http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2...ning-exercise-
calories

Econundrum: Which Gardening Moves Burn Most Calories?

By Kiera Butler | Mon Apr. 5, 2010 2:30 AM PDT

‹ Image courtesy of Flickr user ezioman

Last weekend, when I finally ventured into my backyard garden after a
long El Niño winter of rain, I knew it wasn't going to be a pretty
sight. But I was not prepared for just how bad things had gotten. A few
years back, Alan Weisman [1] wrote a great book called The World Without
Us [2], about what might happen to the planet if humanity suddenly
vanished. He could have used my backyard as a visual. "Messy" would be a
major understatement: Rosemary forest. Compost pile taken over by
spindly weeds. Waist-high grasses, grown so thick I couldn't even see
the edges of the vegetable bed. Cat poop everywhere.

So I have my work cut out for me. Which is not necessarily a bad thing,
considering the long winter has meant I've done a lot of sitting around,
and all that weeding will be a good workout [3]. Just ask gardening
exercise guru Jeffrey Restuccio [4], who has written two books on the
fitness advantages of yardwork. "To me the greatest benefit of eating
organic food is not the food itself," says Restuccio. "It's the exercise
that you get growing that food."* He's also developed a series of moves
that maximize the fitness benefits of gardening. (The lunge-and-weed [5]
looks especially awesome.)

With the help of the University of South Carolina School of Public
Health's Compendium of Physical Activities [6], Restuccio estimated the
amount of calories burned during half an hour of common gardening
activities. Unsurprisingly, turns out that in general, activities that
require less power from the grid are also a much better workout. For
example:
Mowing:
Ride-on mower: 101 calories
Push mower with motor: 182 calories
Push mower: 243 calories
Trimming:
Power shears: 142 calories
Manual shears: 182 calories
Weeding is also pretty good exercise, at 182 calories burned in a half
hour. Restuccio doesn't calculate how many calories you'd burn applying
a chemical weed killer, but I'm guessing it's pretty similar to
watering, which burns only 61 calories. (One exception to the greener
gardening=better exercise rule: "gardening with heavy power tools,"
which burns a whopping 243 calories, presumably because the tools are,
well, heavy.)
Full list of 18 gardening activities and calories burned:
*
Watering lawn: 61
Mowing lawn (ride-on): 101
Trimming shrubs (power): 142
Raking: 162
Bagging leaves: 162
Planting seedlings: 182
Mowing (push with motor): 182
Planting trees: 182
Snow thrower (walking): 182
Trimming shrubs (manual): 182
Weeding: 182
Clearing land: 202
Digging, spading, tilling: 202
Laying sod: 202
Chopping wood: 202
Gardening with heavy power tools: 243
Mowing lawn (push manual): 243
Double digging [7]: 344
For more on gardening for exercise, visit Restuccio's site [4]:*

Source URL:
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2...ning-exercise-
calories
Links:
[1] http://www.worldwithoutus.com/about_author.html
[2] http://www.worldwithoutus.com/
[3]
http://www.everydayhealth.com/blog/z...l-news-you-can
-use/gardening-is-good-exercise/
[4] http://www.ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/
[5]
http://www.ritecode.com/aerobicgarde...e_and_weed_200
_x_158.jpg
[6] http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/tools/compendium.htm
[7] http://www.organicgardening.com/feat...19-934,00.html
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

Billy wrote:
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2...ning-exercise-
calories

Econundrum: Which Gardening Moves Burn Most Calories?
Full list of 18 gardening activities and calories burned:

Watering lawn: 61
Mowing lawn (ride-on): 101
Trimming shrubs (power): 142
Raking: 162
Bagging leaves: 162
Planting seedlings: 182
Mowing (push with motor): 182
Planting trees: 182
Snow thrower (walking): 182
Trimming shrubs (manual): 182
Weeding: 182
Clearing land: 202
Digging, spading, tilling: 202
Laying sod: 202
Chopping wood: 202
Gardening with heavy power tools: 243
Mowing lawn (push manual): 243
Double digging [7]: 344
For more on gardening for exercise, visit Restuccio's site [4]:

This doesn't look right to me. How can raking be less than planting
seedlings?

But the idea that doing physical work is a positive aspect of growing things
is good.

David

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Billy wrote:
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2...ning-exercise-
calories

Econundrum: Which Gardening Moves Burn Most Calories?
Full list of 18 gardening activities and calories burned:

Watering lawn: 61
Mowing lawn (ride-on): 101
Trimming shrubs (power): 142
Raking: 162
Bagging leaves: 162
Planting seedlings: 182
Mowing (push with motor): 182
Planting trees: 182
Snow thrower (walking): 182
Trimming shrubs (manual): 182
Weeding: 182
Clearing land: 202
Digging, spading, tilling: 202
Laying sod: 202
Chopping wood: 202
Gardening with heavy power tools: 243
Mowing lawn (push manual): 243
Double digging [7]: 344
For more on gardening for exercise, visit Restuccio's site [4]:

This doesn't look right to me. How can raking be less than planting
seedlings?

But the idea that doing physical work is a positive aspect of growing things
is good.

David

I guess it depends on your technique and how organized you are. If you
use a dibble, no way, but if you use a trowel, down you go, digging a
little hole for the plant, then up you come again. With raking, it is
just pull-follow through-step, pull-follow through-step, pull-follow
through-step.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

On Apr 21, 6:51 pm, Billy wrote:
In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:



Billy wrote:
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2...ardening-exerc...
calories

Econundrum: Which Gardening Moves Burn Most Calories?
Full list of 18 gardening activities and calories burned:

Watering lawn: 61
Mowing lawn (ride-on): 101
Trimming shrubs (power): 142
Raking: 162
Bagging leaves: 162
Planting seedlings: 182
Mowing (push with motor): 182
Planting trees: 182
Snow thrower (walking): 182
Trimming shrubs (manual): 182
Weeding: 182
Clearing land: 202
Digging, spading, tilling: 202
Laying sod: 202
Chopping wood: 202
Gardening with heavy power tools: 243
Mowing lawn (push manual): 243
Double digging [7]: 344
For more on gardening for exercise, visit Restuccio's site [4]:

This doesn't look right to me. How can raking be less than planting
seedlings?

But the idea that doing physical work is a positive aspect of growing things
is good.

David

I guess it depends on your technique and how organized you are. If you
use a dibble, no way, but if you use a trowel, down you go, digging a
little hole for the plant, then up you come again. With raking, it is
just pull-follow through-step, pull-follow through-step, pull-follow
through-step.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3l...Zinn_page.html

Andy comments:

For me the most calories are burned when I have to skin and
clean the rabbits that try to sabotage my garden. Fortunately,
I can restore the calories with the delicious stews that can be
made from the critters and the produce they were trying to
steal...

Andy in Eureka, Texas

AndyS wrote:
Andy comments:

For me the most calories are burned when I have to skin and
clean the rabbits that try to sabotage my garden. Fortunately,
I can restore the calories with the delicious stews that can be
made from the critters and the produce they were trying to
steal...

Andy in Eureka, Texas

I have a kelpie for that. He burns the energy and he gets the meat.

David