Best House Cleaning Workout: 10 Home Chores to Keep You Fit!

Have you ever considered turning your daily chores into an awesome house cleaning workout?

In fact, there is even a scientific term for the calories burned through everyday activities like cleaning the house.

It is called NEAT (nonexercise activity thermogenesis)!

By far, the most common excuse that people make is that they are too busy or do not have enough time to work out, but it is not that difficult to get a workout done at home!

The house cleaning workout activities I will talk about below can easily suffice for keeping your fitness goals on track and also allow you to keep up with your household chores!

Having these as options will let you accomplish more during your day and also stay in shape!

You honestly don’t have to spend a lot of money or time to get a good workout.

Why Are House Cleaning Workouts so Effective?

Jobs done around the house can help you maintain your schedule, and you will burn extra calories through a thorough house cleaning workout in the process.

House cleaning workouts serve as a practical approach to incorporate nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which is essential for weight management and overall health (Levine, 2004).

This form of physical activity, derived from daily tasks like vacuuming or dusting, contributes significantly to daily calorie expenditure, aiding in weight control without the structured environment of a gym.

Moreover, the regular act of cleaning your house offers notable mental health benefits. It provides a sense of accomplishment, reduces stress, and promotes a calmer, more organized living space, which is conducive to mental well-being (Saxbe & Repetti, 2010).

Furthermore, a house cleaning workout can make a huge difference in your life if you have a variety of allergies as I do.

Allergy treatment procedures cannot save your body from allergies, which is why you have to keep your house clean and free of allergies all year.

Once you do an allergy test procedure in a diagnostic clinic by a certified allergist and confirm your allergies, you can begin making a weekly house cleaning workout part of your weekly routine so you can keep allergies out of your house!

Thus, combining the physical aspect of NEAT with the psychological uplift from a tidy environment makes house cleaning workouts uniquely effective.

Best Exercises for a House Cleaning Workout

If you own or rent a home, there are always going to be activities for your house cleaning workout involving outside work to do.

My father is always working outside, and he has forearms the size I think I will never be able to obtain!

Some yard work can be specifically muscle building, while others more for calorie burning alone.

Furthermore, there are some great ways to burn calories without ever leaving the house.

These are especially good for rainy days, or days when you have too much work to do and cannot make it to the gym!

Keep reading below to find which household chores are the best for your house cleaning workout!

1.) Vacuuming

Unless you have an ultra-lite vacuum cleaner, most vacuums are pretty heavy and difficult to move.

Lugging them around is a workout in, and of itself. Take your time to really get the rooms clean!

Move furniture that has been sitting in the same spot for a long period of time, because that way you’ll get the aerobic activity of walking and pushing the vacuum cleaner, plus the anaerobic activity of moving furniture around.

All these moves are considered functional movement, because it is exercise that mimics everyday life. Becoming better at these activities allows us to perform better in our daily tasks, including the ones we are specifically working on!

2.) Cleaning Windows

This is a house cleaning workout job that is best reserved for nice sunny days, so you can see if you’re missing any spots through the window.

Get a stepladder and a wad of paper towels or regular towels, plus some good glass cleaner.

The act of climbing the ladder to get to the tops of the windows is a great aerobic exercise, and you get to tone your arms by wiping the glass cleaner off the sprayed windows.

If you have windows that tilt in for outside cleaning, do both sides to burn twice as many calories.

Working until your windows are spotless will be more difficult than you probably are imaging!

3.) Mopping the Floor

There are actually two option here!

You can this standing up with a mop and broom, or you can get down on your hands and knees for close up scrubbing.

Either way, you can cover a lot of territory on your non-carpeted floors; getting shiny floors, and burning calories in the process.

But, you need to be careful to not strain your back.

You should mop in a good athletic stance to work your core more and relieve stress from your lower back!

4.) Cleaning the Curtains or Blinds

People generally don’t do this house cleaning exercise enough, and it needs to be done once or twice a year.

Especially for someone such as myself with asthma, cleaning the curtains and blinds is imperative for breathing quality!

Get a blind cleaner, and a step stool.

The up and down of getting on and off the step stool will burn aerobic calories, and you’ll be able to tone your arms in the act of cleaning the blinds.

Curtains need to be removed and dry-cleaned or washed in the washing machine.

The act of climbing ladders to unhook the curtains burns calories as well, so this can be incredibly taxing depending on how well you do the cleaning!

5.) Cleaning Out the Closet

This is easily the job which I am sure my own mother wishes I would do more often, as I am a bit of a “hoarder” at times.

One great way to motivate yourself for this is to think about having a garage sale, and begin by cleaning out all your closets to find merchandise you can sell.

Take everything out of each closet, and dust/sweep the closet once it’s empty.

Then, put back in to the closet only those things you definitely want to keep.

Everything else needs a place to store, until you decide to have your sale or donate the unnecessary items.

I actually did this once this past summer, and after two hours of rummaging through clothes and random items, I can promise you I was tired!

6.) Mowing the Lawn With a Push Mower

To make this job difficult, you can use a self-propelled push mower; or better yet have one that takes some effort to push around.

You will be doing both aerobic, and anaerobic exercise in the process, and will have burned serious calories once you’ve mowed the entire lawn.

Add some trimming around trees and fences for added calorie burning, and muscle building work.

7.) Gardening

Simple gardening; including hoeing, planting plants and seeds, and pulling weeds, burns calories and is something you can do all summer long.

This past summer, I actually planted my own garden for the first time, and the first few days of building the required area with proper fencing were intense!

So, make as big a garden as your yard space allows!

You’ll have the added advantage of adding homegrown food items to your dinner table when you plant a vegetable garden.

This is the reason I decided to make my own garden, and it turned out excellently!

Digging holes for plants burns as much as 500 calories per hour.

Weeding involves the need to bend and use the arm and ab muscles; both serve muscle building and functional movement!

8.) Cleaning Your Car

Keeping your car clean is a very important activity to add to your house-cleaning workout since it adds to the longevity of your automobile.

Additionally, to keep your car in good condition, you should clean your vehicle regularly.

If you wait several weeks, it may be time to spot defects and dirt in your paint.

Wash your engine at least once a week to remove excess dirt, tar, and insects that may have come into contact.

Remember, the interior of your vehicle is just as important as the exterior.

A good vacuum cleaner helps to keep the inside of your car clean. I

t is recommended to buy a wet/dry vacuum cleaner to prevent dirt and grime from getting inside.

Although it may seem easier to drive your car through a car wash, you will get better results if you clean it yourself.

It is known that car washes leave scratches and paint removal, and washing your car at home allows you to add cleaning your car to your house cleaning workout.

Along with cleaning your car regularly, inside and out, you should also make sure you have the necessary protection to prevent your car from getting too dirty.

Even if you do not have a pet, a car seat cover can be your daily seat protector.

These car seat protectors help contain dirt, liquids, and other objects that can leave marks on your seat. Even if your car seat is made of leather, dirt, grime, etc.

Finally, pay attention to windows and tires.

Any conventional window cleaner is suitable for the glass of a car and should be used both inside and out.

Tires should be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed with soap and water.

They can be made bright with Armor All or other tire detailing products.

Auto parts stores also sell black tire paint for those who want to make a real impression.

9.) Cleaning Your Shower

When you think of waterborne diseases, unclean drinking water is the first thing that comes to mind. 

However, this is not the only culprit.

The cool water you shower with every morning or the warm, relaxing water of your hot tub could be just as dangerous even though you do not drink this water.

The legionella bacterium can typically be found in freshwater sources like lakes and rivers but sometimes, it can enter our water systems.

It grows and multiplies in warm water accumulated in showers, faucets, hot tubs, decorative fountains, heaters, hot water tanks and air condition cooling towers.

Breathing in small droplets of bacteria infested water can cause a fatal disease known as Legionnaires’ disease.

This disease can affect anyone, but the good news is that you can protect yourself against it.

Testing for the presence of legionella bacteria is not difficult.

For apartment buildings and home, testing kits make this extremely easy.

The kit includes a sterile bottle to be filled with water from a tap or shower and sent to the testing facility.

Over 10-14 days, the water samples will be cultured and tested in a laboratory.

You will then receive detailed test results and a legionella test certificate.

Depending on your location and the type of water system being used, testing should be repeated every quarter or every six months.

If you think it’s time to get your water system tested, see this website for further details.

This is a small job that you can accomplish quickly and add to your house cleaning workout.

10.) Cleaning Up After Your Pet

Pets are great, but they definitely can make your house a mess in a hurry!

Cleaning a cat’s litter and vacuuming up animal fur can take a lot of time and effort, which is perfect for a house cleaning workout!

The best cat brush for shedding will help to reduce the amount of fur around your house, but it won’t keep all of the fur out of your house.

Having pets are great when they are licking you, but you don’t want to forget they are a responsibility and you must clean up after them year-round.

Take the time to clean up after your pet (if you have one) and you will burn calories and make your house much cleaner!

Concluding Thoughts – How to Do a House Cleaning Workout

Now that you know the benefits of doing some housework, try not to find excuses to avoid it! Remember that an active lifestyle overall is the key to a healthier body.

Not being able to go to the gym or hit the treadmill is not an excuse to just sit down and do nothing at home.

Get up, and get moving!

Especially in the summer, taking a weekend to accomplish to do this house cleaning workout program once every few weeks will keep your house clean and organized, while also burning an exceptional amount of calories!