How to Exercise Outdoors

You don’t need a gym membership to get a good workout. In fact, working out outdoors can give you a much harder exercise routine, provided that you push yourself hard enough and give your muscles a varied challenge. Besides the obvious benefit of saving money, working out outdoors can also fill your need for fresh air, vitamin D and even play time with the kids or the dog.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Bring water along. When exercising outdoors (especially in summer), you are at a higher risk of suffering dehydration, heat stroke and other problems due to the influence of the elements.
2. Take advantage of your environment to exercise. Park benches can be used for pushups and triceps dips, stairs for cardio and monkey bars for pull-ups and back exercises. Adapt your exercise to use whatever is available around you.
3. Do lunges and squats to work out your lower body. Not only are these the two most basic types of exercise, but they can adapted for use outdoors. For example, you can lunge using a park bench or stairs, or you can squat on the edge of a low wall for added difficulty (balancing and putting extra weight on your legs).
4. Use park benches for pushups and triceps dips. Using your own body weight is an excellent way to exercise your upper body without the need for equipment. Depending on your fitness level, you can modify the exercise to make it harder (elevate your feet) or easier (bend your knees for added support).

Tips & Warnings

• Take advantage of parks, yards or even the sidewalk to skip rope. Not only is it fun, but it also burns more calories than almost any other aerobic activity (up to 700 calories an hour).