By Joel M. Lerner
Saturday, April 19, 2008

Physical fitness might not be the main reason avid gardeners till, plant and weed, but regular gardening can help keep you fit.

Nurturing your body and nurturing flora are complementary. All that bending, stooping, stretching, lifting and carrying can help keep you strong as you can maintain your landscape or grow vegetables and herbs for your kitchen.

In college, I took an independent-study course called "Horticultural Recreation." Its purpose was to study the value to people of working with plants. It drew from examples of others who elected to make plants their lifetime hobbies and cited successful horticultural therapy programs. To me, horticulture should be recreational and therapeutic and offer intellectual stimulation and physical fitness for all skill levels and age groups. A book released this month echoes this theory and has taken it to another level.

"Garden Your Way to Health and Fitness," by Bunny Guinness and Jacqueline Knox, turns working in the landscape into an exercise regimen. The book is not about cultural practices for plants. It's about how you handle yourself in the garden.

Knox, a physiotherapist, offers a strict program of stretching, breathing, flexibility, strengthening and aerobic exercises before beginning gardening activities. There is no denying the benefit of developing this kind of discipline. Exercising safely means gardening for the rest of your life.

Guinness and Knox's book does not aim to inspire you with the intrinsic value of landscaping. The book is filled with color photos and ideas for low-maintenance gardens, but the authors take for granted that readers are devoted gardeners.

The first two chapters are most helpful for maintaining the best level of fitness. The first chapter covers the basics of Pilates, with eight Pilates exercises for gardeners, and aerobic preparation for more strenuous gardening, plus post-gardening stretches.

My wife, Sandy, can vouch for the effectiveness of Pilates, having practiced it for four years. She improved her posture, balance and strength, which translated into safer gardening.

Another chapter is devoted to using the garden as your gym. Color photos of gardening activities demonstrate the proper way to complete many landscaping chores.

My own guidelines from years of working in a landscape business are similar to those used at gyms: Lift correctly, and if the load's too heavy, get help. Protect your back by lifting no more than what you can comfortably handle by bending at the knees and rising from stooped to standing. Keep your back straight and perpendicular to the ground, using arm, abdomen and leg strength.

I developed a personal regimen over the years for getting into the garden and considered my profession to be training for my hobby, which was jogging long distances after work. Before doing vigorous digging, wheeling, carrying, planting and tilling, I'd warm up with some light pruning of suckers and deadwood, weeding a bed, stooping and kneeling properly, or edging beds, taking the first 10 minutes to walk a property and set up what needed to be done.

Other activities that make great recreational gardening projects to get your heart pumping and your legs working are installing flower-cutting gardens, vegetables, herbs or a sensory garden. Get ideas for them from the U.S. National Arboretum or U.S. Botanic Garden in the District, Brookside Gardens in Wheaton and Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria.

Joel M. Lerner is president of Environmental Design in Capitol View Park, Md. E-mail or contact him through his Web site, http://www.gardenlerner.com.