It’s spring time. Heck, it skipped over spring time and went right into summer for most of us. If you’ve been experiencing the same unseasonably warm and gorgeous weather that we have been here in northeast Ohio, then you know it’s easy to get out of the house and go do your exercise where you can actually enjoy it.
Take advantage of it while you can, instead of feeling chained up to some hamster wheel in the basement or some other windowless gym or room (most workout rooms are windowless, which isn’t very motivating).
Most people think of jogging in this weather, but there is much more that you can do to get your share of fresh air and to also get in your cardio and your enjoyment of nature. You can take long hikes for example. This is great because most trails offer you a range of hills and inclines as well as declines, which means your heart gets more work and you actually get to experience a real workout simply from walking at a fast pace rather than being all at one level the whole time.
Playing tennis is a really excellent way to stay in shape. It uses your hand eye coordination, so it take mental work as well and counts as a sort of “brain workout” on top of a great cardio workout. You have to run back and forth and back and forth on the tennis court to hit the ball, and you also have to make quick stops and reversals to figure out where the ball is going, which keeps you mentally engaged and makes the sport more exhausting and a better workout.
Basketball is the same way. You’re constantly running up and down the court and chasing after the ball. Why do you think there’s not a single fat professional basketball player!? They all stay in tip top shape because they’re constantly on the run and using their brains as well, which burns calories too.
Other more unvonentional outdoor activities can include roller blading, skate boarding and a really interesting if not crazy sport called parkour. This is a really unique and creative fitness trend that is also somewhat of a lifestyle called parkour.
You creatively leap and bound over, under and around obstacles in order to get further. It’s excellent for your muscle conditioning and also gives you a killer cardio workout in most cases. It’s somewhat of a novelty, and you have to get good at it to really enjoy it, but it could really be a fun way to blow off some steam outdoors.
Related Posts
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Fitness Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.