The Top 10 Outdoor Workouts for Women
Working out at the gym or at home is a pretty standard routine. But, you’re missing out if you aren’t working out outdoors. Aside from its scenic beauty, it has a lot of challenging obstacles that can really spice up your exercise routine. We definitely recommend giving it a shot if you’re looking to up the ante.
Today, we’ll be bringing you the top 10 workouts to do outside. You can do some of these exercises right on your own yard, while others may require a specific setting. Either way, you’ll love these routines!
Best Outdoor Workout For Women
Park Bench Push-Ups
Let’s put a little twist on this classic workout. First of all, find yourself a nice park bench. Face the bench and put your hands on them while stretching your legs back on the ground. Do the push-ups by lowering your chest towards the bench and regaining the original position. After completing 12 reps of this, switch it up.
This time, put your hands on the ground and your feet on top of the bench. Do these push-ups by lowering yourself down to the ground and then back up. Repeat 8 times and voila, you’re done.
The idea here is to strengthen your chest, biceps, triceps, shoulders and core. By using the bench, you challenge your body to achieve more than just regular push-ups.
Side Leaps
You can do this in any uninterrupted spot outside. Start off by standing on a flat surface by placing your feet together. Bend your knees down and hop to your right as far as possible. Try to land on your right heel before doing another hop. Take it easy and do 20 hops to the right.
Once you’re done, switch it up and hop towards your left, nice and slow. For most people, hopping towards the left will be more challenging since they aren’t a ‘leftie’. However, once all 40 hops are finished, you’ll notice that your inner thighs, knees, calves and glutes are much stronger than before.
Overall, your lower body will get a specialized workout solely dedicated to that region.
Tightrope Walking
Don’t worry; this doesn’t actually involve walking a tight rope! The idea is to walk on top of a slim curb or a low-lying wall. Get on top of it and stretch your arms out towards the sides. Like a trapeze artist, walk towards the end of the curb and walk back to the starting line.
Be careful while turning around. You don’t want to fall off the edge!
Continue walking back and forth for about 3 minutes. Ideally, you should walk 6 feet in each direction before turning. This will improve your calves, quads and core. Your legs will be adequately equipped to handle any sort of high-intensity workout after doing this. Not to mention, you’ll gain a better sense of balance overall.
Step Ups
It’s time to warm up your quads, hamstrings and glutes with a simple and effective exercise. This can be done on any steps or elevated plane. Start by stepping on your left leg and raising your right one behind you. Relax and alternate by raising your left leg this time while bracing your right one.
Do this about 26 times in total. You can also try to rotate your raised leg to your sides as an alternate variation. This will ensure that each of your legs gets a thorough workout and help you run those extra miles while jogging.
Slalom Jumps
Are you ready to really challenge yourself outdoors? Take a few small rocks and lay them in a zigzag pattern. Said rocks should be about 1.5 feet apart from each other. At the starting point, place your feet together and hop next to each rock. After reaching the finish line, turn around and repeat the process.
There isn’t any fixed number of reps on this. Try to keep repeating until your glutes, hamstrings and quads are exhausted. You’ll really feel the heat after doing this cardio exercise. Get these Meeko Persevere Shorts to really help you ace this high-intensity workout!
The Hanging Crunches
First of all, you’ll need to find something similar to a sturdy low-lying tree branch or monkey bars. Take hold of the elevated handle and grab on to it tight. Next, take a deep breath and pull your knees upward from the ground. Try to bring them up as high as your abs and let them down while exhaling slowly.
This cycle can be repeated 12 times or more in a row. Depending on how long you can hang on with your arms, you can build your reps.
This is an excellent workout for your abs since crunching the knees improves blood flow around this region. Try to hang on to your branch as long as possible.
No pain, no gain, remember?
Side Shuffling
Find any nice cozy spot and position your feet wide apart from each other. Keep your fists close to your ribs and your elbows bent. Slide your right foot towards the right while making sure your left foot follows suit. Do 3 big ‘slides’ and jump to change directions. Keep on continuing for 1 minute or so.
Your glutes, quads inner and outer thighs will get a nice warm-up from this easy exercise. If you’re willing to challenge yourself, do more than 3 slides on one side before changing direction. This should up the ante and really get you going.
Basketball Court Routines
Do you have an unused volleyball or basketball court nearby? Then, you can turn it into your personal gym! With this HIIT (high-intensity interval training) plan outlined below, you can really boost your aerobic capacity to the limits. It’s all about the 3 fat-burning routine.
Start by spiriting from one side of the court to the other and back for a total of 5 times. Next, do lateral hops by jumping forward and back 30 times. Finally, attempt those side shuffles we mentioned earlier along the full length of the court (6 times). All in all, it should take you about 15 minutes to complete all these workouts.
Playing Ball!
Soccer balls, basketballs or volleyballs can be good allies in your quest to building fitness outdoors. They can be used to add a little challenge into the mix while you work out outside.
For instance, you can place two basketballs on the ground 10 feet apart from each other. Start off by picking up one ball and running towards the second one. You can choose to simply run with said ball or dribble it until you reach the second one. Once there, switch balls and dribble back until you complete 10 cycles.
This is just one example of what you can do with balls as your accessory. You can mix it up and try different combinations. To increase your mobility and give you a sense of proper compactness, check out Meeko Persevere Sports Bras. This is a highly functional bra specially made for such intricate routines.
Running the Trail
Trail running is different from regular running since you’re going to be treading along an uneven, textured surface. It’s a great way to torch extra calories without having to run longer distances. Call it a ‘hack’ if you will.
While you run across a rough terrain, your body needs to work overtime compared to running on flat surfaces. By adjusting to the incline changes, your aerobic and anaerobic systems are charged to their full potential. Be careful while doing this since it’s quite easy to miss an elevated plane and trip forward.
Hence, taking a buddy along is a great idea since they can help you up in case you do end up falling. We sincerely hope that doesn’t happen!
Outdoor Workouts Are Great For Mental Health Too!
Remember ladies, you don’t always have to choose between a regular gym and home workout. The outdoors has a ton of challenging environments to test your limits and help you break barriers. Turning your strolls around the park into a workout routine is really easy! The upbeat outdoor experience can really boost your mental well-being too!
As we mentioned before, the basketball court nearby can serve as an exercise ground. Some workouts like the side shuffles and leaps don’t even need a particular setting. You can just step outside anywhere you like and get on with your routine. But do be mindful of the environment and make sure not to interrupt any passersby!
We hope you have a fantastic experience working out in the great outdoors! Do share your workout outfit with us on social media on Facebook and Instagram. We love hearing from amazing women like you!
<div> Persevere Seamless Sports Bra ($49.99). MeekoAthletics, Product:InStock, Attribute:Best-Seller Say no to boring designs and elevate your closet essentials with this fancy sports bra.</div>