Anyone who has cleared a driveway knows that shoveling is physically taxing. But does it count as exercise?
It depends on how you define a workout, according to Anthony Wall, an American Council on Exercise (ACE)–certified personal trainer and the director of international business development at ACE.
If you’re talking about exercise as a form of physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive, and has the goal of improving health or fitness (as ACE has defined the term), shoveling when a big storm blows in doesn’t fit, he says. But that’s not the whole story.
Shoveling can definitely be considered cardio, and if you do it regularly, you’ll likely build some strength, too, Wall says. Read more…
