Weight loss while tending to the dacha: essential guidelines for gardeners

Weight loss while tending to the dacha: essential guidelines for gardeners

Rewritten Version:

Getting In Shape While Tending to Your Garden

Unlike gym workouts that target all muscle groups, garden tasks primarily focus on specific ones – and sometimes overworking them! Let's uncover the truth behind the notion that you can shed pounds and build muscle while working on your garden.

• Beware of Deception: According to fitness trainer, Natalia SHILOVA, working in the garden won't skyrocket your strength or physique. And to shed those extra kg's, not just physical exertion but also a sensible nutrition plan is vital. Unfortunately, gardening mostly evokes a craving for barbecues and relaxation, making it unlikely to see significant transformation after the winter thaw.

However, garden tasks aren't entirely pointless.

• Beneficial Outcomes: There's no denying the benefits, says Natalia SHILOVA. Garden workouts outdoors boosts oxygen consumption, speeds up oxidation-reduction processes, and lowers blood pressure and heart rate. However, unlike a gym workout, not all muscle groups get engaged – only select ones. Proper care is essential to avoid overworking these specific muscle groups.

Preparing Your Body for Action

Simple gym warm-up exercises will prep your muscles for work:

• 8-10 shallow squats will stretch your lower back and leg muscles.
• 10-15 slow forward and backward bends will warm up your back muscles and primp your hips.
• 10-15 torso twists in different directions will help loosen up your lower back and neck-shoulder region.

Remember to do these exercises meticulously, focusing on each movement.

Which Muscles Do Gardeners Work

• Forward Bends - Engage your back and lower back muscles, as well as your leg muscles.
• Planting Plants in a Sitting Position - This is a static exertion that stresses all lower extremity muscle groups. However, good static exertion shouldn't exceed three minutes. Don't forget to intersperse it with rises and stretches to prevent lymph stagnation and swelling.
• Work with Rakes - Activates your shoulder girdle and core muscles (abdominals).

Garden and Digging Activities

• Digging and Turning Soil - Strengthens gluteal muscles, muscles of the posterior thigh, core muscles, shoulder girdle, back, and arm muscles.
• Watering with a Straight Back - Increases core muscle activation and finger flexors.
• Pruning Trees and Shrubs - Works the back, chest, leg, gluteal, shoulder, and arm muscles, all while maintaining balance is crucial.
• Hauling Loads in a Wheelbarrow - Engages shoulder girdle and forearm muscles, back muscles, and rectus and oblique abdominal muscles.

Unfortunately, many garden and digging activities involve one-sided stress. For example, alternating the leg used to press the shovel handle and the hands reduces the risk of muscle overload. Regular 15-20-minute breaks every hour help muscles relax.

Calorie Burning Potential

An hour of gardening can burn anywhere between 180 to 350 calories, depending on the intensity of the activity.

Relaxation After a Long Day

Reduce back, neck, and shoulder pain with these three exercises:

"Cat-Cow Stretch"

Improve flexibility in your thoracic spine and strengthen your back muscles with this basic exercise.

1. Start in a tabletop position, placing a soft mat under you for comfort. Line up your hands beneath your shoulders and your knees beneath your hips. Keep your fingers pointing forward, maintain equal weight distribution through your hands and knees.
2. Inhale, arch your back, lift your head, and feel a stretch in your chest and belly.
3. Exhale, round your back, tucking your chin to your chest, and feel a stretch in your back.

Repeat the exercise 5-10 times.

"Book Open"

This exercise, borrowed from Pilates, helps with unwinding after a day of gardening.

1. Lie on your left side with your left leg extended and your right leg bent at 90 degrees. You can bend both legs if that's more comfy. Interlock your arms on top of each other.
2. Inhale and, slowly, "open" like a book, rotating your upper body. Keep your right knee against your left leg!

Trace a half-circle with your right hand to your head, touch your ear, and return to the starting position. Repeat.

These exercises can help you unwind after a long day of gardening and prevent muscle stiffness.

Repeat the exercise 2-3 times on the left side. Then, switch to the right side and repeat the exercise with the other hand.

"Triangle"

Prevent back or lower back pain with this stretch. It extends the posterior muscle chain, helping to relax the lumbar square muscle and reduce muscle spasms.

Start by standing with your feet hip-width apart. Place your right foot at a 90-degree angle to your body, turn your left foot 45 degrees.

Lean slightly and grab your left leg below the knee. If this is too challenging, you can grab your knee. Lift your right arm up. Feel the stretch and relaxation on the right side of your body. Hold this position for at least a minute.

Then, swap positions: right foot at 45 degrees, left foot at 90, and stretch the left side of your body.

IMPORTANT

Deep Breathing as Recovery

• To recover after a long and tiring day, try restorative breathing, suggests Natalia Shilova. This exercise lowers heart rate and facilitates the body’s rest mode.

Lie on your back, knees slightly bent, feet flat on the ground.

Inhale through your nose for four seconds (count or set a timer).

Exhale slowly through your nose or mouth for 12 seconds.

Focus on breathing from your diaphragm, allowing your hands on your belly for control.

Repeat at least 10 cycles.

Dr. Sergey Bubnovsky also recommends, should your back hurt, to apply an ice pack on the area for 5-10 minutes. "Muscle pain is akin to a bruise or a bump – you need to cool it down to relieve the spasm."

1. Natalia Shilova, a fitness trainer, warns against the misconception that gardening alone can promote significant muscle growth or weight loss, as it requires a balanced nutrition plan as well.
2. Garden activities, according to Shilova, offer benefits such as increased oxygen consumption, sped up oxidation-reduction processes, and lowered blood pressure and heart rate, despite not engaging all muscle groups like a gym workout does.
3. To prepare the body for gardening tasks, simple warm-up exercises like shallow squats, forward and backward bends, and torso twists are recommended to stretch and warm up specific muscle groups.
4. In gardening, forward bends engage the back, lower back, and leg muscles, while planting in a sitting position stresses the lower extremity muscle groups; raking activates the shoulder girdle and core muscles, and digging strengthens the gluteal muscles, muscles of the posterior thigh, core muscles, back, and arm muscles.
5. Watering with a straight back increases core muscle activation and finger flexors, while pruning trees and shrubs works the back, chest, leg, gluteal, shoulder, and arm muscles while maintaining balance is crucial.
6. Hauling loads in a wheelbarrow engages the shoulder girdle, forearm muscles, back muscles, and rectus and oblique abdominal muscles, but many garden and digging activities involve one-sided stress, requiring alternating legs or hands for proper distribution of the workload, and regular breaks to prevent overworking muscles.

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