The Singapore Health Promotion Board recommends that every person should do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week, in order to stay healthy.

But a lot of people are not getting this exercise, because commitments such as work, family time and social time tend to get into the way. And after work, many people often don’t feel like exercising because they are so burnt out from the long day.

Did you know though, that you can turn your household chores into a workout?

A study in the United Kingdom recently found that in Britain, the average woman spends about 143 minutes cleaning her home.

Housework is a great way to burn calories and get in your 150 minutes of workout quota per week. This is because many household chores can be considered as medium intensity, cardiovascular or strength training exercises. So by planning your household chores in a way that allows you to work out different muscles at a time and increase your heart rate, you can fulfil your 150 minutes of weekly exercise quota.

How to prepare for this type of workout

Here are some simple tips on how you can prepare for a workout session of household chores.

Before cleaning, you should pump up the fast and catchy music as this will increase the speed that you clean the house. This should be preferably music with about 120 beats per minute.

At the same time, if your favourite songs are playing, you are more likely to stay motivated.

Also, to get you in the right mood to exercise, you should put on comfortable clothes and shoes that you can sweat in. This will also help to reduce your risk of injury.

And don’t forget to set a timer, too, for 30 minutes, because this is the minimum length of time that is recommended in a typical workout session.

Calories you can burn

To give a perspective of how many calories you can burn from household chores, here are a few simple examples.

For 30 minutes…

• Painting – 160 calories
• Loading the dishwasher – 105 calories
• Making beds – 130 calories
• Scrubbing the bath – 200 calories
• Mowing the lawn – 185 calories

For one hour…

• Hoovering – 153 calories
• Mopping – 168 calories
• Ironing clothes – 128 calories
• Cleaning windows – 180 calories
• Gardening – 288 calories
• Washing the car – 234 calories
• Dusting – 174 calories

*Calorie estimates are the number of calories burned per hour

Increase your calorie burn rate

If you want to increase your calorie burn while doing the household chores, you can also try some of the following:

• Do lunges while vacuuming the floor – When you are pushing the vacuum cleaner, take a step forward and allow your front and back leg to bend when lowering yourself to the ground. This helps to tighten and strength the core muscles.
• Wear weights when dusting – While dusting the house, try wearing weights on your arms as this will tighten them and make your arm muscles stronger
• Do squats when folding laundry – This helps to tighten your buttocks, back of the thighs and core muscles. Have your feet hip width apart and bend your knees till your butt is level with the feet.
• Bicep curls when taking out trash – This is useful to tone your arms.
• Calf raises when hand washing dishes – Have your legs hip width apart and move onto your toes. Hold for about one to three seconds before coming down. Repeat this 10 times, then rest for one minute before completing another two to three reps or until you finish washing the dishes.

For more information, go to www.happycleans.com. 

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