Is gardening good exercise?

It’s time we reframe how we think about gardening. The best way to break a sweat isn’t always running on the treadmill or taking a HIIT class: it’s right outside your door! 

Recent health studies have classified gardening as a ‘moderate to high-intensity’ physical activity. In fact, a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that regular gardening can cut the risk of heart attack by up to 30%. 

It can even prolong life as effectively as a regular jogging routine. Trade your dumbbell for a trowel and spade today with Whitaker’s Garden Centre, as we answer: ‘Is gardening good exercise?’ 

What are the physical benefits of gardening? 

After a long day of gardening, you’ll probably ache in places you never knew you had. 

But why? Here are all the physical (and mental) benefits of maintaining a garden. 

1. Burns calories

Your garden is even better than a gym: it’s open 24/7, and you never have to wait for a machine! Many think of gardening as a relaxing pastime, and it is. But, depending on the task at hand, it has plenty of calorie-burning potential. 

When you use multiple muscle groups to squat, lift, and pull, you're practising functional fitness (training your body for daily activities): this is exactly why an active half-hour in the garden often stacks up surprisingly well against more traditional exercise.

The amount of energy you burn depends on what you’re doing: light activities like weeding, pruning, or watering can burn around 150 to 200 calories per hour, which is comparable to a walk or a gentle yoga session. 

When you step up to heavier jobs (like mowing the lawn with a push mower or heavy digging), this can burn anywhere between 400 and 600 calories, similar to going for a run! 

2. Muscle strength/flexibility

The way gardening builds genuine, functional strength is perhaps its most underrated benefit. Unlike a gym, where it’s common practice to focus on isolated parts of the body, gardening forces your body to work as a unit. 

When you’re hauling bags of Whitaker’s potting grit, you’re engaging in weight-bearing exercise that’s excellent for maintaining bone density. Beyond this, gardening is also great for smaller, often neglected muscle groups. 

For example, when you’re pruning roses, these repetitive, precise hand movements improve your fine motor skills and dexterity. It can even offset arthritis! All of this is without mentioning flexibility. 

A session in the garden is essentially a long, slow stretching routine: reaching for weeds at the back of your border can be great for hamstrings and lower back, and pruning high branches can open the chest and shoulders. 

To keep things safe, it’s all about technique. Keep a kneeling pad handy and never stretch to pain. 

3. Vitamin D exposure 

Vitamin D is famously difficult to get from food alone (some great sources are oily fish, milk, and orange juice). 

From late March/early April to the end of September, most people should be able to make the vitamin D they need from sunlight, but between October and early March, the sun isn’t strong enough. 

But the so-called sunshine vitamin is vital for regulating calcium levels in your body (these nutrients keep your bones, teeth, and muscles healthy). 

Cancer Research UK makes a great point: you don’t need to sunbathe to get enough vitamin D. For most people, short periods of time in the sun during the brighter months should do the job. 

Gardening can be a brilliant, natural way to top up your daylight time! 

4. Fine motor skills

When you think about it, it takes a lot of precision to sow seeds into a tray. These pincer movements engage the tiny muscles of the hand and fingers, which are often neglected in day-to-day life. 

Gardening tasks like these are very important as you age: they’re fiddly and complex, so they can combat the stiffness associated with arthritis or the repetitive strain of typing at a computer. 

They don’t just stimulate the body: it’s the brain, too. The neural pathways responsible for coordination are strengthened every time you handle delicate bedding plants. 

5. Mental health 

Some research suggests that inhaling Mycobacterium vaccae, a friendly bacterium naturally found in soil, triggers the release of serotonin in the brain. 

It’s true! Serotonin is the ‘happy chemical’ that antidepressants target, so, in simple terms, breathing in the scent of your garden while you weed is sending a direct chemical signal to your brain to lift your mood.

At the same time, gardening can also lower levels of cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. You might be tempted to try a high-intensity interval class to get your exercise in, but this can actually increase cortisol levels due to physical stress. 

Instead, gardening puts you in a state of ‘restorative motion. A study by the National Institution of Health found that ‘active interaction with indoor plants can reduce physiological and psychological stress compared with mental work’. 

Shop for gardening tools, plants and shrubs with Whitaker’s Garden Centre! 

So, is gardening good exercise? Yes, absolutely. Now, all you need are the gardening tools to do the job right! We’ve got essentials like rakes, spades, shovels, wheelbarrows and trowels, plus plenty of compost, bark and mulch. 

See the fruits of your labour with decorative hanging baskets and accessories, and don’t forget to stock up on wild bird feeders and hedgehog food to nourish your garden’s daily visitors. Do all this and more with Whitaker’s Garden Centre.

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