Ah fall!  The crisp cool air, the vibrant colors…the endless raking!  Every Monday this month we’ll be featuring exercises to help you firm up while doing your fall clean-up.  Don’t worry – if you don’t live where the leaves fall from the trees or you “leaf” the raking to someone else, many of our fall clean-up exercises can also be done while sweeping or mopping.

Let life be your workout in the yard with our Leaf Lunges:

Hold rake to the left of your body, feet shoulder width apart and facing forward.

As you reach and extend the rake to the left, also extend your left leg out into a lunge in the same direction. (See photo.)

As you rake in the leaves, place your weight on your right leg and draw your left leg up in front of your body. (See photo.) Proceed immediately into your next lunge.

Keep your supporting leg slightly bent and your abs engaged throughout this exercise.  Repeat for a set of 12 lunges, before switching sides to lead with the right leg for a second set of 12.

SUGGESTED CARDIO COMPONENT: Raking itself can be a great cardio workout.  Pick up the pace and get your heart pumping with 10-30 minutes of moderate intensity raking.  

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