MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
OK. We're among friends. We can admit this, for a lot of us getting into and keeping an exercise routine can be hard. Changing clothes, getting to the gym - the struggle is real. Science journalist Michaeleen Doucleff struggled with exercise for years, and then in her mid-40s, she figured out an easier and more rewarding approach.
MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF, BYLINE: For the past decade, I've had to travel a bit for my job. And I've noticed something striking. In many parts of the world, people don't go out and exercise simply for the sake of losing weight or toning their thighs. But instead, they move around with a clear purpose in mind. They walk to reach a destination. They bend and squat to take care of crops. They lift heavy bags of feed or buckets of water.
ESTHER NGUMBI: From the morning you're like, OK, got to go to the river, fetch water. I got to come back, go to the farm. You're exercising 24/7.
DOUCLEFF: That's Esther Ngumbi. She grew up in rural Kenya, and every day she worked on her family's farm. She also walked to the river to get water both in the morning and the afternoon.
NGUMBI: I was weightlifting. I was running.
DOUCLEFF: Ngumbi is now an entomologist at the University of Illinois. But she also writes about the differences between her life back in Kenya and here in the U.S. She says that here, she doesn't do this purposeful movement, because in our society, we've replaced a lot of it with machines.
NGUMBI: I don't have to go to the river. The river exists at my home.
DOUCLEFF: And so she began to gain weight.
NGUMBI: I started gaining the pounds because, OK, I'm just eating and I'm moving less.
DOUCLEFF: So Ngumbi had to start going to the gym. But I wondered if I could go the opposite direction, if I could take inspiration from people all over the world and add more purpose to my exercising.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICKEN CLUCKING)
DOUCLEFF: And so I bought two chicken coops, a book about raising poultry and 15 chickens. I started what I call chicken-cising.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICKEN CROWING)
DOUCLEFF: Good morning, ladies.
What's chicken-cising? It's all the exercise you get from tending to a flock of flightless birds.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICKEN CROWING)
DOUCLEFF: These are my new workout partners. Every morning, every evening, no matter what the weather's like, no matter how tired I am, I come out here and take care of these ladies. I feed them, I give them water and it's a lot of work.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICKEN CROWING)
DOUCLEFF: Actually, chicken-cising is way more exercise than I thought it would be. One weekend, I tracked it. I did about 20 squats each day, took 1,500 extra steps and carried a bunch of heavy buckets of water around our yard. But in return, the hens give me something wonderful.
Ooh, beautiful brown egg. (Gasping) There's a blue one, too.
Chicken-cising has been the most successful exercise program I've ever launched because I'm so motivated. I can't make up any excuses not to chicken-size. The ladies need me to do it. If I don't go out and lock them up at night, a skunk can come and eat their heads.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICKEN SQUAWKING)
DOUCLEFF: Given all these wonderful aspects of chicken-cising, I wondered if Esther Ngumbi missed working on her family's farm.
NGUMBI: Some parts I miss. And there's some parts I'm like, I'm done with it.
DOUCLEFF: She's done with it because the work was really, really hard.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICKS CHIRPING)
DOUCLEFF: Chicken-cising is a sweet spot between moving all day because your livelihood depends on it and needing to exercise because you're sitting down all day. It's OK to change your concept about what exercise actually is, and for those having trouble sticking to a routine, this may be a way in. Now, not everybody is going to go out and buy 15 chickens, but you can still chicken-size. It's all about adding extra purpose to your exercise. Think gardening, yard work, chopping wood or walking a dog. Studies have found that dog owners walk about 20 extra minutes each day, and gardening can add about 40 minutes of exercise each week. On top of that, scientists have shown that when you enjoy your exercising, you're more likely to stick with it.
What do you think about taking care of chickens?
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICKEN CROWING)
DOUCLEFF: For NPR News, I'm Michaeleen Doucleff in Alpine, Texas.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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