How many calories are you willing to burn to speed up the process of moving house? While this may not be a question that crosses your mind on the regular, it is one you will at some point have to answer, as you decide how many removalists to hire.
It’s also a question one Australian man regrets not taking more seriously over the weekend. Grappling with not just boxes and photo frames but also his calorie intake (and niggling injuries) the Sydney resident – and DMARGE correspondent – was almost more shocked by what his Fitbit told him at the end of the ordeal than by Sydney’s insane house prices.
Why? Despite hiring two burly removalists our correspondent still managed to burn 5,197 calories, cover 128 floors, complete 30,849 steps, walk 24.09 kilometres and spend 161 minutes in “the zone” (that coveted heart rate, or state of cardio, you only reach when working out intensely).
To put that in perspective, the second tallest building in the world, The Shanghai Tower, has the same number of floors (128) as what our correspondent trudged up and down.
Not bad for a day’s work.
Online energy expenditure calculators suggest an average 150-pound person should burn just over four calories a minute while doing moderate cardio exercise like walking (3 mph), according to moving company Mayflower.
“Using those figures as a base guideline for calorie burning during a move, about 250 calories may be burned per hour.”
By this metric, our correspondent did about 21 hours work in about 9 hours. No wonder his back’s sore.
This measurement should also provide a baseline for anyone out there wondering how many calories you can really expect to burn when moving house – our correspondent started moving at 7:30am and stopped at about 4pm. So adjust your own expectations of the number of calories you will burn accordingly.
It’s also worth reminding yourself moving doesn’t have to be a complete waste of time. Done correctly (i.e. without putting your back out), it can contribute to your health and fitness goals. Don’t believe us? Take a look at the insane physique of the likes of cardio strongman Ross Edgley, whose philosophy is to “train anything and everything, anywhere and everywhere,” and The Rock, who lets nothing get in the way of a good workout.
As for recovery, DMARGE spoke to Cristina Chan – The Face of F45 Recovery – who said:
“It’s no surprise that those areas of the body are tight! You’re using a lot of upper back and hips/core when moving, so any mobility surrounding those areas are good to do after a strenuous day of moving. For example, posterior shoulder stretch, child’s pose, upward dog (abdominal stretch), pigeon or figure 4, and quad stretch are all good places to start.”
“Also a nice epsom salt bath if you have the resources can be very helpful for circulation in tight muscles.”
Chan also gave us some preparation tips: “Just like you would do a warm up before a work out, doing a mobility warm up targeting the muscle groups mentioned above will help prevent injury from tight muscles . Also a long day of moving is tough on the body in more than one way so making sure you’re well hydrated, eating energizing foods and getting good sleep are all part of how the body handles stress and recovers from it as well.”
There you have it: the choice is yours. If you need to move; get after those 128 floors.