Asheville's Susan Reinhardt on the benefits of performing lunges, squats and splits while cleaning house and grocery shopping

Last week as I got down on my hands and knees to mop the floors, I realized my heart rate soared through the target zone.

As I washed the mirrors and glass tables, my shoulders ached from the stretching and exertion.

Here’s the point. No one loves cleaning except those with obsessive compulsive disorder. And not enough Americans are adding fitness into their daily to-do list.

Why not try what Stephen Markovich practices? He uses his vacuum cleaner as a tool to pull off lunges, pops a round of squats while washing windows and cuts splits on the living room carpet from his home in Pleasant Springs, Ky.

He also lifts the sofa and does press-ups on the dining room table.

I first learned of Stephen’s approach to knock out a good home scrub combined with cardio and strength moves when someone sent me a newspaper clipping. After doing more research, I discovered he might be onto something.

Pushing 60 and powerfully lean, Stephen has kept himself in shape by performing what he calls his “aerobic house cleaning,” exercises he’s devised using fixtures and furnishing.

He hopes to make some money off his new gig, much in the same way as Carolyn Barnes, who lives near L.A. and calls herself the “cLean Mama,” followed by her slogan, “Get Lean While You Clean.”

She’s in great shape and over 40, coming up with the idea following her son’s bout with stomach flu.

After countless, “rag drags” to clean the messes, she felt an idea burning like a pair of overworked quads. So she created a DVD. She’d gained weight with both pregnancies and had no time for the gym.

Now, her mops and sudsy props have sculpted her body back to its former dancer’s physique.

Stephen, her friendly competition for claiming cleaning as their new gym, said cardio-chores have worked well for him.

“I wanted to show overweight people that there is a way they can stay in shape outside of these traditional routes,” he said in an interview with The Sun. “Everyone has to clean their house, so why not look at it as an opportunity to get some exercise?”