Is cleaning your house a tedious chore for you? Do you look with horror at the clouds of dust in the corners and the mountains of dishes in the sink and don’t know how to force yourself not to shirk your household duties? Or, on the contrary, do you disappear all day at work or study and have barely enough free time for cleaning, and not a minute left for maintaining physical fitness? You can substitute any reason that suits you here to look at cleaning from a new perspective. By adding a little sport to your usual activities, you can have a great workout with a vacuum cleaner and a mop at the ready.
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To begin with, make sure you have some time. Simply washing dishes or dusting will not cause your body to burn calories. Clean the entire house. Create an atmosphere - turn on upbeat music to lift your spirits, wear sportswear - a T-shirt, leggings/shorts and sneakers. This will not only put you in the right mood, but will also help you avoid injuries.
Washing dishes
This is a great way to warm up. While you're stressing out your arms scrubbing caked-on stains off your plates and pans, don't forget about your feet. Place your feet shoulder-width apart and rise onto your toes. Hold this position for 10 seconds and slowly lower down. Repeat 10 times, do several approaches with minute breaks. Another option is to dance. You can burn about 50 calories in 30 minutes this way.
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How many calories are burned when cleaning an apartment?
Habitual activities in the apartment also bring benefits. Of course, the area here is noticeably smaller than in a private house. However, if you spend about 1-2 hours daily, then within a month you can noticeably tighten your body and get rid of extra pounds.
| Kind of activity | Calorie consumption in 10 minutes |
| Bed making | 15 |
| Washing dishes | 17 |
| Ironing | 27 |
| Sweeping or mopping floors | 35 |
| Handwash | 45 |
| Window cleaning | 30 |
Of course, women’s daily work is preparing dishes for their beloved family. In 1 hour of peeling vegetables, cutting food, beating, stirring, 150 to 200 calories are burned.
On a note!
To bring even more benefits to the body, it is recommended to create a sauna effect while cleaning. To do this, you must first take a hot shower, apply a thick layer of mask to your body and wrap yourself in cling film.
Wiping dust and polishing furniture
This “exercise” uses the muscles of the arms, shoulders and abs. When wiping dust, do not be lazy to rinse the rag more often - this way you will take more steps. And push it harder - this will put a strain on the pectoral muscles. You can get extra weight by dusting the bottom shelves in a squat—a great workout for your quads and glutes. When polishing furniture, use wax - rubbing it requires more energy than using a spray. This burns about 130 calories per hour (even more with additional squats).
How many calories are burned when cleaning an apartment in 1 hour?
Calorie consumption when cleaning an apartment depends on many factors. These include the type of activity and intensity of action. An important factor is a person’s weight. The larger it is, the more energy the body spends on movements.
| Person's weight (kg) | Approximate calorie consumption for 1 hour of cleaning |
| 50-60 | 180-200 |
| 60-70 | 200-210 |
| 70-80 | 210-230 |
| 80-90 | 230-250 |
| 90-100 | 250-270 |
However, in order to achieve even greater efficiency, it is recommended to use several tricks when tidying up your apartment:
- When cleaning the floor, it is recommended to lunge forward deeply each time to move the mop or vacuum cleaner. It is recommended to tense your buttocks. If you need to rinse a rag in a bucket, you need to sit down. The back should always remain straight.
- If you need to wipe dust from shelves located above your head, it is recommended to periodically stand on tiptoes. This is a very good workout for the calf muscles. If possible, you can remain standing on one leg, while the other should be moved to the side and back.
- While mopping the floors, it is better not to sit on your feet, but to stand on all fours and perform the “cat” yoga movement, rounding and straightening your back. In this case, the muscles of the buttocks, as well as the back and abs, will be involved.
Experienced housewives also advise making as many movements as possible. For example, do not use a laundry basket, but take the laundry out of the washing machine one by one and hang it up.
Cleaning an apartment or private house is something that housewives do every day. A few simple rules will make this type of activity as effective as possible for your health and body.
Ironing
A very useful exercise that can be varied in the same way as washing dishes. Try using the iron while standing alternately on your left and right foot - this will not only engage your muscles, but also develop coordination. Place the laundry basket on the floor and do classic squats when you reach for a new item.
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Washing and ironing work together
A washing machine is now found in almost every home; it makes life much easier and saves time. But there are things that have to be washed by hand the old fashioned way. This is great for burning calories. When washing clothes by hand, you can lose up to 120 kcal per hour. Hand washing curtains and blankets takes up to 220 kcal per hour, which replaces 30 minutes of work in the gym.
Hanging your laundry after washing allows you to additionally get rid of 25 kcal in ten minutes.
Clean linen requires ironing. If you iron while standing, you can get rid of 157 kcal in an hour. When performing the same work while sitting, the figure decreases to 100 kcal. Add folding laundry after ironing, that's another 120 kcal per hour.
As a result of all manipulations, you have a result equivalent to a full-fledged water aerobics workout.
Going to the store is an element of strength training
When shopping in large supermarkets, where you have to walk for a long time from shelf to shelf with a loaded cart, you can burn from 200 to 260 kcal per hour.
The more you buy, the more calories you will burn. It is important to calculate your strength: you will still need to transport your purchases home! For best results, try to load the heaviest items into the cart or basket first: you will get additional stress on your arms, legs and back muscles.
If you need to buy a lot of products at once, go to the store 2-3 times. The effect of cardio training with weights is guaranteed. Walk home to and from the store at an above-average pace.
It has been experimentally proven that half an hour of carrying bags, the contents of which can feed a family of three three times a day, burns 190 kcal.
Does cooking help you lose weight?
Cook while standing, use kitchen appliances to a minimum, and then an hour at the stove will destroy 90-100 calories. It is important not to taste anything during the process, otherwise you risk consuming more calories than you burn.
Helpful advice: To increase energy expenditure, increase the intensity of your movements and the speed of doing housework. To make it easier to keep up the pace, turn on your favorite music. This way you can cope with routine responsibilities faster, get a boost of energy and good mood.
Ironing
Ironing clothes is not an active activity, but in fact it is a very energy-consuming activity. An hour of ironing will cost you 88 calories. Try a trick and get your body to move more by using hangers. They ironed the shirt, hung it on a hanger and put it in the closet. And so on every thing. You won’t notice how you walk 10 thousand steps. Boring, but it works.
Surface cleaning
Actively cleaning surfaces burns 4 calories per minute. If the surfaces you need to clean are above your head, you're likely standing on your tiptoes to reach them. Afterwards, rest your calves and stand on just one leg while you wipe down surfaces in your kitchen or bathroom. Standing on your toes engages your calf muscles, which helps develop your calves. When you stand on one leg and walk the other leg out to the side, you engage your glutes and work on the shape of your hips.
Vacuuming or mopping floors
Cleaning floors burns 4 calories per minute. Lunge fully forward every time you mop or vacuum. Then, when you pull them towards you, return to the starting position. The lunge engages most of the major muscles in the lower body. You'll also use your abdominal muscles to balance the movements in and out of the lunge.
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Making the bed
Making your bed burns 17 calories in a quarter of an hour. This is an ideal exercise to jumpstart the body after a long sleep. Try making your bed very actively and you can immediately begin more serious exercises.
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Vacuum cleaner
Few people like to vacuum all their rooms. It's long and boring. But you shouldn't feel that way about this part of cleaning, because this kind of "exercise" will help you burn about 170 calories. This is a very decent figure. You can increase the load by additionally lunging forward with your legs alternately. It’s not easy, yes, but the result will be excellent.
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Gardening - outdoor fitness
If you have a garden, you are a happy person! In an hour of gardening you can easily burn up to 330 calories, shape your figure and lose excess weight. Weeding, planting, working with a shovel, hoe or rake, harvesting, watering: loads for every taste await you.
Housework cannot completely replace sports. But any housework requires a significant amount of effort and calories, and since there is no end in sight, good housewives have the additional opportunity to always look slim and fit.
The main rule of losing weight
Increasing your own activity during the day is fully consistent with the main rule of losing weight. A person will get rid of extra pounds only by creating a calorie deficit. That is, the amount of energy received from food should be less than the final expenditure. Otherwise, no positive effect should be expected.
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With an energy surplus, the opposite situation will occur. The person will get fat. There will be no harm from a one-time excess of calories. However, if the situation is constantly repeated, the individual runs the risk of becoming obese.
Averages
Another important point is worth noting. The number of calories burned depends on two factors. The type of action a person performs influences. The more muscle groups involved in the process, the better the final result. However, it is necessary to take into account the metabolic rate and physical characteristics of the person.
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Bodybuilders with large muscle mass burn much more calories. The amount of energy expended is lower in slender people.
Don't forget about a person's age. Over the years, the rate of metabolic processes slows down. This leads to a decrease in calorie expenditure. Habitual activities require less energy. It is simply impossible to ignore this fact. Otherwise, all final calculations will be useless.
