Working it Outdoors

When the days are short and cold, it’s pretty easy to see the gym as somewhat of a refuge. Happily, the days are getting longer and warmer and with this, being cooped up in a gym lifting weights and working away on stationary cardio equipment seems less appealing. 

There are a number of benefits and advantages to being active outdoors; from a physical standpoint, exercising outside allows you to take advantage of natural terrain and climatic conditions that provide additional challenges that aren’t present indoors. Exercising outside also improves your mental well-being and leaves you feeling both revitalized and energized, while helping to alleviate tension, confusion, anger, and depression.

Whether you prefer structured or unstructured activities, the choices available for staying fit outdoors are numerous. Boot camp and military-style classes that have you sprinting, crawling, and doing push-ups and burpees are common. For those of you who aren’t ready to commit to a scheduled class, we’ve asked Jessica Power Cyr, fitness director at Heavens Elevated Fitness in Calgary, to put together a simple 15-20 minute outdoor workout that will challenge your heart and your muscles and leave you feeling energized and challenged.   

The Workout:
Find a park that has a bench and monkey bars. Make your way to the park by doing hop-scotch variations and tag spring variations to challenge the anaerobic energy system of the body and training the cardiovascular system of the body. Bonus: choose a park that’s at the top of a long set of stairs!

Once at the park, do:

– 15-20 bench step-ups on the right and repeat the left side. Do this 3 times on each side.

– 10-15 tricep dips on the bench. Repeat 3 times.

– 10-15 push-ups on the bench. Repeat 3 times.

– Do the monkey bars 5 times across and, if you are strong enough, perform 10-15 pull-ups or as many as you can. Repeat this sequence 3 times.

– If the park has access to a lower bar where your feet can still be in contact with the ground, grab the bar and perform front pull-ups to engage the back muscles. Try this 10-15 times and repeat this exercise 3 times.