Lawn Mowing Exercise: How Yard Work Keeps You Fit & Burns Calories

See how yard work and mowing your lawn can help you live a healthier life!

But it’s not just the brain gardening helps. The outdoor hobby is also an excellent way to get physical activity. It's recommended that people vary their gardening activities to broaden the range of benefits.

• General gardening: Calories burned: 272/hour 
• Gardening with heavy power tools (Tilling, using a chainsaw, etc.): Calories burned: 408/hour
• Picking flowers or vegetables: Calories burned: 204/hour
• Digging (spading, filling garden, composting, etc.): Calories burned: 340/hour
• Mowing the lawn: Calories burned: 374/hour
• Raking leaves: Calories burned: 292/hour
• Shoveling snow (by hand): Calories burned: 408/hour

To add variation to your yard exercises, consider making the following adjustments:

• When raking, change your movement and direction to make full use of your muscles and prevent blisters.
• Switch to a push mower to add more intensity to mowing.
• If you’re working on a project and hauling material in a wheelbarrow, take the long way back and forth.  

Whether you’re hoping to support your New Year’s resolutions with some spring cleaning in the yard or just looking for a healthy activity outdoors, consider looking to your yard for a source of exercise. It costs significantly less than a gym membership, and if you’re gardening, it can offer delicious, healthy food for the whole family.