Summer means taking your fitness outdoors! Don’t waste a minute of outdoor workout time with our guide to the best outdoor fitness.
We think it’s a good idea to take your workouts outdoors when you can. After all, there’s plenty of time for bundling up in a hoodie and heading to the gym when temperatures plummet.
It’s all too easy to sit back thinking that you just don’t have time; you work all day, Monday to Friday, and you’re not about to go out just to exercise on a Saturday. But that’s just it. If you really want to get fit, lose Kgs, and get some real cardio workout, you must find a way. There’s no getting around it, you either have to get up early, or go out at night.
Set yourself goals. 2 or 3 days a week wake up an hour earlier and go outside to train. It’s going to feel a bit weird at first, and you might feel a bit self-conscious, but after doing it a few times you’ll feel amazing. Don’t let a little rain or frost put you off. You need to force yourself; commit to improving yourself, and work at it. Nobody can do it for you.
Why Should I Exercise Outside?
The benefits of outdoor workouts go far beyond the physical.
Fresh air and sunshine can help boost energy, balance your mood, and actually make you tackle your workout harder. Plus with all that open space, you might go faster or further with your cardio.
The great outdoors offers lots of new challenges: hills and inclines, changes in terrain, different surfaces, and wind resistance.
Sunlight helps our bodies produce vitamin D, which can help your metabolism run efficiently. And getting outside to exercise can simply be more appealing, helping you get more done on days when motivation is low.
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What Are The Best Outdoor Exercises?
Exercising outside lends itself well to cardio workouts, but think beyond steady paced runs or bike rides.
Outdoor workouts are a great opportunity for interval training, circuits, HIIT, and full-body training. It’s never too early to start these workouts either.
If you can’t yet manage a 5k run, you can still work on HIIT to help build your stamina to do so.
Taking the Pull Up Mate down the park for an early morning HIIT workout combined with a jog is a great way to watch the sun rise!
Here are some ideas you could use this Summer.
Outdoor HIIT Cardio Session
If you’ve got access to an open space (park, playing field, community football pitch), combine short bursts of cardio for your own HIIT. You could combine:
- Shuttle runs
- Bear crawls
- Leaps/bounds
- Skipping
- Kettlebell swings
- Sled pulls
- Prowler pushes
- Mountain climbers
Either time your reps (30 seconds work, 30-60 seconds rest) or use visual markers like trees, or the end of a football pitch.
Warm up first, then do 15 minutes of intervals.
During the rest periods, either rest completely or walk (if you’re using visual markers, walk back to the start). Keep to a rest limit and don’t exceed it.
Jog or walk around your open space to bring your heart rate down at the end.
Hill Reps
Find a steep, traffic-free hill (pavement, or off road). Make sure the surface is safe (no hidden dips, holes, or slippery bits). Warm up, then run as fast as you can up the hill until you need to stop (this is usually around 20 seconds). Reps should be very hard. Walk or jog carefully back to the beginning, and once your heart rate is under control, sprint up again.
Do 8 reps to begin with, and work up to 12 or more over time.
If your hill is local, walk or jog there and back as your warm up and cool down.
Bodyweight Circuits
Find a small outdoor space (you can even do this in your garden) and perform a series of bodyweight exercises to create your own circuit. Here’s one example which alternates upper and lower body movements, and also brings in some cardio work through dynamic movements.
- 10 movements – 30 seconds each, then 30 seconds rest for a 10 minute circuit
- Body-weight squats
- Inverted rows (using a Pull Up Mate, or a tree branch or fence)
- Press ups (wide or close hand width for variation (or even inverted using a Pull Up Mate)
- Lunges (walking lunges or alternate lunges)
- Triceps press ups
- Mountain climbers
- Triceps dips (use a bench or a Pull Up Mate)
- Jump squats
- Burpees
- Plank holds (or hanging leg raises if you have a Pull Up Mate).
Repeat the circuit once or twice more if you can.
What are your outdoor workout tips? Let us know in the comments!
