How to turn housekeeping into an arm workout

The following tips will help you to fit some arm-strengthening moves into your housekeeping routines. You won't even realize you're getting stronger!

More than 70 years ago, you rarely heard of people lifting weights to keep their arms strong. They didn't have to. Washing clothes by hand, scrubbing pots, chopping wood and scrubbing floors all maintained the muscle mass we needed to stay strong as we aged. Today, of course, things have changed.

Modern conveniences mean we rarely call upon our arm muscles to do much of anything. Over a lifetime, this can cause your muscles to wither away. You get weaker and weaker, daily tasks become harder and your body puts on weight and grows more susceptible to disease as you become more and more sedentary. So don't think of strengthening your arms as an act of vanity.

• Make each planting session last at least an hour. Congratulations – that's your arm workout for the week.
• Digging in your garden will strengthen your hands, wrists, forearms, upper arms and shoulders.
• Your hard work will pay off in the spring, when your daffodils and tulips bloom.

• Yes, this will encourage weeds to grow with wild abandon (even with mulch).
• That's good, because your job is to get down on your hands and knees once a week to rip weeds out of the ground.
• Leaning onto your hands as you weed will build arm, shoulder and upper back strength, and yanking the weeds provides an extra dose of arm-building strength.
• Just remember to alternate hands as you reach and pull so that you work both arms equally.

• If you have a real fire, the chances are you're burning pre-cut logs.
• If you have the option, though, go out and chop your own wood.
• Do 30 minutes of log chopping every weekend.
• Too much at once and it's bad for your back. But in small doses, cutting wood is amazingly good exercise.

Not only will you have cleaner floors than a mop provides, but you'll strengthen your arms at the same time.

• As well as saving money on your electricity bill, you'll get in a mild arm workout.
• As you carry the laundry basket to the clothes line, curl it up and down, bringing your hands to your shoulders.
• You can also hold it overhead, bending, then extending your elbows.

• When you get home from the supermarket, carry one bag in each hand.
• As you walk from the car to the kitchen, curl your groceries by lifting your hands towards your shoulders, keeping your elbows close to your sides.
• By the time you bring in all of the bags of shopping, you'll have given your biceps a good workout – and you'll have burned some extra calories by making the extra trips to and from the car.