We all know how very important it is to stay active in life and help your body fight off age related aches and pains, muscle weakness etc. Truth be told, so many of us just aren’t doing a single thing to help ourselves and then we wonder why we are becoming so stiff and lazy. We need to MOVE. However, being active doesn’t mean that you have to run out right now and buy a gym membership. I mean, yes, a gym membership is an awesome thing to have and maybe give you the motivation you need. But, you do not have to go to the gym to stay active. How about this winter you skip the gym and do some of these chores instead? I guarantee you will feel great about it afterwards.
Painting
The funny thing about painting your house is that you could either love the colors you picked and then completely hate them within minutes of being on your wall. You may be dead set that they are absolutely perfect and then wake up thinking ‘what the heck?’. The awesome thing about it though is the fact that you can change it so easily. Don’t like green? Paint it blue! Color is too dark? Lighten it up. But, painting is also a really great way to get a workout in.
Think of all the bending and crouching you do, the reaching of high points, the back and forth motions of the brush or roller. I don’t know about you, but I find painting exhausting not to mention sore shoulders anyone? So why not during this winter change up some colors, spice up your life a little, or tackle that hobby room that has been dying for a freshen up. Just painted your walls and love they way they are, well why not pick an item around your house to transform. I have an old upright piano in my living room that is just screaming to become a chalk paint DIY project.
Chopping Wood
If you are one of the fortunate people to have a woodstove or wood furnace in your home, then you know just how much work comes with it. We have 8-foot logs delivered to our home in one big pile. We then have to saw it all up, then split the wood, then stack it to dry. But hey, that’s not the end of it. Then you have to either stack it inside your home or shed for easy access. This, is grueling work and a massive workout, trust me your legs will burn. So how will it help for the winter? Well if you store your wood outside in the garage or shed, make multiple trips walking back and forth from the wood pile to where you store your easy access pile inside but only take a few pieces at a time. Your arms will be tired, but you’ll feel great after.
Snow Clearing
This, is a very familiar word to those people who live in Canada in particular. We get snow, and lots of it. I’m not just talking about one snow fall and then bam that’s it for the week. No, I’m talking about dumps of snow on a daily basis. This may seem like such a drag, but it’s actually a really great way to stay in shape over the winter. Snow can be really heavy depending on the climate. Sometimes you get that really fluffy magical snow, and other times you get that dense packed snow we like to call snow fort snow, or snowman building snow. Shoveling a small about can give you a great workout, though sometimes if the snowfall is massive you might want to think about using a yard machine, such as a snow blower. Some people have plows on their truck or quads that are easy to use, but they don’t exactly give you a workout. A snow blower on the other hand will still get you moving and require the use of coordination and strength to move it around.
Conclusion
There are so many different chores that we can do around our homes that will keep us active and moving, you just sometimes have to have a little imagination to really get things moving. Cleaning up the toys? Grab one at a time. Want a little change, rearrange the living room. We can find lots of things to do. Just do not let the fact that you skipped buying a gym membership give you a ticket to slumming it on the couch. Still take that 30 minutes a day to get things done and not only will you moving but you’ll be checking things off that to-do list.