If you're looking for a vigorous workout, but you're not a fan of the gym, you could do worse than splitting wood. This robust outdoor activity burns a relatively large number of calories per hour.
Calories
For a 150-lb. person, splitting wood for one hour burns 432 calories --- about the same as vigorous weight lifting or cross-country hiking, according to the Health Discovery's online calorie calculator.
Related Tasks
Extend your workout by carrying, stacking or loading and unloading split wood into a wheelbarrow. While not quite as intense as splitting wood, these tasks burn 341 calories per hour if you weigh 150 lbs.
Technique
To split wood efficiently by hand, use a splitting maul --- a tool that looks like a cross between an axe and a hammer. Time your swings so that the head of the maul hits the wood when the handle is parallel to the ground and not before --- that's when the head is moving at its highest speed, according to Popular Mechanics magazine.
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