Now that we’re in the middle of summer, it’s the perfect time to ditch your indoor workouts and bring them outside to enjoy the fresh air and truly soak in every last minute of summer. Be sure to take advantage of the weather, the nature and the sounds around us that we may take for granted on a daily basis. Summer is the time to let your body thrive in the heat and immerse in the benefits that an outdoor workout has to offer.
Benefits of Working Out Outside
- Boosts Mental Health: From fresh air to sunlight, working out outside has numerous benefits to our bodies. Studies have shown that people’s brains have higher levels of serotonin on bright and sunny days. With serotonin being a natural mood stabilizer, it also helps your overall mental health by reducing the symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression.
- Access to Cleaner Air: When you work out indoors, your body is ultimately working out in circulated air. However, when you take your workout outdoors, you are breathing in cleaner and fresher air than you would be indoors. Overall, your lungs will thank you later if you begin bringing your workouts outside.
- Challenges Your Body: When you work out in your home, gym or indoor facility, you’re most likely in a climate-controlled area with air conditioning. Even though there is nothing wrong with working out in AC, it doesn’t provide your body with a challenge. The environment around you when exercising outdoors is changing. Whether that may be bumps, inclines, holes in the ground or obstacles, those changes force your body to adapt and work harder to overcome them.
Outdoor Workouts
Now that we have nailed down a few of the benefits of an outdoor workout, let’s dive into some workouts that you can take outside!
- Mat Pilates: Grab your mat and do Pilates in the park, says Victoria Popoff, XPRO for Club Pilates. Just about every benefit of Pilates can be achieved through mat work including toning, flexibility, better posture, more efficient movement and mind/body connection.
- Yoga: Tamara Teragawa, XPRO for YogaSix says that outdoor yoga not only helps our body, but it also helps focus your mind, minimizing distractions and concentrating on maintaining poses, while strengthening muscles and improving your overall balance.
- Walking & Running: Walking and running may sound simple, but it’s one of the best outdoor exercises. Lauren Reid, XPRO for STRIDE, says a good way to increase the intensity is by using ankle weights, or finding a nearby hill for an incline.
Outdoor Approved Xponential+ Workouts
Check out some of these new XPLUS workouts, that require little to no equipment to take them with you outside in the summer sunshine!
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