Don't be a Fitness Fool



Housework counts as exercise.
Get in shape while you garden.
Park at the far end of the parking lot and take the stairs to get your cardio exercise.

Really?! 

By nature, most people want the easy fix or the magic pill.  The reality is that when it comes to being fit and healthy, there is no magic pill.  Numerous organizations and "experts on exercise" are urging people to get fit through everyday activities.  In our opinion that is just plain nonsense.  You've heard us urge you to be active, and we agree that making choices like taking the stairs versus the elevator do result in some benefit, but they DO NOT REPLACE regular exercise.

Take, for instance, the claim that housework is exercise.  For me, the only thing that housework exercises is my ability to overcome a mental block to doing something I despise.  Otherwise, even when I am moving continuously, my heart rate is not high enough to gain any cardiovascular benefits.  Also, most cleaning tasks involve questionable biomechanics and are not bilateral or symmetrical.  Do you change arms halfway through your vacuuming, or do you use the same arm for the whole job? 

If housework really were good exercise, then there should be some evidence that people who do housework for a living are less likely to develop heart disease, get cancer or diabetes, and suffer knee and back problems.  In fact, there is evidence to the contrary.  The British Women's Heart and Health Study reports that women who did gardening, heavy housework and slow walking (and no structured exercise like group fitness classes or weight workouts) were in poor physical condition and often overweight. But women who briskly walked two and a half hours a week were much fitter, slimmer and had slower resting heart rates.

Again, we do not discount the benefits of being active, but unless you are cleaning your toilet like this woman (not sure how clean her toilet is) you are not getting the benefits of a structured exercise program.  So we would rather be accused of interfering with your toilet habits (i.e. you can't stand up and sit down because your quads are hurting) and have your clean your toilet the regular way.  The bottom line is that it would be very challenging to do gardening, housework, or run errands in a manner that will elevate your heart rate and keep it elevated for 20 to 30 minutes.  In addition, everyday activities and chores typically do not provide any type of resistance exercise, and if they do, they are almost always asymmetrical. 

We look at structured exercise as the way to maintain a strong and healthy body so that you can accomplish those chores or "activities" that most of us don't enjoy safely and quickly.  Then you can move on to those activities that you do enjoy, such as gardening or golf, and feel stronger and perform better at them.