The first day of summer is less than three weeks away and after such a long winter I’m ready for it and with a little exercise my body will be ready for it too.

 

I’m not an exercise junky – in fact I am just the opposite. Exercising to me is really hard work. So once the winter left and spring is here I have settled into my version of exercise. It’s quite easy and everyone can do it and I get a great start on my suntan too.

 

My work-out is my garden. A little bit every day – even in the evenings after I come home from work during the week -works wonders! The great thing about my exercise regime is that I don’t need any fancy equipment I just need a garden trowel, a bucket, a shovel and earth – and a bottle of sun tan lotion and a hat for my head if it really is too hot.

 

I’m not a great gardener but I find is relaxing and have to admit that the results are really lovely. But, how does this hobby count as exercise. Well, gardening includes, amongst other things:

• walking around nurseries and gardening centers picking out the plants that will be part of my garden. I have a lot of walking going backwards and forwards from each of the flower beds when I planting the flowers
• bending and stretching when I’m planting the flowers, reaching for my tools, digging holes for the flowers
• weight-lifting – the bags of earth are really quite heavy and getting them out of the trunk of my car is quite an effort. I have bought four so far!

And all of this is really good for me and I enjoy far better than going to a gym to do exactly the same kind of things. I don’t lose too much weight but some of the winter flab gets toned down.

 

Being out in the fresh air is a wonderful feeling too even on the dull overcast days. The real bonus comes when the efforts really start to take hold and the garden starts to grow and flowers bloom. Now that makes it all worth it and what a boost to my self-esteem to look around my garden and be able to say, hey I did that!