Exercise while standing around

Just something from the Feb 2005 copy of Reader's Digest before I return it to the library. There is this small section entitled 'Exercise Without Realising' (feel odd about this title - thought one has to realise something).

Here's what it says. We need to take 10,000 steps per day to maintain fitness and some things we normally do are equivalent to a certain number of steps. Examples:
(15 minutes of action for each particular activity)

standing while watering lawn = 600 steps
clearing and washing dishes = 900 steps
standing while cooking = 950 steps
shopping with trolley / general house cleaning = 1,400 steps
spreading soil with shovel = 1,950

Just for comparison:
playing frisbee = 1,200 steps
playing table tennis = 1,600 steps

Guess most of us won't have much a chance to water the lawn or spread soil with shovel, but maybe we can wash our dishes with more gusto to increase the number of 'steps' we are chalking up!

(Reader's Digest took this from 'The Low GI Diet', Hodder Headline, Australia)

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