varying the route to include more and more cardio benefit as I take advantage of a morning workout to avoid the heat of the day.
The results have been empowering but slower than I would like. It is a whole lot of work. I’m still keeping up the fasting regimen because it seems natural now, but some days I find my motivation is down. I’m determined to reach my goal weight though, which is why I found your article interesting. Perhaps I can incorporate new activities to enhance the variety and results on my way to realizing a new beginning. Thanks for the encouragement. God bless. Karl
What an inspiring story, Karl. Thanks so much for sharing.
Lazy need to get more active
Finally household chores are getting attention as a great exercise! I love it that you mentioned what different parts of your body is getting the workout as doing your household chores.