Mother Nature - The Worlds Greatest Out of the Gym Experience
By Kelli Calabrese
Since I was kid I crave the outdoors! It’s natural to want to be out in the fresh air. Siting under florescent lights in air controlled environments, staying awake round the clock sucked in by technology contributes to dis-ease.
We are both time and fresh air deprived. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) didn’t exist a century ago when people were walking to stores, tending to gardens and earning a living outdoors. Vitamin D deficiency from lack of sunlight didn’t’ exist. There was less shift work, shorter work days, more leisure time and more natural physical activity.
Today we rarely have to leave the house for food or entertainment and sometimes work. Its easy to see how walking to the car may be the only time we are outdoors.
As fitness professionals we have an advantage. Outdoor workouts are a perfect solution for them and us. Nature is stress reducing, invigorating and health enhancing to be breathing in fresh air. The mental health benefits are as pertinent as the physical ones.
Look for opportunities to take your clients outdoors year round. Try 10 minutes of interval walking, or set up a circuit with minimal equipment. Bring a mat outside for a stretching session. Outdoors is also fun for flipping tires, jumping rope, lateral traveling and any track and field activities. Ask any runner or cyclist if they prefer the treadmill or stationary bike and nature will win by a landslide!
Find a safe place outdoors that clients can perform one segment of their workout. Progress to “traveling” around your building, neighborhood or even meeting at an alternate location one day a week such as a park, beach, mountain or golf course. Make sure you have permission to be there first.
Incorporate your outdoor environment into your workout. From playground equipment to retaining walls, stairs, basketball courts and light posts, there is no shortage of ways to workout outdoors. Your clients will be thrilled and have a new sense of victory over what is possible. Yesterday I had my clients push my SUV around the parking lot and you would have thought they climbed Mt Whitney.
I work with clients outside 5 days a week. Most all of them have home gym equipment and or a gym membership. Being outside is absolutely the best part of the workout. From seeing wildlife to full moons, shooting stars, sunrises and hearing the sound of a train go by in the distance, it’s one of the best ways to start a day off balanced. I promise you won’t wish you had spent more time standing next to the leg press when you can be lunging up a mountain.
I highly recommend you take your own workout outdoors. Ultimately those are the workouts that are the most memorable and leave you feeling the most accomplished.
If you are looking for some fun idea’s to do with your clients outdoors, consider Playground Boot Camp by Dr. John Spencer Ellis (founder of Adventure Boot Camp) or a Drill Book I have compiled with over 100 boot camp workouts, drills and games that can be done outdoors.
Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS is the Master Coach for Adventure Boot Camp –as well as IMPACT – a turn key profitable group personal training program. She is also the Master Coach for Be Better Projects – an 8 Month Life and Career changing curriculum founded by Phil Kaplan. www.KelliCalabrese.com Kelli@KelliCalabrese.com 817-490-1296.