Using the Right Tools Makes Pressure Washing Driveways Easier

Whether you are cleaning concrete, brick, pavers, or asphalt driveways, the surface is porous and gets dirty easily. Your tires bring grease, oil, dirt, and all kinds of grime (even road kill) home to your driveway, so you want to clean it, but you’re tired of spending your whole Saturday working on your driveway with a hose, right? Well, we get it.

How much does a concrete driveway cost?

The only answer I can provide is it still depends on the design, the material, and the area on which you will use for your driveway.

The best and quickest way to clean any driveway is with a pressure washer. These cleaning machines will spray a high volume of water at a high pressure (some even at a high temperature) in order to expedite cleaning. For pressure washing driveways, we recommend a washer with pressures of at least 3000 PSI (Pounds per Square Inch). Once you have your pressure washer and a driveway to clean, just follow these easy steps to make your drive look new again:

  1. Clear the Driveway — Move cars, debris, and toys to make the way clear for the pressure washer.
  2. Deal with Grease and Oil — Soak up any spots of excess grease or oil with saw dust or cat litter.1
  3. Use Chemicals — Pre-treat the drive with a pressure washer detergent or degreaser as needed (as the name implies, degreasers will come in handy for any grease or oil not soaked up by the kitty litter). It is a good idea to let the cleaning solutions sit for about 5 or 10 minutes before power washing to ensure maximum performance.
  4. Pressure Wash — Direct the high-pressure stream over the entire surface of the driveway, removing dirt and grime along the way. When you are done, your driveway will look as good as new.

There are a few choices you have once you begin pressure washing driveways. If you have been researching pressure washers, you have probably come up with a few questions about which nozzles or accessories to use for this application. The most common configuration is to put a 25˚ (green) nozzle in the end of your pressure washer gun. This will remove dirt and sweep as you go. For things like gum and tar, a 15˚ (yellow) nozzle is best. This nozzle can be used like a chisel to scrape things up off of the driveway.2 If you want to speed up the process even further; there are a few pressure washer attachments that can help you:

Cleaning Concrete Driveway

Rotary Turbo Nozzle — A rotary turbo nozzle will focus the water into a very fine stream, but constantly rotate that stream in order to cover a wider area. This is very useful when cleaning concrete, bricks, pavers and even houses. Covering a wider area means that pressure washing driveways will take you fewer passes, and less time.

Water Broom — If you want to cover more area than a rotary nozzle, consider a water broom. This pressure washer attachment will have several nozzles lined up along a bar, to clean a wider area in one pass. Water brooms have castors that keep the nozzles the same height over the surface while pressure washing driveways. This means that you will not get the zebra striping associated with holding the tip at varying heights above your surface.

Surface Cleaner — This is the quickest option for pressure washing driveways. These machines have 2 or 3 nozzles attached to the end of a rotary arm that spins covering areas of 8 inches all the way up to 30 inches. Pressure washer surface cleaners have handles for you to hold on to, allowing you to simply push them over the entire driveway cleaning as you go. Like a water broom, a surface cleaner can eliminate zebra striping by keeping your nozzles at a uniform height during the entire cleaning process.

Measuring How Many Calories Pilates Burns

Although calorie burning is not the main reason people do Pilates, many of us, especially those interested in weight loss, would like to know exactly how many calories Pilates burns. Unfortunately, unless you workout in a lab, measuring the calories burned doing Pilates is a very imprecise science. In this article, we look at the factors that influence the measurement of calories burned in Pilates (and other activities) as well as some Pilates-specific variables. Our accredited pilates instructor course set the standard in Brisbane & Australia.

Calorie Basics

A calorie is a unit of measure of heat. When you eat food that contains a certain number of calories, it means that food has the potential to release many units of heat when burned. Your body converts calories from food and stored nutrition, mainly fat, into energy by way of thermal metabolic processes that release heat, thus the term “burning calories.”

It takes a certain number of calories for your body to stay alive and function normally. That is your basal metabolic rate (BMR). The more you exert yourself in an activity, the more your metabolic rate increases and the more calories you burn. Your basal metabolic rate is unique. It is influenced by your age, gender, weight, and body composition (fat to muscle ratio for example). The amount your metabolism will increase with exertion beyond your basal metabolic rate is also influenced by those factors as well as the intensity and duration of the workout.

Pilates and Calorie Calculators

You can see already that the number of variables involved in measuring the exact amount of calories burned in a Pilates workout is considerable. When you add to that the wide differences in workout intensity available in Pilates, as well as the huge differences in intensity related to whether or not a workout includes Pilates equipment or not, and then which equipment and at what settings, it is clearly impossible to identify a specific number of calories burned that would be applicable to everyone.

There, however, some very general estimates made about the number of calories Pilates burns. My survey of online calorie calculators showed an average measure of all doing mat Pilates at a beginner level.

191 calories per hour for a 120lb person
206 calories per hour for a 130lb person
238 calories per hour for a 150lb person
286 calories per hour for a 180lb person

Obviously, calorie burn numbers would be higher than those cited for a person doing an intermediate or advanced Pilates workout. To give you some perspective, one calorie calculator projected 360 calories per hour for a 120lb person and 432 per hour for a 150lb person doing advanced Pilates.

Keep in mind that most online calorie calculators only ask for weight and duration. They do not tell you what population their baseline is taken from—gender, weight, level of fitness, etc. nor do they specify what kind of Pilates is being performed — ​mat exercises, equipment exercises, or level. So these numbers must be regarded as extremely general. Also, if you are “guesstimating” keep in mind that men typically burn more calories than women doing the same activity. Persons in better shape tend to have a higher BMR but burn fewer calories a lower percentage of additional calories under exertion.

Calories Burned and Your Body

To get a somewhat more accurate Pilates calorie burn number, you would need to turn to measures based on your own body. The primary way to do this is to use a heart rate monitor. Because the body requires oxygen to burn calories and the heart pumps oxygen through the body, there is a relationship between how hard the heart is working and your body’s demand for oxygen to burn calories with.

Some heart rate monitors come with projections of calories burned based on your BMR and an average of the heart rate you have during your exertion period. Very good ones will have inputs for other personal data such as weight and gender as well.

You can also find heart rate-based calorie burn calculators online. As technology improves activity monitors will be able to predict calorie burn during Pilates but they are not yet developed to monitor activity in multiple planes of movement.

Given the array of variables involved in trying to pinpoint calories burned in Pilates, a more practical solution is to pay attention to your own exertion level as that correlates with burning more calories, and it happens to be the variable you have the most control over. You can do that with a heart rate monitor. You can do that more easily by using the perceived rate of exertion scale which uses a subjective experience of breathing rate, fatigue, sweat measured on a scale from 6 (no exertion) to 20 (the most exertion possible)to help you gauge your exertion rate.

Burning Calories for Weight Loss

If your interest in the calories burned in Pilates is because you want to lose weight, keep in mind that you have to burn 3500 calories more than you take in to lose one pound. Most people achieve that over time by reducing the number of calories they take in and increasing the number of calories they burn with exercise.

As for Pilates and calorie burning, as moderate strength training Pilates definitely has an important role in a weight loss program and it will help you burn calories. In fact, resistance exercise, like Pilates equipment exercises, have been shown to keep the metabolic rate elevated longer after a workout than aerobic exercise. However, the benefits of Pilates far exceed calorie burning and Pilates is not one of those cardio activities, such as jogging or elliptical training, that are primarily done for their aerobic and calorie burning effect.

Pilates vs. Yoga: The Differences and What’s Right for You

Pilates, yoga, Yogilates, PiYo. They all seem to offer similar workouts, so how do you choose? Pilates and yoga have significantly evolved in recent years. With different variations available at gyms and studios around the world, there’s something for almost everyone. Our pilates teacher training Sydney is extremely beneficial because of the experience they gain.

Yoga and Pilates are both low-impact workouts that focus on using bodyweight resistance. The benefits are vast. Both workouts can increase overall health, leading to a better quality of life.

As with any exercise, proper form is crucial. Modifications must be made for those with physical limitations.

Pilates

Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates at the end of World War I. It was primarily used as rehabilitation for wounded soldiers. Pilates brought his method to the United States in 1923 and spent years refining his approach.

Pilates may:

  • increase muscle strength and endurance
  • improve flexibility and posture
  • lead to better balance
  • result in decreased joint pain

Pilates focuses on small movements that require the use of important stabilizing muscles of the back and core. There is a strong emphasis on starting each exercise with a controlled breath that initiates a contraction of the core muscles. Pilates can be done on a mat or on specialized equipment. The equipment is unique as it only uses springs, levers, and your own body weight to provide resistance.

Evidence suggests that Pilates may be beneficial for those with the following conditions:

  • arthritis
  • urinary incontinence
  • respiratory conditions
  • joint injuries
  • back pain

Yoga

The exact origins of yoga are unknown. But it’s been around for at least the past 3,000 years. Yoga has roots in shamanism, Buddhism, and other Eastern religions. It’s centered around the five beliefs of:

  • proper relaxation
  • exercise
  • breathing
  • diet
  • positive thinking and meditation

Mindfulness and deep breathing are key features in a yoga practice. Although there are many different types of yoga, holding various poses and flowing through different series of movements is standard in most classes. Yoga can be seen as a form of mind-body fitness. It combines physical activity and mindful focus. This brings increased awareness to the breath and energy.

The benefits of yoga have been studied extensively. In addition to physical and mental benefits, yoga is also known to have positive effects for medical issues, including:

  • anxiety
  • depression
  • multiple sclerosis
  • arthritis
  • respiratory conditions
  • high blood pressure
  • chronic pain
  • type 2 diabetes

 

Yoga vs. Pilates: Which is better?

Yoga and Pilates are both great workouts. If you have a health condition, you may want to consult an instructor to determine what’s best for you.

Many forms of yoga require substantial flexibility and mobility of the joints, especially the spine, hips, and wrists. Although most poses can be modified, a person with severe limitations or pain may find it challenging to follow along in more advanced classes.

There are many different styles of yoga, including restorative yoga, acro yoga, and chair yoga. Finding what works best for your body is key.

Pilates can be a great exercise for older adults or those recovering from injury due to its low- impact exercises and subtle movements. There are many forms of Pilates. The main difference between them is the type of equipment used.

Equipment-based workouts use many of the same movements as in a mat class, but with added resistance. Mat Pilates is great for many people, but it can be more challenging for those with decreased mobility or poor core strength.

Pilates can be expensive, and access to equipment is mandatory for some forms of Pilates. As with yoga, Pilates can be modified, but proper teaching and performance of the exercises is crucial to avoid injury.

Warnings

Modify your workouts if you suffer from back or neck pain, or have respiratory problems. Talk to your doctor before trying Pilates or yoga if you’re pregnant or have other physical restrictions.

Always consult your doctor and a certified instructor before starting any exercise program. You may want to think about taking private lessons before jumping into a class or following a workout video. Incorrect form or pushing yourself past your limits may cause injury.