I’m getting ready to move. I own approximately 75 gazillion books along with all the usual stuff people have in their houses. This seems like a good time to talk about what kind of activities that are not traditionally fitness-related count as workouts. (And yes, I am counting packing and schlepping all those books as a workout.)
I COULD make a list, but that would be silly. Instead, I’m going to outline the principles so we can all figure it out in the moment.
If we end up sweating, it’s probably a workout. I qualify the statement with that “probably” because if it happens to be a hot day and we’re sitting on our behinds in the yard leisurely picking a weed or two, we are likely to be sweating, we are technically gardening, but we’re probably not getting a workout. If we’re lopping branches and hauling them, or raking and sweeping vigorously, or turning over soil, we are gardening and working out at once.
If we are sore the next day, it’s probably a workout. This one doesn’t help so much in the moment, but it’s still useful. It helps us distinguish between the kind of housework where we move all the furniture and really get in and scrub the floors or walls or whatever and the kind where we just wave a duster over things and call it a day.
If we get breathless, it’s probably a workout. We all have those days, particularly if we have a house with stairs, when it seems like we are up and down them all the time bringing something to where it is supposed to be. I call this the tidying version of interval training.
There are benefits to getting our workouts in a non-gym setting. The fancy name for it is “functional fitness” and there are plenty of gym workouts that try to mimic the effects of this kind of activity. We learn a lot about the practical application of physics and about how many heavy objects in normal life would be easier to move if they were only shaped like dumbbells and barbells. That said, all those gym workouts make things like moving less of a struggle.
We can do this.
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