Housework exercise

NO time to exercise? Don’t worry, just do the housework.

A new study has found that doing the household chores burns more than 2,000 calories a week with cleaning the bath and doing the washing able to amount to the equivalent of doing a gym session.

The findings also researched which chores are best for working out certain areas of the body.

So what jobs around the house are the most beneficial to burn calories and tone?

Scrubbing the bath

Cleaning the bath with a bit of added elbow grease for 15 minutes can burn up to 100 calories, which is roughly the same as 30 jumping squats. This chore is great for toning arms and shoulder muscles.

Laundry

Factoring in loading and unloading the washing machine, hanging up the clothes and putting them away, doing the laundry can burn 78 calories which is the same as doing 100 sit-ups.

Washing up

Scrubbing away at the dishes can burn over 500 calories over a week if you spend 15 minutes doing it every night, around the same as swimming 2,500m.

Hoovering 

Giving your carpets a good clean can burn 90 calories in half an hour, which is the same as 15 minutes of kick-boxing. Depending on the size of your house, hoovering can also get you nearer to the daily recommendation of walking 10,000 steps.

Mopping and sweeping

Cleaning the floors for 30 minutes can burn 145 calories, which is equivalent to 15 minutes of gardening.

Half an hour of pottering in the garden can burn 213 calories, which is the same as 45 minutes of cycling on flat terrain.