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How much time did you spend working out in the yard in April? I think all of Buffalo was outdoors last month, enjoying the warm temperatures, sunshine and the chance to start the yard and garden cleanup. Now, it’s gray and blustery again and like many people, you’re probably feeling the soreness in those “gardening” muscles.
No surprise. Like our gardens, those muscles have been dormant for months! Gardening and yard work is some of the hardest work our bodies do. Lifting, bending, hauling, dumping – gardening is no joke.
Before the next round of warm weather arrives and we start planting our flowers and veggies (and kneeling, reaching, pushing, squatting), let’s work on those gardening muscles to build some strength.
To practice this strength routine, you’ll need two 5-10 lb. dumbbells and a sturdy, straight-backed chair. (No dumbbells? Try Alta’s Soft-Touch Weights.) Spend about five minutes warming up – marching in place or taking a short walk. Then, work through the routine once, take a short water break and repeat the sequence. Practice this routine two to three times a week, giving your body at least 24 hours of rest in between sessions. You’ll be feeling stronger before Memorial Day!
Click here to watch my video demonstrating all of these exercises!
The Pelvic Tilt
A small movement, but one that is immensely valuable to gardeners. Engaging the belly muscles while lifting protects the lower back and helps to avoid injury. It’s easiest to learn how to engage these muscles while lying down.
Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place your hands just above your hip points, those hard pointy bones that stick out just above the pelvis. Imagine drawing your navel back towards your spine. Feel how the muscles in the belly tighten up as you do this. Hold the muscle engagement for about five seconds, then release. Perform 10 repetitions.
It’s important that you don’t hold your breath during this exercise, so if you find yourself doing so, keep trying! Once you feel like you have good control of these muscles while you’re lying down, try the same movement while standing up. Then, try it while walking and progress to walking while carrying a light object such as an empty laundry basket.
Squats
Ask anyone who has taken my classes – I love squats. Squats build strength in the largest muscles in our bodies: the quadriceps, the hamstrings and the glutes. (For the laypeople, that’s the thighs and bum.) They’re the biggest muscles in the body, so let them do as much work as possible.
Imagine you want to lift a bag of mulch off the top of a pile. Would you bend over from the waist, grab it, then stand back up while holding a slippery 40-lb bag? Horrible idea. You’ll get hurt. Don’t pick up that mulch until you’ve read further.
To practice squats, stand in front of a sturdy chair with your feet about hip distance apart. Cross your arms over your chest. Sit the bum back as though you were going to sit down on the chair, bending the knees to lower the bum towards the seat – but don’t sit! Pause, hovering your bum over the seat. Keep your chest up and your gaze forward. Then, press into your feet to straighten the legs and return to the start position. Perform 10-12 repetitions.
Now that you’ve practiced the first two exercises – imagine lifting that bag of mulch. You’re facing the stack of mulch bags. You sit your bum back and down, get your hands under the bag, engage the belly to help balance the weight of the bag and press into the feet to straighten the legs. Boom – problem solved, all with zero lower back pain!
Lunges
Lunges strengthen the muscles you need to get up and down from the ground, as well as the muscles used when you push down onto a shovel or pitchfork.
Begin in a standing position with hands on hips. Take a big step forward with the right foot (about 50% longer than a regular step). Keeping your trunk upright, bend both knees until the front knee reaches approximately 90 degrees. Push into the front foot to come back up to a standing position. Perform 10-12 repetitions, then repeat on the left leg.
Bent-over Rows
This exercise helps strengthen the muscles you need to pull weeds and also helps with lifting and carrying objects like bins and planters.
Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand with feet about hip distance apart. Keep your back straight and your belly engaged as you hinge forward from the hips to approximately a 45 degree angle. Extend the arms towards the ground. Draw your shoulder blades in towards your spine as you pull the arms back towards the body, as if you were rowing a boat. Allow the elbows to brush the sides of the body. Slowly extend the arms back towards the ground. Perform 10-12 repetitions.
Deadlifts
Hold a dumbbell in each hand, arms fully extended towards the ground, in front of your body. Stand with feet about shoulder-distance apart. Keeping your back flat, sit back into a squat while hinging forward at the hips until your back is almost horizontal. Let the dumbbells hang down in front of your legs. Without changing the position of your back, press into the feet to straighten the legs and hinge from the hips back into an upright position. Perform 10-12 repetitions.
Deadlifts strengthen multiple muscle groups, most notably the lower back. A strong lower back helps prevent injury. Deadlifts can seem complicated if you haven’t done them before, so watch my video before trying them.
Combining squats, rows, deadlifts and the pelvic tilt will allow you to lift and carry almost any object safely.
Farmer’s Carry
If there was ever an exercise designed for gardeners, this is it! Using the heaviest weights you feel comfortable with, hold a dumbbell in each hand, at your sides. Walk forward 10-20 steps while carrying the weights at your sides. Turn around and walk the same number of steps back. That’s one repetition. Perform 10-12 repetitions.
For a real-life version, use filled (or partially-filled) buckets of sand or soil, or watering cans!
Here’s a couple of other movements you may want to practice before gardening season arrives in full force.
The Golfer’s Lift – Beginning in a standing position, shift your weight onto the left leg. Keeping your back straight and your belly engaged, hinge forward from the left hip, letting the right leg lift off the ground behind you. Reach down with your left hand, as if picking something up off the ground. (Imagine a golfer plucking the ball off the ground.) Perform 10-12 repetitions, then repeat with the right leg. The golfer’s lift is great for picking small objects off the ground, like hand tools or seed packets.
Up and Down – Use a yoga mat or a garden kneeler to cushion your knees. Bend your knees slightly and, with a flat back, hinge forward from the hips until you can bring your hands to the floor. Lower your body down onto one knee, then bring the second knee down. Pause, then with hands still on the floor, bring one foot to the floor, followed by the second. Sit back into your heels to lift the hands off the floor. Bring hands to the thighs, press into the feet to straighten the legs, then hinge from the hips back to an upright position. Perform 10-12 repetitions. Make sure to alternate the legs you use first for getting down and getting up.
Grip Strength – There’s a lot of gripping in gardening! Use a grip exerciser or a stress ball to strengthen your gripping muscles in both hands. You could even practice this while watching television.
Here’s to an enjoyable, safe and injury-free gardening season! As always, if you could use some personal attention to get started, let me know!
Thanks for being with me on this wellness journey.
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