Gardening is the world’s best kept exercise secret. But that’s changing. Recent medical studies have documented what backyard enthusiasts have known for years: Gardening is good for us and it’s a great way to achieve and maintain physical fitness.
Regular garden chores can burn anywhere from 120 to 200 calories per 30 minutes, depending on the intensity of the activity. I’m an avid walker. I wear a pedometer every day and aim for 10,000 steps a day. It’s surprising how many thousand steps I can rack up during a gardening session.
Turning compost is essentially lifting weights. Raking is like using a rowing machine. Pushing the mower is similar to walking on a treadmill. Gardeners’ exercise machines are post hole diggers, shovels, rakes, push mowers and wheelbarrows. Our running track is the yard and garden.
Gardening uses all large muscle groups, the muscles that do most of the calorie burning in the human body. Legs, buttocks, shoulders, stomach, arms, neck and back all get a workout. It also increases flexibility and strengthens joints. A study by the National Osteoporosis Foundation found that gardening rates among the very best forms of physical exercise for building bone density. Researchers correlate movements performed while gardening:- pushing, pulling, carrying, turning, lifting, squatting – with weight bearing motions.
Now don’t feel that you have to “go for the burn” exercise in the garden every time. Modify the program to meet your individual needs. Warm up muscles before starting. Stretching legs, arms, back, neck and even hands and feet before you garden will help relieve back strain and muscle soreness and help to avoid injury. Its good to stretch again after activity, then a cool down session like walking or picking flowers or just sitting quietly and admiring your garden.
Ways to maximize health benefits:
1. Use a push mower instead of a rider. If your lawn is too big to cut without a rider, set aside a portion of your lawn for a push mower or dedicate some effort to weed whacking.
2. Count the minutes. Make sure that the total daily time of garden activities adds up to 30 minutes. In the early spring, if you haven’t been very active over the winter, build up to 30 minutes.
3. Lunge and weed. Using a hand weeder, lunge with one leg bent at the knee In front of you and one leg bent straight back.
4. Bend one leg, knee to the ground, keep the other foot flat. This is a good posture for weeding or planting.
5. Squat with both feet flat on the ground. (Don’t do this if you have knee problems.)
6. Bend both legs and kneel on a soft pad. Use a hand tool.
7. When raking or hoeing, bend knees rather than your back, and use legs, shoulders and arms in a rocking motion. Change stances frequently. First put your left foot forward and use left hand on the lower handle. Then switch the right foot forward and switch hand positions as well. Alternating your stance balances the muscles used.
8. Dig holes. Digging and shoveling are big calorie burners, (250 to 350 calories per 30 minutes. Each depends on the muscles of the legs, stomach, arms, shoulders, neck and back.
9. Build a compost pile. Turning compost burns 250 to 300 calories per 30 minutes.
10. Listen to your muscles. Pay attention to the muscles that are working for you, as well as to your exertion levels. If you can increase your range of motion, or safely add weight or resistance to a garden activity, give it a try.
Typical calories burned in 30 minutes of:
Sleeping 36
Sitting quietly 40
Watering lawn or garden 61
Mowing the lawn (riding) 101
Trimming shrubs (power) 142
Raking 162
Bagging leaves 162
Planting seedlings 162
Mowing (push mower) 182
Planting trees 182
Trimming shrubs (manual) 182
Weeding 182
Clearing land 202
Digging, spading, tilling 202
Laying sod 202
General gardening 202
Chopping wood 243
Gardening with heavy power tools 243
Mowing lawn (push mower) 243
Key points to remember:
Avoid all-day marathon gardening sessions on weekends (space it out).
Always bend and lift from your knees, not your back.
Alternate your stance and motion as often as possible to keep muscles balanced.
Gardening is the world’s best kept exercise secret. But that’s changing. Recent medical studies have documented what backyard enthusiasts have known for years: Gardening is good for us and it’s a great way to achieve and maintain physical fitness. 
It’s the moderation I have difficulty with. I seem to go for marathon and exhaustion.