The Argument We’re Tired Of Hearing
“Housework and yard work don’t count as exercise.”
How many times have we heard this from fitness purists or gym loyalists? To them, unless you’re dressed in Lycra and paying for a gym membership, the sweat you work up scrubbing floors or hauling leaves doesn’t count. But here’s the truth: movement is movement, and effort is effort. Just because it doesn’t happen under fluorescent lights in front of a treadmill doesn’t mean it’s worthless.
The Physical Science of It
Cleaning and yard work are not passive. Vacuuming, scrubbing, sweeping, mowing the lawn, raking leaves, hauling branches; all of it gets your heart rate up, engages muscles, and burns calories. According to the CDC, activities like heavy cleaning, yard work, or carrying laundry baskets are classified as moderate physical activity.
Shoveling snow, mowing with a push mower, or carrying groceries upstairs? Those can even tip into vigorous activity. That’s science, not opinion.
All of these activities get your heart rate up and your blood pumping. Even activities such as weeding and gardening are considered to be physical activity. They get your body moving up and down, bending and kneeling, and muscles moving by pulling weeds and lifting bags of dirt and mulch.
The Double Standard
Here’s the irony: go to the gym, and what do you see? People flipping tires, swinging kettlebells, and dragging sleds. Sounds a lot like hauling mulch, pushing a mower, or moving furniture around the house. When it’s done in a gym, it’s referred to as strength training. When it’s done at home, it’s dismissed as “just chores.”
The double standard isn’t about the movement; it’s about the setting. And that’s absolute nonsense.
The Mental Load Factor
What gym workouts don’t include is the mental and emotional load that housework and yard work carry. You’re not just moving your body, you’re multitasking, caring for your family, managing a household. The stress and energy output are real. The labor counts twice: once for the physical activity, and once for the emotional toll of responsibility.
And when you throw in children in the mix, you get that extra challenge of bending and picking up toys and books. Running after real little ones? There are a few laps for you. Have a baby? Try holding a squirmy weight in your arms, and try to get some housework done with that going for you.
Gyms can’t offer you that kind of challenge.
Why It Matters
Belittling housework and yard work as “not real exercise” dismisses the effort of millions of people, especially women, who shoulder these tasks daily. It also discourages people from recognizing the health benefits they are gaining from daily movement. Fitness doesn’t have to mean lifting weights in a gym; it can mean living, moving, and working with purpose.
I would like to challenge some readers to do a week of solid housework and yard work and tell me that it’s “not real exercise”. If you don’t break a sweat mowing the yard with a push mower, then something is either very wrong with you clinically and medically, or you cheated.
Final Thought
Housework and yard work may not be glamorous, but they count. They raise your heart rate, build muscle endurance, and burn calories, exactly what exercise does. So next time someone tells you it doesn’t count, remind them: you don’t need a gym membership to prove your body worked hard today.
Whether it’s hauling branches or squatting to scrub floors, your sweat is just as valid.
