Outdoor workouts

Outdoor workouts have become all the rage as fitness and exercise enthusiasts look to get back to more natural and nature-based workouts rather than stuffy gym-based workouts. Outdoor workouts are a great way to enjoy exercise, especially on a sunny day. Sure, rainy days can make the idea of an outdoor workout daunting, but once it's underway outdoor workouts even in the rain can be seen as a motivating and exhilarating experience.

Outdoor workouts can literally take place anywhere. The most popular venues for outdoor workouts include:

• Local parks
• Village green
• School fields
• Roads and paths
• Organised outdoor exercise classes.

Many personal trainers and fitness companies, including the likes of the British Military Fitness and Bond Fitness advocate the use of nature as a way to motivate and challenge their fitness clients.

Outdoor workouts: Resistance training

For the purpose of this outdoor workout article I will assume that you, the reader, hasn't employed the help of an outdoor-based personal trainer. So, the aim of the outdoor workout article is to suggest possible exercises to perform in local parks etc.

In terms of resistance training outdoor workouts are perfect. Follow the exercise suggestions below to create your own outdoor resistance training workout:

• Press ups
• Press ups with feet on a park bench
• Step ups onto a park bench
• 10m and 20m sprints
• Pull ups on football goal posts
• One leg squats - holding onto a park bench for support
• Walking lunges
• Jumping lunges
• Plyometric squats
• Plyometric press ups
• Static bicep curls - pull the park bench using biceps
• Bench dips

Outdoor workouts: Fitness training

Outdoor fitness training workouts should be based around running, walking or cycling (if there is a bike available). When running aim to perform one of the following workouts:

• Steady state running - Run around the local park for 20 - 45 minutes at a steady pace
• Hill running - Run up a steep hill, walk back down and repeat 10 times
• Fartlek run - Perform a 5 minute warm up and for the next 20 minutes change the speed, pace and distance you run. Constantly changing the pace of the run will improve fitness levels
• Sprints - Pick a landmark up to 50 metres away. Run as fast as possible to said landmark and jog slowly back to the start. Repeat 8 times.

For a workout based on cycling copy the running guidelines above but obviously extend the distances covered in sprints etc.

Any exercise based around walking should fit around the running and cycling based workouts. Walking is a great way to burn excess calories while performing an activity that, for most, isn't too strenuous.

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