Getting Fit in the Barn

 

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By, Mindy Ward, Excerpt from DRIVE Magazine Article

Who needs a fancy gym and monthly membership fee when you have the luxury of barn time and chores at your fingertips? Getting in a substantial amount of calorie-burning, muscle-building exercises is simple when you have calves to blow/brush, pigs to walk, and sheep and goats to work. Indeed, some of the fittest people around are young livestock enthusiasts. Mindy Ward, fitness guru, helps us break down the calories burned in some day-to-day chores.

Assumptions:
Height – 5’8″
Weight – 150 lbs.
*smaller frame/weight will burn slightly fewer calories while a larger frame/weight will burn slightly more.

   EXERCISE

TIME SPENT

CALORIES BURNED

   Vigorously Brushing/Blowing Cattle

10 minutes

46

   Briskly Walking Livestock

10 minutes

46

   Clean and Bed Pens

10 minutes

80

   Push 50-pound load in wheelbarrow.

10 minutes

63

   Sweep Barn, Rake Stalls

10 minutes

46

   Unload/stack 100-pound hay bales

10 minutes

125

   Unload/stack 50-pound straw bales

10 minutes

90

   Lift 20 pounds (feed/water)

10 minutes

51

   Shearing Sheep

10 minutes

64

   Milking by machine

10 minutes

16

   Driving Tractor/Farming

10 minutes

26

  Shoveling Grain

10 minutes

58