Want to Get into Shape? Try Gardening

Michelle Obama has never revealed the workout that gave her those well-known, well-toned arms. She doesn't have to. Everyone knows she has a garden.

A garden can be just as good, or even better, than a gym routine. It's a muscle machine, if you know how to use it in the right way. But best of all, when you work out in a garden, you'll be building a great body while growing the most nutritious food possible to feed it.

Start with the digging. A tiller may make the job easier, but the earth still needs to be turned over with a shovel to break up the soil clods. You may automatically always start with the same foot on the shovel and the same arm hoisting the heavy load. Instead, balance it out. Do five minutes with one side doing most of the work, then change it up to the other foot on the shovel and the other arm doing the lifting. This works both biceps, deltoids, hip flexors and quadriceps equally. It also helps your coordination.

When weeding, use positions that will work your core. A good one is to stand with your legs spread a little wider than your shoulders. Bend at the hips and flex your knees while weeding, reaching as far as you can to get each weed without moving your feet. Use a small hand cultivator to be sure to get the roots. Every twist to the side works your obliques; every reach forward works your abs and spinal erectors. Your glutes help keep you balanced, so they get worked too. Give your core a harder workout by doing the weeding while kneeling; this isolates the core muscles and makes them do all the work. You may even be sore the next day.

With every garden chore, try to stand back and reach out. That will stretch your muscles like pilates, and make you more flexible. It also increases the required effort.

The compost pile will be the biggest workout. That pile of grass clippings and veggie peels needs to be turned at least twice a month, even weekly for quicker decay. Use a pitchfork, and get your back into it. Turning a compost heap will work every muscle in your body, toning and scupting them all. Remember that women will never muscle up like men, because females don't have the same hormones. But the bending, lifting and hard physical labor of gardening will work off fat and make those well-toned curves of muscle much more visible.