Send this to someone who hates the gym but loves home improvement: Research shows that you can get some of the key benefits of a workout just by putting some extra oomph into your chores.
It’s like doing daily activities on hard mode. Raising your heart rate for just one to two minutes, three to four times per day, can lower your risks of cardiovascular disease and early death, compared to people with sedentary lifestyles, according to recent studies. To accrue those minutes, some researchers recommend working it into your daily routine, whether that means playing with your dog, power walking between household tasks, or taking multiple trips up and down the stairs to purge your closet.
Have a fireplace? Try swinging an axe
Fans of the so-called lumberjack workout swear that there’s no better way to engage all your muscles than by chopping timber. Chris Hemsworth, who typically wields a magical hammer, got in on the trend in recent years, Instagramming a video of himself splitting wood in his backyard that’s now one of his most-liked posts.
Meanwhile, TikTok’s favorite log cutter is a Californian named Thoren “Thor” Bradley, who has amassed more than 10 million followers by splitting enormous pieces of wood and sometimes taking his shirt off. He also sells conventional fitness coaching.
British actress Elizabeth Hurley was early on the trend. She told Extra in 2019 that, at the age of 54, she got her exercise from “gardening…cutting down a hedge, using my chainsaw to cut down a tree, logging.” Proceed with caution, y’all.—ML
This report was originally published by Morning Brew.