A little snow = free cardio

We had a little snow last night... actually, we had a little snow with slush.  Total accumulation was about 5 inches, however 1 inch of that was wet, heavy slush and the other 4 inches were wet, heavy snow.  I don't mind shoveling snow.  I always tell people it's nature's way of giving you free cardio and they usually look at me as if I'm a bit odd.  Truth be told, it is free cardio, unless you're one of those individuals who sits on his duff until you're more dumpling then human, then it can be fatal.  This morning, to prove my point, I wore my HRM while shoveling.

This is what it looks like.  I averaged about 111 beats per minute.  My heart rate went up when I got to edge of the driveway and needed to shovel all of the snow plow debris, an area 12 feet x 3 feet and 1 foot deep, of heavy, plowed snow.  Besides the driveway, I shovel the sidewalk from the house to the front sidewalk (20 feet) and then I have 75 feet of sidewalk across the front.  Was I tuckered out?  Tired?  No.  I did sweat a lot, but that's fairly normal for me.  I burned 153 calories in about 22 minutes.

I suspect the reason most people dislike shoveling snow is because it is work.  You need to exert yourself.  It's so much easier to pull out your snow thrower and clean your sidewalks that way.  Of course there is a price for easy, isn't there?  Turning into something that's more dumpling then human is not a good thing, yet a lot of people would do that rather then grab a shovel.  Me?  I'll take the free cardio every chance I get.  This is a good thing, since we're supposed to get another 5 inches tomorrow night.