10 Household Chores You Can Turn Into A Workout

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The human body is designed to move, but living in the 21st century has made it hard to live an active lifestyle. Advances in technology reinforce a sedentary lifestyle. Years of reduced physical activity will lead to various issues. However, not everyone is made to work out daily. For those who can’t handle strenuous exercises but still want to be healthy, the answer is turning household chores into a workout.

Why Exercise?

Exercise keeps the body strong and healthy, and it also benefits the mind. Aside from strengthening your muscles, exercise can help boost your mood and allow you to de-stress and sleep well.

Usually, exercise is associated with gyms, running, or yoga, all of which take up time and money. However, before humans became sedentary, people stayed active without going to the gym. All they did was move their body—walk, carry things, and clean their house. Even stretching on a daily basis is good for you.

If you do not like exercising in the gym, running, or doing yoga, get ready to tick off these household chores from your to-do list:

Vacuuming

Vacuuming involves walking, pushing the vacuum, and some lifting. This household chore can be a low-impact way to get yourself moving. However, if you want to take it a step further, you can do lunges during the task.

As you’re pushing the vacuum, take a step and bend your front leg and back leg to a 90-degree angle while allowing yourself to sink lower. Hold this position for 5 seconds before taking another step.

Dusting

Dusting requires arm work, and if you have high shelves and cupboards, you may have to do a bit of stretching as well. To allow for more movement, opt for a rag instead of a duster so you can move your whole arm rather than just your hand or forearm. If you can, keep your muscles engaged while you dust to maximize the benefits.

Another modification would be wearing arm weights. The added resistance will help strengthen your arm muscles.

Cleaning Windows

This also has to do with arm work. Cleaning windows involves circular movements, which also targets the back muscles. To get the most of this exercise, use both hands equally and keep both arm and back muscles engaged. As with dusting, you could wear arm weights to make the chore more challenging.

Scrubbing Floors

It does not matter whether you’re scrubbing the toilet or the garage floor—scrubbing floors is a great core exercise. If you keep your core engaged the entire time, it will feel as though you’re doing planks.

Alternatively, you could do a modified plank: while on all fours, lift your knees and transfer your weight to your hands and toes. Do this a few times for one minute or however long you can sustain it whenever you scrub floors. If you feel some discomfort afterward, help your body recover by using Better Bath Better Body’s Athlete Bath Soak.

Folding The Laundry

Although this is not much of an exercise, it does get the arms moving. You could turn this simple chore into an exercise by placing your laundry basket on the floor and doing squats when you pick up each item to be folded.

To do squats properly, stand a hip-width apart and, without letting your knees go beyond your toes, bend your knees all the way until your thighs are parallel to the ground. You could stay higher if going all the way is too much for you. Keep squatting until you have folded all your laundry.

Washing The Dishes

This gives your body respite from sitting down all day. Simply walking in place while you wash the dishes is ample exercise for the legs. But if you’re feeling more energetic, you could do calf raises instead. Simply stand hip-width apart, raise yourself onto the balls of your feet, and then lower back down. It’s simple, but it will make your legs stronger.

Taking Out The Trash

Build strength in your biceps whenever you take out the trash. Hold one garbage bag on each hand and perform a few bicep curls while you walk from your kitchen to the trash bin outside. To do bicep curls, keep your elbows close to your torso, then lower your forearms all the way to your hips then bring them back up parallel to your elbows.

Mowing The Lawn

Mowing the lawn is good exercise. It involves more than walking—you have to push the lawn mower across your yard. For that reason, mowing the lawn combines strength training and cardio. There are a lot of ways to ramp up your exercise, too. You could do lunges while mowing or add weights to your legs.

Washing The Car

Car washing is a full body workout. You have to stretch to reach all the nooks and crannies of your vehicle while also working your arms and back muscles in the scrubbing process. You could incorporate some squats when you dip your sponge into the bucket of water or calf raises when you scrub the upper area of your car.

Shoveling Snow

If you live in an area that gets a lot of snow, this is a no-brainer. Shoveling snow allows you to use your entire body. It involves heavy lifting that requires all your muscles to work together. However, it is a tedious task, so be careful and stretch before you start shoveling.

What To Do After Finishing All Your Chores

Turning household chores into a workout can take a toll on your body, so take the time to rest your body and relax your mind. Let yourself unwind and recover with the Lilliuma Athlete Bath Salt. It will only take you 20 minutes to feel rejuvenated.

Visit the Better Bath Better Body online store for more aromatic bath salt blends.

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