It depends on how you define a workout, according to Anthony Wall, an American Council on Exercise (ACE)–certified personal trainer and the director of international business development at ACE. If you’re talking about exercise as a form of physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive, and has the goal of improving health or fitness (as ACE has defined the term), shoveling when a big storm blows in doesn’t fit, he says. But that’s not the whole story. Shoveling can definitely be considered cardio, and if you do it regularly, you’ll likely build some strength, too, Wall says. But because the activity can be physically taxing, consider the risks before you break out the shovel.
Shoveling Can Be Considered a Cardio Workout
While it’s debatable if shoveling should be called exercise, it absolutely counts toward the 150 minutes of physical activity per week recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Wall says. It falls more into the cardio category than strength, he says, because you do it for longer than a typical strength-training workout, he explains. Don’t let the routine nature of the activity fool you. Shoveling is seriously vigorous and likely more physically strenuous than you might normally want to do for exercise, says Stephen Morris, MD, MPH, an emergency medicine physician at University of Washington Medicine in Seattle. It can even mimic peak exertion on a stress test (a tool doctors use to measure how hard your heart is working during physical activity), according to the Cleveland Clinic. If this kind of activity is out of the ordinary for you, it may even raise your risk of heart attack. And if you’re starving when you’re done, there’s a reason: “You can burn 600 calories in an hour of shoveling snow,” Wall says. It’s closer to a prolonged HIIT workout, he says. So, while you can definitely count shoveling toward your physical activity, it’s way more strenuous than a “healthy” vigorous activity ought to be — for reasons we’ll dig into (see below).
Shoveling Can Work Several Muscle Groups
Achy after shoveling? That’s no surprise. This chore calls on your muscles in ways they’re not used to unless you regularly do similar movements, such as during rigorous gardening, Wall says. Your technique will determine how many muscle groups you’re using, says James Gladstone, MD, the chief of sports medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Try not to let your arms, shoulders, and back do all the work. “Put your core and your legs into it, which probably will help you be a little more efficient, and lets your upper body get a little less tired,” he says.
Know That You May Need to Tweak Other Weekly Workouts
Whether you need to switch up your workout plans after shoveling snow depends on how strenuously you were shoveling and how strenuous your workouts usually are. No matter how sore you are, it’s always safe to go for a walk, Wall says, and that activity can actually help with soreness. But if you’re, say, training for a marathon and feeling totally wiped out after shoveling, it might be in your best interest to cut down on your training mileage for at least a day or two. If you’ve planned a strength day at the gym, make sure you give your body enough time to recover after shoveling, particularly your upper body, which probably did a decent amount of the work. If you’ve planned an upper-body day, consider replacing it with a lower-body day or another form of activity that is less taxing, Dr. Gladstone says. And no matter what other workout is up next for you, if the snow removal felt taxing, go a little bit easier than usual on your regularly scheduled sweat session. “There’s a breakdown part and a buildup part [when it comes to exercise and building muscle],” says Gladstone. “Those have to sort of balance out.” Going directly from shoveling your driveway to trying to hit a new PR on the squat rack can be a recipe for injury, he says. You can also use your workouts as a way to prepare for snow season if you live somewhere that gets pummeled every year. It’s hard to perfectly mimic snow shoveling, Gladstone says, but kettlebell movements probably come closest.
Heed the Risks That Come With Snow Shoveling
If a prolonged, high-calorie-burning workout sounds like a good challenge, the experts say think twice. There are risks that come with this type of high-intensity activity, especially if you aren’t used to regular or vigorous exercise. Between 1990 and 2006, more than 11,500 people went to the emergency department with snow shoveling-related injuries, according to data published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in February 2017 found a 16 percent increase in heart attacks for men the day after snowfall compared with days without snow. Shoveling snow can be dangerous on multiple levels, Dr. Morris says. First, it’s not an activity most people do very often, and it’s easy to overdo it because the cue to stop is the surface area of your driveway and sidewalks — or how much snow has fallen — rather than a self-determined cue like a set time or fatigue level, Morris says. Unlike during a walk, or 30 minutes at the gym, most people don’t shovel for a controlled amount of time — they just shovel until the work is done. It’s also strenuous for major muscle groups, which makes people more prone to injury, especially lower back pain. Gladstone has seen issues like rotator cuff tendinitis and inflammation of the elbow tendons all brought on by snow shoveling. And then there’s the fact that snow shoveling takes place in an especially cold environment. Many people will start taking off layers because they feel hot even though it’s really, really cold. That’s not great for the vascular system, Morris says. “[On] the periphery of your body, the vessels are all wide open because they’re trying to get rid of all this heat. And then next thing you know, they take off their coat and it gets blasted with cold air, and that’s a shock to the system.” In some people, this shock can contribute to fainting, stroke, and heart attack, he says. For that reason, people with a history of heart disease, stroke, or significant high blood pressure, as well as pregnant people, should skip snow shoveling altogether. “It’s not to be undertaken lightly,” Morris says.
The Bottom Line
Snow shoveling definitely counts as physical activity, but it’s significantly more strenuous than regular exercise needs to be. Unless you decide to use a snowblower, you can certainly count it toward your minutes of physical activity. Take it easy on yourself during other workouts if snow shoveling becomes a regular part of your routine. And if you have any health conditions that make vigorous activity unsafe, ask someone else to clear the driveway for you.
