Gardening for Fitness

My friend Ippy Patterson stopped going to the gym a few months back when she discovered that the gardening she'd been doing at her new country home was providing all the exercise she needed.

"Sawing down trash trees, digging holes and pitching mulch give you a wonderful aerobic workout and also builds upper body strength," says Patterson, an artist who'd been a gym regular until she started her Landscaping Workout. When a recent rainy spell prompted her to go back to the gym, she says, "all those machines that are usually so hard were a breeze."

Smell the Roses
At a time when fitness professionals are touting the advantages of regular, moderate exercise, gardening is being recognized as a healthy lifestyle habit that can provide significant benefits to people of all ages. Studies show that 30 minutes a day of moderate activity, such as gardening, may decrease the risk of numerous chronic ailments including heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. And in addition to gardening's physical benefits, proponents point to the psychological boost conferred by accomplishing a task and literally taking time to smell the roses.

"Gardening is one of those rare activities that many people enjoy so much they don't even think of it as exercise," notes exercise physiologist Bryant Stamford, who directs the Health Promotion and Wellness Center at the University of Louisville. But you can burn as much body fat pushing a lawn mower as you can taking aerobics at a health club. "Plus, it's practical," Stamford says. "So busy people who don't want to take time out for an exercise class can work in the yard and feel like they've gotten something done."

Depending on the activity, gardening can be as tough a workout as lifting weights or riding a bike. "It's all a matter of how much energy you expend," says Barbara Ainsworth of the University of South Carolina, who has compiled a comprehensive list of the metabolic equivalents -- or METs -- of more than 500 physical activities. (A single MET is the amount of energy someone expends sitting quietly, while a 2 MET activity uses twice that much energy.)

Sporting Equivalents
In general, gardening tasks like digging, raking and planting are 4 to 5 MET activities, which make them equivalent to sports such as snorkeling, volleyball and brisk walking. The toughest gardening workouts include mowing the lawn with a push mower, chopping wood, shoveling and tilling. At 6 METs, Ainsworth puts these activities on par with fencing, downhill skiing, softball and doubles tennis.

But working out in the garden offers a unique chance to interact with the environment unmatched by most sports, says Jeffrey P. Restuccio, author of Fitness the Dynamic Gardening Way (Balance of Nature Publishing). "Gardening is a Zen approach to health that gives you exercise, relief from stress, nutritious fruits and vegetables, companionship of family and friends and the aesthetic pleasures of working the nature," he says. "And it's an activity you can do all your life."

A test gardener for Organic Gardening magazine, Restuccio holds a black belt in tae kwon do and evolved his dynamic gardening program while working out in his own "regular suburban plot." Among his "fitness gardening" tips:

Don't bend at the waist to pick things up, bend at the knees.
Alternate your grip when raking, digging or hoeing. If you're right-handed, rake or hoe first with a right-handed grip, then switch to a left-handed grip.
Break gardening sessions down into two- or three-hour periods rather than 6- to 10-hour marathons.
Combine stretching with light gardening activities, such as the "lunge and weed": Lunge forward with one leg, weed for about 10 seconds, then stand up and alternate legs.
Remember to warm up and cool down and avoid overexerting yourself.

"When spring comes, it's natural to look toward the earth for exercise," Restuccio says. "But remember to enjoy the process, not just the product."