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Gardening - the Other Exercise
Gardening - the Other Exercise
People are always trying to stay in shape. They run hard and they play hard. They also exercise hard every single day, working themselves into a frenzy on the treadmill. Yet, they don't go anywhere. The man on the treadmill may have run 10 miles at lunch time, but he didn't go anywhere. Exercise is definitely a beneficial activity, but many people become frustrated when they don't go anywhere. This is where gardening pays off. When you garden you get the exercise and the results.
Gardening is a great way to exercise in several different ways. First, gardening involves a lot of bending, stooping, and standing. It makes for excellent calisthenics by keeping the joints moving. Many arthritis patients report that after adding a daily exercise regimen their arthritis significantly improved. Of course you should consult with your doctor before you make any changes - that means start AND stops. For others, the difficulty comes in that some people knees can't take the pressure from bending. For these people, most greenhouses sell kneepads that give a nice soft surface to cushion against direct pain.
Another benefit from gardening is in the cardiovascular workout. While it's not as intensive as a brisk run or a fast cycle, the extra moment does raise your heart rate. And for most people, every doctor will agree that an elevated heart rate is a great thing.
Gardening also provides limited opportunities for strength training. This is not as severe as a weightlifting workout, if you spend any time lugging heavy things like mulch and water, you are exercising while you are gardening.
Gardening also involves mental exercise as well - and the mind needs a good spin on the treadmill as much as the body does. You can't be a non-thinking gardener. You have to know what plants should be planted in what area, how to plant them, what and when to feed them. If you are setting up a flower garden you need to know when each plant will bloom so that you don't have a rainbow of color one week and a dead brown patch the next one.
The best part about using gardening as your exercise is that it gives you a chance to enjoy yourself without even knowing you are exercising. You don't think about the exercise you are doing when you kneel and stand over your labors is exercise? It certainly is! It's just that you are distracted by the task at hand so you don't realize all the work that you are doing. The one caution is that, if you have a medical condition, that you consult your doctor before taking up a new exercise routine.
So for people looking for a meaningful workout, gardening is an excellent way to accomplish this. Gardening works out the muscles, adds smooth movement to the joints, strengthens the heart, and provides intellectual stimulation. As it does this, you work towards a reward of either visual or taste nature.
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