But he knows that advice is widely ignored. Most people bend at the waist to pick up an item, so they are lifting just the weight of the object, he said. Gardening promotes good health in many ways, such as burning calories, Yates said. Walking at 3 mph burns about five calories a minute. Caloric expenditure is boosted when you dig a long row across the garden.
Gardening promotes stronger bodies and more flexibility.
But if you're stiff to begin with, Yates recommends flexing arms and wrists and doing some general stretching before heading outside. Warming up muscles, he said, can make many garden chores easier. E-mail this story to a friend. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the expressed written consent of the Lexington Herald-Leader is prohibited.