The Houseworkout

Last Sunday, I posted a status update on Facebook about the tiring effects of vacuuming my house, and I couldn't believe how many comments I got about it. Made me decide to write about the houseworkout in a little more detail. I don't know how many calories vacuuming burns (those online calorie counters are pretty bogus and my heart rate monitor is missing), but it sure feels like a lot. The bogus calorie calculators tell me it's somewhere between 350 and 475 calories per hour for my weight, which is - let me be perfectly coy here - considerable.

I've been leery of doing the whole house vacuum, stairs and all, ever since I put my back out doing it in December. Now I try and watch my posture, engage my not-so-mighty core, and avoid crazy twists and bends as I wrassle with the monster machine. It's heavy and wkward, and I have to use the attachments to do most of the downstairs, which is hardwood and faux wood. By the time I was done on Sunday, I was dripping with sweat and ready to while away several hours watching football. Which I then did.

Strangely, I later developed an urge to mow the front lawn with our push mower, another hot and exhausting activity. Fortunately the lawn is small, but there were the early leaves of autumn to be raked, too. And may I just say that it is wrong to have to rake leaves when the outside temperature is above 90 degrees? More heat, more sweat, more water, and then more football. John Madden's absence leaves a huge void which Cris Collinsworth will never fill, but sports on TV after a guilt-allaying houseworkout is as close as I get to nirvana many weekends.