Cleaning may be a chore, but if you turn on some tunes and think of it as a workout, you can get more enjoyment for your effort. In the bathroom, heavy cleaning such as scrubbing the tub and floor burns more calories than dusting.
Calories Burned
Heavy cleaning burns 135 calories in a half-hour if you weigh 125 pounds. If you weigh 155 pounds, you burn 167 and if you weigh 185 you burn 200, according to the Harvard Medical School. In contrast, you’d burn about 88 calories dusting as a 155-lb person.
Effects
Heavy cleaning in the bathroom burns for 30 minutes the same number of calories as doing a moderate calisthenics workout over a half hour time frame. Calisthenics are exercises such as sit-ups, trunk twists and jumping jacks designed to develop muscular tone. Heavy cleaning for 30 minutes also works off the same amount of calories you’d burn playing badminton for half an hour, according to Harvard.
Expert Insight
If you wear an apron and fill the pockets with your cleaning supplies, you can keep up your cleaning intensity nonstop, says “Speed Cleaning 101” author Laura Dellutri. You will finish your cleaning job quicker and burn calories at a faster rate because you’ll be able to clean continuously instead of stopping each time you need a new cleaning item. You can keep everything from grout brushes to scrubbing pads in your apron.
Member Comments