While a targeted workout will help with specific fitness goals like fat loss, there is a way to get additional movement into your day without leaving home. Thirty minutes of moderate exercise a day is recommended  to maintain good health. But what if you just can’t make it to bootcamp or to the gym? There’s a way to use your housework as an exercise workout routine, especially if you put some elbow grease into it.  Keep in mind that high intensity exercise is recommended for fat loss—but getting extra movement into your day will help you burn off a few extra calories!

According to Weight Watchers you can burn up to 250 calories an hour by doing housework, depending upon how hard you work and your weight. Burning calories doing chores isn’t limited to inside, you’re workout routine could also include gardening and other yard work.

Housework Workout Routine Tips

So, here are few tips to make your home chores a better workout routine:

• Be inefficient. For example, when you’re doing laundry take one load at a time rather than gathering everything at once. By making multiple trips you’re burning more calories. As you are putting things away think how you might run up the stairs more times. You get the idea ;-).
• Rock out. Nothing will get you moving faster than energizing music. It’ll make the experience more fun and increase your pace while doing your housework workout. Waiting for the laundry to finish drying, dance, swing your arms, do lunges or jumping jacks in place.
• Mix it up. By varying your tasks means you’ll be using different muscle groups. Making a bed uses different muscles than vacuuming or washing windows.
• Organize it. Have a pantry or closet that needs some organizing. That’s a perfect time to use a step stool and lift items that will strengthen your arm and back muscles.

Of course housework shouldn’t be your only form of exercise–it’s just a way to increase your movement during the week. But stepping up the intensity when you do housework might potentially shave off a few pounds if your nutrition is in check. One way to track how active you are — when you’re exercising or not — is a FitBit. This tiny electronic companion measures your activity, plus you can tap into the FitBit community to get ideas and join in on some fitness challenges.

So, the moral of the story is:  You can’t expect to lose body fat by doing housework alone. However, housework such as vacuuming and scrubbing floors by hand will definitely put a dent in your overall calorie burn for the day.

If you’re looking for ways to increase your overall “calories out” during a given day, pick up a mop or pull out the vacuum cleaner, throw on some high energy music and get moving!!