Lawn Mowing vs. Running: The Winner Is?

April 29, 2013

Today I am 196.2 pounds of rolling thunder.

Forgive me runners, it's been six days since my last blog post.

The weather has been on and off as has my running what with a variety of part-time jobs and full-time parenting to do. So this week I'm reduced to rationalizing.

On Saturday, I ran 3 miles before reporting for duty on the gravy train of sedentary activity known as editing. Sure the money is nice, but the sitting still part is a killer if your ready to get out and run.

So here's where the rationalization starts rearing its ugly head. On Sunday I knew time would be at a premium, so suddenly lawn mowing was going to be my exercise out. You may want to get a pencil out here to follow along.

According to my friends at Fit Day, an hour's worth of mowing burns about 345 calories. Nice. But I had four lawns to mow, so two-and-a-half hours later I was finally done with my chores. So that's a whopping total of 870 calories.

I can see it already, the "World's Slowest Human's Guide to Weight Control through Lawn Care." Between the blog, the book and the speaking tour, I'll never have to spend another day doing honest labor.

So now the cogs are turning on the wheels of progress. If mowing is good for calorie burning, what other stuff can I count as exercise? Hmmmm. How about the walking commute to and from my car. That's about 15 minutes each way.

Fit Day says: 184 calories per hour. So that's 92 calories just walking in from the car.

OK, this can't be right. Fit Day says just sitting at my desk I give back eight calories an hour. And the 23 calories you burn during sex, you'd be better off walking.

It's still hard to beat running or jogging for calories burned and boredom overcome. The folks at Fit Day say for my age, height and weight, I should burn about 460 calories an hour.

So much for the rationalizations. The math just doesn't add up.While lawn mowing makes the neighborhood look better, it doesn't replace getting out and running.

So if you see the world's slowest human pushing a lawnmower, give me a wave, and then guilt me into a run.