Garden Your Way to Health and Fitness - Softcover

Knox, Jacqueline; Guinness, Bunny

Softcover

ISBN 10: 088192881X ISBN 13: 9780881928815

Publisher: Timber Press, 2008

Synopsis

Garden designer Bunny Guinness joins forces with physiotherapist Jacqueline Knox in this one-stop guide to all-around garden health. Step-by-step sequences based on the Pilates method illustrate the safe way to push wheelbarrows, lift heavy pots, pick low-lying fruit, and much more in a way that boosts fitness while avoiding stress and strains.

The authors also detail a wealth of tactics for achieving beautiful gardens that require a range of exertion levels. They describe planting designs that are best for time-pressed gardeners, how to use daily garden maintenance regimes to stay active, and how to design an outdoor gym. Illustrated sequences guide gardeners through physical exercises to suit their fitness levels.

Looking after oneself is also key to good garden health. To this end, a comprehensive guide to growing fruits, vegetables, and herbs, a rundown of the best gardening clothes and ergonomic tools, tips for preventing and treating common ailments, and guidelines for winding down the healthy way complete the indispensable resource.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

It’s no secret that working in the garden is an all-around health booster. In addition to the sheer pleasure and sense of achievement it brings, gardening increases stamina, builds muscle tone, and burns enough calories to rival a session at the gym. Yet gardening’s repetitive actions often put stress on the body, resulting in aches, pains, and sore muscles. This one-stop guide will equip you to garden in a healthier way, whether you want to optimize your fitness, avoid injury, or simply enhance the sense of wellbeing you derive from your garden.

Pilates principles are at the heart of the step-by-step sequences that illustrate the safe way to carry out everyday tasks such as pushing wheelbarrows, lifting heavy pots, and picking low-lying fruit. Simple warm-up exercises that build core strength will prepare you for the rigors ahead, while stretches that are tailor-made for gardeners deliver aftercare to overworked muscles.

Along the way, Bunny Guinness imparts a wealth of tactics for making the garden work in harmony with your lifestyle, highlighting schemes that keep you on your toes, easy-care fruit and vegetables that leave you time to relax, and much more. Seasoned advice on choosing ergonomic tools and accessories, caring for your back, shoulders, elbows, and knees, and attaining gorgeous gardens with minimal stress makes Garden Your Way to Health and Fitness a resource that no health conscious gardener can afford to be without.

From the Back Cover:

Leading garden designer Bunny Guinness joins forces with physiotherapist Jacqueline Knox in this unprecedented guide to healthy gardening. Learn how to...
Achieve better strength, balance, and flexibility in preparation for gardening’s rigors
Practice aerobic and toning workouts in your own ‘outdoor gym,’ complete with benches, beams, balls, and other props
Use plants and hard landscaping to fashion space for working out and winding down
Look after your back, shoulders, hands, elbows, wrists, knees, and other ‘trouble spots’
Choose the best lawn mower and most useful ergonomic hand tools
Combat irritants such as weeds, pests, and diseases
Cultivate a wildflower meadow, a wildlife garden, and other low-maintenance spaces Grow healthy, easy-care fruits and vegetables

About this edition

• Publisher: Timber Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 088192881X
• ISBN 13: 9780881928815
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216