Get Outside

Keeping along the same lines as my last email about Earthing it seems appropriate to mention outdoor training again since it's practically summer.

The weather is turning and it would be rude to train indoors when the sun's shining, because the sun IS NOT bad for us - far from it in fact! (maybe I'll share my thoughts on that in the next email... join the list by claiming your free gift via the box on the right here >>>)

We wait most of the year for good weather, then go and do stuff indoors when it's sunny!

Take your training outside whenever you can.

Summer is a great time to get outside and mix up your training a bit.

This weekend, I simply took a kettlebell into the garden and did my workout barefoot on the grass, in the sun.

You could do the same.

If you have any gym kit like kettlebells, dumbbells, club bells, medicine balls, resistance bands... you can take them outside and do your workout there.

Not forgetting bodyweight exercises, Animal Flow, Rope Flow etc.

The benefits of sunlight, fresh air and earthing are not to be overlooked, and there's nothing worse than going in the gym for your workout and looking out at the beautiful weather!

Yes, it's important to keep your training up, but unless you have one very specific goal that requires you to train in the gym, and only in the gym, you can mix it up a bit.

Train in the gym when the weather's not so good (there's still plenty of opportunity for this, even in the summer here in the UK), and when the weather's good - get outside and do something different.

You may be able to take your regular workout outside, especially if you go to the gym to walk/run on the treadmill!!

...or do something completely different.

Try some track workouts - running drills, sprints, hill work, bounding, skipping, hopping...

You could either seize the day when the weather's good and change things on the fly, or you could change the focus of your training for the summer months to incorporate more outdoor training and activities.

Your results won't suffer much if you swap a couple of gym workouts for something like climbing, mountain biking, paddle boarding, kayaking, a kick-around with the boys, or even an outdoor fitness class or bootcamp...

Just pick an outdoor sport and do that for a couple of months to increase coordination, reactions and functional movement, and, of course, vitamin D levels :)

Keep up your strength work. 2 workouts a week is enough to maintain strength levels if you're still doing other training too and it gives you a chance to work some conditioning and skills too.

You could even do your strength work outside if you have the kit available - strongman training is exceptional for strength and functional movement and is best suited to outdoors anyway! 

Grab some heavy kettlebells or a sandbag and go for a walk.

So don't skip workouts because it's too nice to go to the gym (it's just an excuse!).

And don't skip the sunshine because you want to do grunt work in the gym.

Combine the two. Train, but do it outdoors.

When it's raining - go to the gym.

(or embrace the elements and get wet!)

Now go outside!

Mark

P.s. Many of the workouts on MoveBetter.Club are suitable to do outside with minimal or zero equipment - if you haven't checked it out yet, go there now and sign up. It could change the way you train forever!