Monday, January 24, 2011

Forget going to the gym, just get out the bucket: Mopping uses more calories says study

Spare yourself the gym – a better way to burn calories is to mop them up, research shows.

An hour of pushing a mop across the floor and wringing it out in a bucket works off 238 calories, the equivalent of a chocolate bar or two small glasses of wine.

To sweat this off at the gym, you would have to spend up to an hour on an exercise bike or an hour and 10 minutes lifting weights.

Mop to it: An hour of pushing a mop across the floor works off 238 calories

Mop to it: An hour of pushing a mop across the floor works off 238 calories

Other alternatives include an hour of ballroom dancing or half an hour of football.

In the face of such competition, mopping might have a limited appeal, but it is at least cheaper than going to the gym and you can do it in the comfort of your home.

Unless you live in a mansion, though, you are likely to face the challenge of finding an hour’s worth of floors to mop. And it is unclear how those who favour carpets will benefit from the research, which was carried out by the cleaning-product firm Vileda.

The company’s scientists calculated the number of calories worked off by mopping after being contacted by customers convinced their cleaning routine had helped keep them fit and, in some cases, lose weight.

Vileda spokesman Lindsey Taylor said: ‘Our tests showed that mopping the house can result in impressive calorie burning.’

The firm is now researching a mop with an inbuilt calorie counter in an attempt to boost its appeal as a piece of exercise equipment.

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