Get in shape whilst you clean your house
It’s one of life’s most loathed jobs, but it seems that housework could hold the secret to keeping fit and helping the nation to lose weight, according to new research published today.
A survey by fitted furniture retailer Betta Living revealed that the average UK adult spends 8 hours per week cleaning and tidying and has the potential to wipe away 1lb in weight per week without forking out extortionate gym costs.
We clock up 30.5 ‘mop miles’ a year when mopping and vacuuming, and scale the equivalent of a small mountain climbing the stairs and ladders during a 12-month period of being house-proud.
But according to the research, which questioned 2,000 UK adults, the majority of us aren’t stretching ourselves to our full fat burning potential and are missing out on crucial calorie cutting as we dust, sweep and polish our homes because we’re doing it in short bursts and also not really ‘going for it’.
Betta Living has therefore employed the expertise of personal trainer Faye Tomlinson to help the nation make the most of the 416 hours per year we spend cleaning by converting those wasted hours into fat-burning exercises that could see you ditching costly gyms and faddy diets for good!
Faye said: “Eight hours per week sounds like a lot of time to be doing activity. In theory this should be enough exercise to keep the average person fit and slim. However, it’s not how long we spend doing an activity, it’s the effort involved and how long we are keeping the muscle under tension that counts. It’s not enough to do little bits throughout the week – it’s vital to incorporate high intense bursts so we can feel the burn!
“By applying the general rules of exercise to housework you can get lean while you clean and could lose an extra one pound in weight a week – just think how trim you could be over a year of doing cleaning aerobics!
“For example, mix in 10 minute cardio sessions (mopping, hovering) with body weight sessions (squatting, lunging, calf raises) to get your blood pumping which will raise your heart rate and get a light sweat on; maximising fat burning results!”
Apply these tips and you could lose a potential 52 pounds which adds up to over three stone!!
Power lunge hoover and mop
Perform walking lunges as you hoover, stretching out your arms in a smooth motion, keeping your back straight and ensuring your front knee is at a 90 degree angle and the back knee is an inch off the floor – do this for 10 minutes to get lean thighs (quadriceps) and a tight butt (glutes)!
Follow your vaccuming session with another aerobic activity such as vigorous mopping/sweeping or scrubbing the floors to elevate your heart rate and keep you working at a higher intensity, which helps to burn fat.
Window and laundry squats
Perform squats while cleaning windows, lifting the washing basket or when cleaning inside your kitchen cupboards. Squat low to the ground (feet shoulder width apart, back straight, sitting down into your bottom) to get water on your cloth, and then stretch up high moving arms in a circular motion to sculpt your shoulders!
This will give your arms and legs the perfect dual workout.
Scrub up and press up
While you’re on your hands and knees, take the opportunity to do at least 10 reps of press-ups.
Stretch, twist and burn
Even when doing light forms of cleaning and dusting, tensing your abdominals and sucking them in (even for just 30 seconds at a time) works your core for that flat stomach you want! You can also clench your buttocks (glutes) – this will burn calories as well as helping to tone up problem areas. Try standing on one leg for 30 seconds, then the other, to work on balance and try 30 calf raises (getting up and down on tip toes) for toned calf muscles. Repeat 5 times.
And work your oblique muscles on the side of your stomach as you twist to transfer wet washing from the basket to the line or tumble dryer. Keep your head facing forward and twist at your torso.
Clean and Lift
Use bottles of cleaning products to tone arms and start and end your cleaning session with gentle activity like running on the spot or jumping jacks – to warm up the body and then cool it down with stretches.
Two More Top Tips
If you need to get up high, use stepladders and ensure you do 15 repetitions up and down the steps for lean legs. Wear a pedometer during your cleaning session and aim to do at least 1,000 steps. We should aim to walk 10,000 steps per day, so every bit helps.
The Kitchen Is Where We Burn Most Calories
So which rooms are the best for calorie combat?
Faye says “The kitchen is the ultimate fat buster, with the most pounds to be lost through mopping, window cleaning and scrubbing the floor. Bathrooms, bedrooms and the lounge respectively came in as the next best rooms in the house to carry out your ‘lean-cleaning’ activity in, from cleaning the bath or shower through to hovering and dusting.
Tagged in Cleaning exercise fitness tips Workout