GROW IN THE GARDEN
With winter now behind us, it’s time to relocate your training to the great outdoors. Pump up your health with vitamin D
Training in the sunshine can set your progress alight. Get an outside advantage
It seems that trendy indoor boot camps – even with their strobe lights and thumping house music – are no match for simple workouts in the local park. Of course, we support a post-COVID return to the gyms, but if the £20 price tag of a boutique class feels like an expensive hurdle to your long-term goals, simply bring your training plan into the light. That’s because, as with most Brits, your health is probably in dire need of some extra vitamin D.
The sunshine vitamin isn’t just crucial for maintaining healthy skin and bones. It’s also a natural ally in your quest for better body composition. When scientists at Kyung Hee University in South Korea studied the effects of a circuit training programme with and without vitamin D supplementation, they noticed that the pills led to improvements on every metric.
Vitamin D helped the study’s participants to lose more fat while building more muscle. Most impressively, the supplemented regimen led to a 9% drop in visceral fat – the kind that builds up around your vital organs and can increase your risk of life-threatening disease. That’s surely news to brighten the mood.
The researchers observed that vitamin D significantly increases insulin sensitivity.
That allows the body to use its energy stores more effectively – delivering the fuel that your muscles need to work harder, for example – instead of letting glucose build up as sugar in the bloodstream.
So, harness the fat-melting combination of the sunshine vitamin and a HIIT circuit in the park to maximise the gains of every rep. After lockdown 3.0, it’s definitely time you got out more.