Top 8 Ways to get Your Body Ready for Gardening This Spring

Spring is here! The light returns and the first sign of springtime blossoms are appearing, to a gardener this can feel like Christmas Eve as a child.

Gardening is fantastic functional fitness! Although meditative and calming, you really do have to get to work. Unlike being on a treadmill or a spin bike, gardening feels purposeful, meaningful, and creative. Numerous studies have highlighted the benefits of gardening, not only for physical health, but also for its capacity to enhance mental and emotional wellbeing. Getting in touch with soil, air, sunlight, water, and the spaciousness of nature is a mindful practice of its own.

Fitness in the garden

Gardening can be surprisingly strenuous. Encompassing diverse movements, each require strength, coordination, and balance. You might even find yourself in accidental yoga poses as you extend as far as possible to tie a clematis to the trellis. Gardening needs you to push, pull, reach, bend, lunge, kneel, twist, grip, lift, and just about every other movement you can think of. In a large garden, chances are you’ll be doing a lot of digging, whether you’re splitting or replanting, or piling up the compost pile. Shoveling requires strong legs, glutes, and shoulders.

The evergreen trees grow wild and need clipping, seeds need sowing, and that weed you managed to keep bay in autumn has started to spring back... you don your gloves and head out. Before long it’s been 4 hours, a battle dividing the bamboo, 1 long tip run and the war with the weeds wages on- you’re tired and feeling the ache setting in. Knowing tomorrow the garden will have won as you need to rest! As with kick starting any physical activity be it a sport or functional tasks, it’s important to start knowing that……..

Over the winter months a lot of us tend to reduce activity-particularly outside activity. So, before you dash out to make the most of the good weather- ask yourself, is your body ready?

By now you’ve probably guessed a crucial step to successful gardening it isn’t the type of seeds you buy. The crucial first step is the preparation of the gardener.

Here are my top 8 tips to prep the garden.

1. Build your whole-body strength.

Regardless of the size of your garden or flower bed, your whole body will be doing something. With April sunshine and showers, climbers and ramblers need to be tied, fruit blossom needs to be protected from late frosts, and beds will need readying for sowing seeds and planting starts once the threat of late frosts is over.

Your arms, shoulders, trunk and legs are working to enable you to stay standing and get the job done. Let alone those small muscle in your forearm constantly working with the secateurs.

Thinking about those pesky weeds I can spy out of my kitchen window; squatting or kneeling is hard to avoid. Working to improve your muscle strength will increase confidence, reduce fear around those movements and reduce aches post gardening. It also has other amazing benefits like reversing signs of ageing, which you can read about here!

Increasing the mobility in your joints will help you move freer when gardening. Increasing your mobility through a stretch class, Pilates, or yoga, will enable you to get down to kneeling or squat AND back up. Luckily for you, we have stretch and Pilates classes at the HealthHub.

There are many ways you can start building strength, including joining classes, or getting training. If you feel daunted by strength training and are worried about injuring yourself while doing it, it's best to get help from an expert who will keep you progressing in a safe way.

If you'd like a FREE Discovery Visit to find out how we can get your strength up, click here.

2. Work on your endurance

Be mindful of your conditioning. Whether you’re pushing the wheelbarrow, pruning, or simply walking in the garden your heart rate increases. This works your cardiovascular system- the more you work it, the stronger and more efficient it becomes. If you’ve been sedentary and jump straight in you may find your tire quickly, your body is able to just keep going.

Before wielding the shovel, increase your walking or try a joining a class which focuses on strength and cardiovascular endurance. If you keep up your fitness and strength throughout the year, it will be SO much easier to get gardening come springtime (plus there’s LOADS of other health benefits)

3. Fuel your self.

Very much like your roses, your body needs feeding. It may not feel overly strenuous pruning but your still using energy, you still using calories. With increase activity comes increase calorie usage, so be sure to ask yourself, am I eating enough for the job at hand today? Similarly, the plants need water - so do you. Stay hydrated in the spring sun (fingers crossed!). The warmer and sunnier days will increase your perspiration, and dehydration can happen easily, especially when you’re in the zone with your gardening. Signs of dehydration include –

• dry mouth, lips or eyes
• dizziness
• headaches
• tiredness
• lack of concentration
• feeling unusually tired (lethargic) or confused
• a weak pulse
• a rapid pulse

Grab your water bottle or schedule breaks, drinking regularly throughout the day to keep functioning at your best.

4. Pace yourself

As with any form of exercise, there are risks if you overdo it. So, pay attention to YOUR body and exertion level. Take breaks as needed, these may be frequent initially- that’s FINE! Over time as your general fitness improves the frequency or duration of these breaks will likely lessen.

A big one to consider - seeing as the sunshine can be so fickle - try not to accomplish too much at one time. Instead, limit your activities by breaking down your gardening tasks each day. Just 30min minutes of moderate exercise a day can benefit your health. Try breaking down tasks into intervals, for instance, rather than weeding the entire garden at one time, try doing it for only 15 minutes. Take a break and go to something else such as raking leaves or turning compost for another 10 to 15 minutes. This puts your body in different positions, working different muscle groups, and helps to prevent you overdoing it in one group/movement.

5. Go with the flow

Gardening connects us to something bigger, the great outdoors. Linking us with the cycle of light and darkness, inhaling and exhaling, order, and chaos. It’s a microcosm of how we live, so take some time to stop and enjoy the roses. Don’t forget the “breath and bliss” to fully reap the benefits of what you are doing. Pause. Enjoy.

6. Equipment

I’m all for the use it or lose it movement when it comes to muscles or range of movement, but sometimes using the right equipment is important in preventing injury. A great simple example being gloves. Protecting your hands. Using a step to reach high up rather than relying solely on being able to stretch, can allow you to work for longer without pain. Gardening, particularly at this time of year can involve a lot of kneeling, so do not think it’s cheating or weakness to use guards or a kneel pad to protect them. Look after your body, listen to your body and use the tools available.

7. Get good hands on physio 

If you are getting aches and pains from gardening there are things you can do to make sure you’re not causing yourself damage. Good hands on physio is vital if you want to get rid of pain for good, and make sure your body is in the best shape it can be for gardening long into the future. Having an expert who knows what they’re doing can give you that reassurance that you’re not going to cause yourself injury.

The fastest way to get pain free and make sure your body is in the best shape it can be for gardening long into the future, is to invest your time and money in good, hands-on Physiotherapy.  If there’s something you avoid doing because it hurts, a Physio that treats the cause of the problem (not just treating the sore bit) will give you long term relief and can help you get back to doing those things again. Your old injuries, movement habits, and beliefs all influence your posture, movement and load on your back, knees and neck, and therefore your gardening!

A good physio will outline what is wrong and all the steps you need to take to get you back doing the things you love. Commonly, the pain eases after 3-4 sessions, but that doesn’t mean you should stop coming! Sticking to the FULL program will ensure you get your whole body stronger and your muscles working together, so your problem doesn’t come back in the months and years to come.

You can enquire about cost and availability here, or if you'd like to talk to a physio about how we can help you get pain free and/or gardening ready with a FREE Phone Call with a Physio you can click here.

8. Keep fit all year round 

If you’re worried that your strength, balance and/or mobility aren’t quite what they need to be, or they are deteriorating, it’s a good idea to be doing something to keep your fitness and strength up so that you’re ready to garden in the spring. By maintaining a good level of fitness all year round (not just for a brief period in the spring), you’re less likely to deteriorate, cause an injury, and getting back into the spring of things (see what I did there?) will be that much easier. Plus there are many other benefits to your health and wellbeing by keeping strong and cardiovascular fit. The best way of doing this is by joining classes that help keep you motivated and accountable, and provide a community of people all trying to keep happy and healthy and more active. Luckily for you, we have a whole range of classes that cater to all four pillars of movement, and can keep your body ready to garden all year round not just when the weeds need pulling. 

If would like more information on how we can help you get garden fit all your round, you can click here to book a FREE call with a physio, or you can contact [email protected]

If you’re interested in joining classes call 01548 852 355 or contact vigour@healthhub-kingsbridge to get more information or how to sign up

You can view our class timetable here

Happy Gardening.

With love,

Abbie

and the HealthHub Team

P.S. A really great way of making sure your body is in tip top condition is by preventing things BEFORE they become a problem. We are launching a brand new MOT service that helps look after your body in a similar way to the way you MOT your car. Click here to sign up to more information.