Before the revolution in aerobics, Eileen Fowler was a health expert on the BBC’s first Keep-Fit radio show that aired in 1954. Her catchy slogan: “Down with a bounce; with a bounce, come up.”
She then moved to television and later recorded for those who work at home.
“I don’t set aside certain hours for my exercises – they are with me all the time,” she wrote in Home Management.
“Domestic duties involve a great deal of movement and, by merging them with easy exercises, you can help your figure.”
In this book, published in 1954, Eileen Fowler demonstrates how to maintain your health and clean while doing it. George Newnes Publishing
Fowler aims to create fitness enjoyable. Prior to industrialization, the working class was able to train on the job – either paid or not. Manual labor was the primary method of getting work done prior to the advent of machines, and crafting, like weaving was labor-intensive.
Prior to the time that irons became lighter in the 20th century, they could have served as a substitute for dumbbells. Hand-pumping vacuum cleaners could have been an excellent arm-pump competition.
A manually operated vacuum cleaner called ‘Success’, around 1909-18. Museums Victoria, CC BY
At home, I am now able to devote more of my time to the kitchen, rather than sleeping in a sleeping bed in the evening. Without pasta at the market and a few other ingredients, I’m cooking my own and ecstatic by the thought that cooking at home could be able to make a comeback.
If I don’t have a machine, the dough I’m making for pizza, pasta, and bread might increase my strength and the bulk of my body. It may be time to get rid of my food processor.
Powered by home electricity, mass production, and technology, home appliances gradually reduced the labor – but not expectations – of unpaid work at home. As Wilhelmina Rawson assured her readers in The Antipodean Cookery Book and Kitchen Companion in 1907, a lady with ten specific appliances, including a mincer and eggbeater, “can do the whole of her housework with very little exertion or fatigue.”
However, sports and gyms have closed, and fitness products are out of stock. It might be time to change the story once more and be clean well-nourished, and sanitized while at the same time.
In the event that efforts have not been successful to address the gap in housework, Do you think knowing that cleaning windows, vacuuming and mowing could be equivalent to taking a class in the gym makes men more after-cleaning?
Even in a time when the women tend to be the primary breadwinners and have dependent kids, women are spending five hours more each week than men doing housework. When a job is lost men are likely to be doing less household chores but not more, and the time he will be spending on household chores is likely to increase.
“Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition,” Simone de Beauvoir’s the book The Second Sex. However, the most painful thing for a few of us is the reps and sets which don’t yield an orderly home.
If you’re looking at chores as an exercise, then you could do cardio-vac or perform squats when you clean the dishwasher. Youtuber Lizzy Williamson says we shouldn’t take housework in as we did before when we include her heart-pumping entire-body toning exercises into our cleaning.
Tips for doing housework
Listen to music
Eileen Fowler did not have the advantage of Bluetooth headphones however, you do not have to subject your entire family to the same music while you work and clean. Spotify has a collection of Housework songs for all kinds of chores. Or Housework songs from artists that you might have heard of If you’re having trouble putting together your personal playlist.
Make your own recipe from scratch
If you’re among those lucky enough to get flour and yeast, you could be a part of this stay-at-home bread revolution. If you did not have yeast, it is possible to make it using beer, but you won’t be able to do the kneading exercise.
Older cookbooks such as the one from the Country Women’s Organization’s Coronation Cookery Book might be better than the latest ones if you’re looking to make your mashed potatoes extend its reach, or if you require a substitute for eggs or milk that isn’t readily available. These books often contain cleaning tips as well as other helpful tips, such as how to dye sheepskins, or make soap yourself.
Demonstrate domesticity
The equality of males and females hasn’t been achieved despite the notion that revolutions are occurring. Although some may need to delegate tasks, there’s no reason to imagine that the work and stress of household chores shouldn’t be shared equally in addition to its physical advantages.
The housework you do may not be enough to give you all the advantages that come from physical exercise. If you don’t live with a lot of filthy people in a massive mansion, you may not have enough opportunities to work on your hands.
I’ve not had any success convincing my children that chores at home could replace the sports they’re not getting. In the spirit of Eileen Fowler, I have done a dusting and polishing and tense my stomach muscles by cleaning high ledges and waiting for the dough for pizza to rise.