Turn Your Chores Into Cardio: 31 Domestic Tasks That Count towards your Fitness Goals (Yes, Really)
Is Housework the New Incidental Physical Activity?
Housework might not be glamorous, but it is functional movement. You bend, lift, twist, reach, push, pull, and occasionally mutter motivational slogans under your breath while hauling laundry baskets. It’s not just a chore. It’s a surprisingly effective way to break up sedentary time, boost your heart rate, and sneak some activity into your day, no sports bra required.
In the world of physical activity, there are two main types: planned exercise (like going for a run or doing a yoga class) and incidental activity, the movement we accumulate just by going about our day. The quick march to the bus stop. The bend-and-lift of unpacking groceries. The arm workout that comes from scrubbing the bath with slightly too much enthusiasm.
Post-pandemic, as more of us work and live from home, our incidental movement has shifted. The commute’s gone, the stairwells are optional, and the kitchen is five steps away. But that doesn’t mean movement has to disappear, it just needs a reframe.
This listicle is your unofficial invitation to see the everyday differently. Because your body doesn’t know whether you’re in a gym or in your kitchen, it just knows you moved.
What Counts as Movement (According to Science and Your Step Tracker
Let’s be honest: not every workout looks like a workout. Sometimes it looks like frantically vacuuming before guests arrive or hauling eight overloaded shopping bags in one heroic trip from the car. The good news? Your body counts that as movement. And so does science.
Physical activity is measured in METs, short for metabolic equivalents. One MET is the amount of energy you burn just sitting still. The higher the MET value, the harder your body is working. Activities fall into four main categories:
Sedentary (under 1.5 METs): Sitting, lying down, or barely moving.
Light-intensity (1.6–2.9 METs): Slow ambles, gentle stretching, easy chores.
Moderate-intensity (3–5.9 METs): You can talk but not sing. Slight puffing expected.
Vigorous-intensity (6+ METs): Talking gets harder. You’re working. Possibly sweating.
Here’s the twist: many everyday activities, mopping floors, gardening, speed-walking to catch the bus—sit comfortably in the moderate zone. That puts them right alongside brisk walking, casual cycling, or even that cardio class you’ve been “meaning to try.”
The takeaway? Movement doesn’t have to wear Lycra or come with a subscription fee. If it gets you moving and makes you puff, even a little, it counts. Welcome to the Domestic Olympics, your medal is in the laundry basket.
Reframing the Chore List as a Movement Menu
hink of this as your domestic fitness buffet. You don’t need a gym when you’ve got a hoover, a hedge, and a half-folded duvet. Below is your very real, very legitimate movement menu, sorted by intensity, seasoned with science, and served with a wink.
Each one earns its METs.
Light Effort Chores (METs ≈ 2.0–2.8)
Cooking & food prep – Stir, sauté, and sizzle your way to a stronger core. (2.0 METs – Light)
Laundry loading & folding – Bend, lift, repeat. Domestic resistance training. (2.0 METs – Light)
Putting clothes in washer/dryer – The laundry room squat-and-reach circuit. (2.0 METs – Light)
Packing a suitcase – Spatial reasoning meets hamstring stretch. (2.0 METs – Light)
Washing clothes by hand – For biceps, patience, and nostalgia. (2.0 METs – Light)
Scrubbing the bathroom (light effort) – Lunges + chemical warfare. (2.0 METs – Light)
Dusting or polishing furniture – Triceps get their turn. (2.3 METs – Light)
Putting clothes away – Bonus points for reaching high shelves. (2.3 METs – Light)
Food shopping (with or without a cart) – Aisle-walking endurance challenge. (2.3 METs – Light)
Taking out the trash – Short walk, great symbolism. (2.5 METs – Light)
Setting the table / serving food – Coordination under pressure. (2.5 METs – Light)
Putting away groceries / carrying groceries home – Groceries: the original kettlebells. (2.5 METs – Light)
Watering plants – Zen for the mind, hydration for the home jungle. (2.5 METs – Light)
Playing with a dog or cat (light effort) – Animal-assisted cardio. (2.5 METs – Light)
Clearing the dinner table – A graceful finale to mealtime movement. (2.5 METs – Light)
Moderate Effort Chores (METs ≈ 3.3–5.5)
Changing the bed – Sheets vs. duvet: the daily wrestling match. (3.3 METs – Moderate)
Scrubbing floors (moderate effort) – Core, arms, and humility. (3.5 METs – Moderate)
Sweeping outside the house – Neighbourhood cardio. (4.0 METs – Moderate)
Polishing floors (machine use) – Gliding into glute work. (4.5 METs – Moderate)
Vacuuming – Step count with suction. (3.3 METs – Moderate)
Sweeping floors – Simple. Satisfying. Sneaky cardio. (3.3 METs – Moderate)
Mopping floors – Like curling, but domestic. (3.5 METs – Moderate)
Painting the house – Artistic arm day. (4.5–5.0 METs – Moderate)
Yard work (general) – Nature’s gym. (3.0–4.0 METs – Moderate)
Digging in the garden – Functional fitness meets compost. (3.5–5.0 METs – Moderate)
Trimming hedges or bushes – Sculpt your landscape and your shoulders. (3.5–4.0 METs – Moderate)
Using a leaf blower – Fall’s answer to HIIT. (3.5 METs – Moderate)
Planting or transplanting in the garden – Squats with a trowel. (2.0–4.3 METs – Moderate)
Picking fruit – Stretch, reach, repeat. (3.5–4.5 METs – Moderate)
Weeding the garden – Bending, stretching, squatting... and cursing. (3.5–5.0 METs – Moderate)
Mowing the lawn – Your push-powered treadmill. (5.5 METs – Moderate)
You don’t need a gym membership to build strength, boost your heart rate, or feel proud of your movement. You just need a bit of re-framing, and maybe a mop with good grip.
So next time someone says, “Did you work out today?” you can smile and say:
“Only if you count 45 minutes of vacuum lunges, compost cardio, and mop choreography.”
Which, frankly, we do.
5 Tips for Making It Intentional (Without Making It Weird)
You don’t need a fitness tracker, colour-coded spreadsheet, or choreographed cleaning dance (though if you do that, please invite us). The goal isn’t to turn housework into HIIT, it’s to start noticing how often your body wants to move, and, giving it permission to do so.
Don’t wait for “exercise time.” Build movement into your day in short, snackable bursts. Five minutes here. Five minutes there. A quick sweep between emails. A power vacuum after lunch. An impromptu laundry folding session once you’ve wrapped a big work task. These micro-movements stack up more than you’d think.
Here’s how to make it stick (without anyone thinking you’ve joined a cult of domestic cardio):
Anchor it to something you already do. Just finished a report? Do a reset round of folding laundry. Waiting for the kettle to boil? Empty the dishwasher or sweep the floor. Movement loves a cue.
Set a movement timer. Once an hour, take five. Use that break to reset your body and chip away at your household chore list. You’ll move more and be less likely to forget the bin goes out tonight.
Make it part of your “transition” routine. Done with work? Before you collapse into the sofa, do a five-minute reset: vacuum a room, water the plants, or prep the table for dinner. It’s movement and a mental palate cleanser.
Reframe effort as energy. You’re not “wasting time cleaning.” You’re choosing movement that doubles as self-care and productivity. That’s a win-win. And frankly, more impressive than that 15-minute spin on the gym bike while scrolling emails.
Don’t overthink it. You don’t need a fitness tracker to count scrubbing the bathtub as physical activity. If your heart rate rises and you feel a bit puffed, congratulations, it counts. That’s moderate-intensity movement, courtesy of soap scum and determination.
The key is consistency over intensity. You don’t need to sweat. Do what you can, when you can, where you can, and let your chores pull double duty as secret fitness allies.
Intentional doesn’t mean intense, it just means you noticed, and chose to move. That’s it. Just a bit more energy, a bit more oxygen, and a household to-do list that doubles as a wellness plan.
Why It Matters (Science Round-up)
You might not think a load of laundry or ten minutes of vacuuming is doing much. But science disagrees. When it comes to long-term health, the real game-changer isn’t just how often you work out, it’s how often you don’t sit still all day.
Research shows that prolonged sitting is strongly associated with higher risks of chronic disease. People who spend the most time sitting have been found to face more than double the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease compared to those who sit the least. They also face a significantly increased risk of cancer incidence and mortality, by 13% and 17%, respectively (Buckley et al., 2015). Those are not small numbers.
But here’s where it gets encouraging: you don’t need to break up your day with burpees or gym sessions. Studies have shown that even short bouts of light or moderate activity, like sweeping the floor, folding laundry, or tidying up, can improve glucose metabolism, increase insulin sensitivity, and reduce feelings of fatigue (Buman et al., 2017; Puig-Ribera et al., 2017).
These benefits aren’t just physical. Light physical activity has also been linked to improved mood, sharper focus, and reduced musculoskeletal discomfort, particularly important for anyone who spends long hours hunched over a laptop. That five-minute window you spend moving between tasks isn’t a distraction from productivity, it’s what helps sustain it.
Even better, this kind of incidental activity, the kind that happens while you’re living your life, has been shown to meaningfully support weight maintenance, cardiovascular health, and mental wellbeing (Gunn et al., 2002). So, if carving out dedicated workout time feels impossible, know that the smaller, everyday movements still count.
You’re not just tidying up. Every trip to the laundry basket, every burst of hoovering, every drawer reorganised, it's movement that matters. Call it cardio. Call it active living. Call it active breaks.
Movement Isn’t Always About More, Sometimes It’s About Noticing
Here’s the thing: you might already be moving more than you think.
Maybe you’ve lugged the shopping in without a second thought, danced with a mop, or wrestled a duvet cover like it owes you money. It all counts towards your daily physical activity goals. It’s not always about logging perfect workouts, it’s about recognising that movement doesn’t have to look like “exercise” to matter.
The magic happens when we start to notice when our body needs to move. When we see a five-minute tidy as a chance to stretch, a trip up the stairs as a mini leg day, or dog playtime as a reason to get outside and breathe. You don’t need a full routine. You don’t need to change your whole life.
With just a little intention, you can turn chores into challenges, errands into endorphins, and your home into a place that helps you move, not just work and sit. Because movement isn’t another thing on your to-do list. It’s already in your day. Let’s make it count.
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