If you’re thinking about tackling some home improvement projects over the upcoming long Labor Day weekend, you could be in for quite a workout. New research looks at which do-it-yourself projects burn the most calories and the results reveal why we’re so tired after doing them.
For the study, three men and three women of average weight wore Fitbits to record their heart rate and calories burned while working on the DIY tasks, ranging from hanging shelves to tiling. Coming in first for both intensity and calories torched is sanding, which burns 392 calories an hour for women and 456 for men. That’s on par with a body pump class at the gym, which is quite a workout.
Here’s how the DIY tasks rank in the hard intensity group:
- Sanding - Calories burned for women 392, for men 456
- Carpentry- Calories burned for women 383, for men 438
- Tiling - Calories burned for women 362, for men 419
- Painting - Calories burned for women 354, for men 386
- Plastering - Calories burned for women 351, for men 379
And in the moderate intensity category:
- Gardening - Calories burned for women 306, for men 337
- Cleaning gutters - Calories burned for women 268, for men 312
- Plumbing - Calories burned for women 252, for men 274
And in the low intensity group:
- Putting up shelves - Calories burned for women 249, for men 291
- Assembling furniture - Calories burned for women 241, for men 285
- Hammering nails - Calories burned for women 229, for men 259
- Putting up wallpaper - Calories burned for women 180, for men 217
Source: Nine.com