Disease Proof

Virginia Linn of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers up some fitness tips to get you prepared to hit the garden. Take a look:

With temperatures finally warming up, many folks already have dived into the dirt to get their garden going, but the season really takes off next month.

Are you ready?

As with any sport -- and yes, gardening is a sport, as it requires endurance, flexibility and strength -- people should get in shape for gardening. In fact, the average person can burn 250 calories an hour when planting and up to 500 calories an hour when digging.

Upper body stretch: Stand with your back straight and arms to your sides. Stretch arms straight out in front of you and hold for a count of 5. Return arms to sides. Repeat 10 times.

If they make gardening an Olympic sport, you’ll be all set.