Jul 22 2009
Doing Housework is Good For You!
Welcome back and here has to be the most unpopular post on the planet right now! With a title like that, it’s bound to set off a chain reaction with millions of irate housewives shaking their fists at me and calling me out. But whatever they say, its true that doing housework is not only good for you, it helps keep your weight in check too. That’s right, you can actually lose weight doing housework!
How do I know this? Because I’m the one that does the housework in my home and the exercise is actually pretty beneficial, especially for someone who spends his working day in front of this computer writing stuff.
So how does it work?
Well, the whole strategy is based upon not seeing housework as a chore, but shifting your perception on it being a form of daily exercise designed to help tone up those flabby bits while burning off some excess calories that slobbing out on the sofa definitely does not. The disclaimer here is that this may not be for everyone as we’re all different, but its better than nothing and when you put your mind and determination into it, it can work for you too. Here’s how it works for me.
Ok, first job is to grab a CD with all my might and put it in the player. Loud, rhythmic music is essential, just like it is with aerobics. The style is your choice, but it has to be pretty fast, foot stomping stuff, so keep your Brahms lullaby stuff for after… I hate modern electronic music, being a musician myself I prefer real music played by real people and as I grew up in the late 60s, early 70s, I like foot stomping rocking music, so AC/DC are a favourite…
Ok, once the music is pounding the wall, I sweep what has to be swept in time to the music making a big deal out of each broom stroke. If my neighbours could see me they’d think I’d gone totally nuts… What has to be mopped gets mopped with the same treatment. Rough and tough! I run up and down stairs as fast as I can and as often as I can because that’s a great cardiovascular exercise. I don’t vacuum because I live in a house with marble floors so there are no carpets to vacuum, hence all the sweeping and mopping, but if I had to vacuum too, then I’d make sure I put a lot of energy into it just the same. Cleaning windows is hard work, especially the big ones, so I really put a lot of effort into it and by the time I’m done I’m sweating and out of breath.
That’s good and it means I’ve been working hard enough to shift those calories. Some jobs don’t get done every day and so you get to vary some of the jobs day to day, which is good. But every cleaning job gets pretty much the same treatment until I’m done.
Here’s the thing. If you don’t sweat and get out of breath, you’re not burning calories and you’re not working hard enough to lose weight. Work harder!
When you do all that for maybe an hour every day, you soon start to feel the benefit!
