IT’S BETTER OUTSIDE
Exercising in the great outdoors has many benefits
Who wants to be cooped up in a fluorescent-lit gym when you could be outside in the sunshine with a breeze getting a healthy dose of vitamin D and vitamin N (as in Nature)?
Plenty of studies have shown that outdoor exercise has greater benefits, both mentally and physically, than similar workouts indoors. Moving your workouts outside brings a sense of happiness and revitalization, and increased energy levels, research finds.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t work out in the gym ever, but when summers is so sweet and short, take advantage of those sunny days.
“It’s a good change of pace mentally and physically in our climate for people who work out in a gym eight months of the year,” says Kristian Leach, a contract personal trainer at The Riverside Club.
Other benefits are that you have way more space – and it’s free.
Here are some favourite outdoor workout spots for Calgary personal trainers.
Trainer: Kristian Leach, Kristfit. com @kristfittrainer on Instagram Outdoor workout spot: Head to Edworthy Park, along the Bow River on the near west side. Just south of Angel’s Cafe, there’s a “mobile fitness park” with eight workout stations, including a bar for stretching. (You’ll also notice a bike station for cyclists with a pump and tools for quick fixes.)
The city has installed about 25 fitness parks in all quadrants of the city. www.calgary.ca/CSPS/ Parks/Pages/Locations/Parkswith-fitness-equipment.aspx#
“The nice thing about the workout park is that if you don’t have a blueprint for a workout, these are fantastic for the older population and people newer to weight training,” he says. And you can certainly make it more advanced.
The workout: This can be done in 45 minutes or less.
Five-minute warm-up on the elliptical trainer. Start with two to three sets of 12-15 repetitions at each station. The machines are best suited to beginners. For more “advanced” people with resistance training experience, here are suggestions to make it more challenging: do the exercises one limb at a time. Though this doesn’t work for every machine, such as the chest press, it works well on the leg press; slow down the lifting tempo which will result in more muscular fatigue caused by “time under tension.”
Have a partner push against the machine to increase the resistance. Incorporate more leg work, like squats and lunges, and use a picnic table for step-ups or pushups and tricep. End your workout with stretches.
Anyone looking for a bigger challenge should hit up “Kill Hill,” says Leach.
It’s the grind just over the bridge on the south side of the Bow River and across the tracks. “Try and sprint that (and you’ll feel like you’re dying). Then come down and do some push-ups.” Motivation mantra: “Strive for improvement; not perfection.”
Trainer: Leslie Roland onelessroll.com
Outdoor workout spot: A grassy boulevard with a slight incline on Hawthorne Crescent N.W., across the street from the Briar Hill stairs. They lead up to lookout with a city view.
The workout: A 30- to 40-minute High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) session broken into eight-minute stacks of three or four exercises. Roland uses resistance bands, a medicine ball and a mat. She also uses what’s available, such a curb for jump squats or a tree to wrap the resistance band around for exercises such as upper back pulls. “Use the big, open space to really get your body moving in all directions,” says Roland.
“(HIIT) is designed to hit as many body parts as possible and burn loads of calories.”
Warm-up: Two-minute mobility lap around the green space. Loosen up by jogging a lap and incorporate any or all of these: butt kicks, high knees, walking lunge steps, jumping jacks, air squats, side shuffles and leg swings.
Circuit 1 Superset: Set a timer for eight minutes and work as many rounds as possible in that time.
Rest up to two minutes before starting the next circuit.
1a: 30-metre uphill sprint. At the top, do eight stationary air squats, eight bicycle crunches, and jog back to the start.
1b: 30-metre uphill high knee power skip with big arm movements. At the top, do eight curb-side squat jumps and eight Russian twists. Jog back to the start.
1c: 30-metre uphill backpedal and at the top do eight alternating side lunge steps and eight mountain climbers, and then jog back to the start
Repeat.
Circuit 2 Superset: Set timer for eight minutes. Rest up to two minutes before transitioning to the next circuit.
1a: 30-metre uphill medicine ball power tosses (from chest). Sprint down, then squat to retrieve each toss. Repeat to the top. Jog back to the start.
1b: 30-metre uphill side shuffle (right). At the top, do eight pushups and eight resistance band around-a-tree rows while holding a squat. Jog back to the start.
1c: 30-metre uphill side shuffle (left). Eight curb-side dips and eight resistance band biceps curls. Jog back to the start
Repeat.
Want more of a workout? Sprint up the Briar Hill stairs and walk back down to recover. Motivation mantra: “Patience, consistency – and preserve muscle at all cost!”
Trainer: Cait Grant, Fitness manager at GoodLife Fitness, Mount Royal
Outdoor Workout Spot: Prince’s Island Park. “It’s a really excellent centre point, a hub to start and end (your workout),” she says.
The workout: The options are limitless, from Prince’s Island Park. Starting at the stage in the park, cycle east past the East Village and Fort Calgary and over to the Habitat Station. Round-trip, it’s about a 10-km ride. End with a run up the Memorial Drive stairs.
Grant also incorporates a dynamic activity called Animal Flow into her workouts.
“It’s an exercise system where you are constantly suspending your body weight. It engages the muscles to combat our everyday sedentary lives, like sitting in front of a computer,” says Grant. It helps stabilize hips, shoulders and the core.
GoodLife is offering one-hour Animal Flow group sessions beginning Sept. 4 through the Mount Royal gym. Non-members are welcome. Call 403-802-1102 for details.
Motivation mantra: “Visualize the things you really want to do in your life. Painting a picture of what your future perfect looks like.
“It could be climbing a mountain, wearing a bikini or chasing after the grandkids.”