This is the place where you can really burn some calories and build strength, so don’t hire out all your yard work. “Depending on the season, you can always do something that’s very energy-consuming: shoveling snow in the winter, raking and bagging leaves in the spring, summer, and fall,” says Joshua Margolis, a personal trainer and the founder of Mind Over Matter Fitness in New York City.
How many calories do typical outdoor activities burn? It varies a lot depending on your size (the heavier you are, the more you burn), age (younger people burn more calories), and how much muscle you have (muscle burns more calories than fat). But on average, here’s what you might expect to burn per hour while cleaning up your yard:
- Shoveling snow: 400-600 calories per hour
- Heavy yard work (landscaping, moving rocks, hauling dirt): 400-600 calories per hour
- Raking and bagging leaves: 350-450 calories per hour
- Gardening: pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc.: 200-400 calories per hour
- Mowing the lawn: 250-350 calories per hour
“Raking and bagging leaves is particularly good because you also do a lot of bending, twisting, lifting, and carrying — all things that can build strength and engage a lot of muscle fibers,” says Margolis. “You just have to be careful to do these things properly, bending at the knees and not straining your back. Gardening is great, too, because you’re constantly getting up and down, stretching, bending, and reaching to pull the weeds.”
