Best Outdoor Workouts in the Parks to get in Shape for the New Year

For many people, the new year means a renewed desire to focus on health, wellness, and fitness. Yet, this year, it seems to be a bit harder to achieve this. After all, many gyms and fitness facilities are either closed or simply too dangerous to attend during the pandemic. Do you really want to run on a treadmill wearing a mask? Probably not.

Exercising outdoors is a great alternative, especially in one of the parks in Holding Village like the Gathering Place, Longview Mews, or Picnic Park. Get out and soak up some vitamin D with one of these fun and sporty activities:

Side Leap

This one is super easy to do, at least the first few reps! A side leap targets inner thighs, quads, calves, and glutes. Simply stand on a flat surface with your feet together. Bend your knees and hop as far as you can to your right, landing on the ball of your right foot. Without returning your left foot to the ground, bend your right knee and hop as far as you can to the left. Maintain this constant motion and try completing 20 reps (20 hops per side). Whew – you’ll be feeling it after this!

Outdoor Cardio.

No treadmill? No problem! Grab a towel and a timer and torch your body fat without any equipment at all.

10 Long Jumps: Do a long jump the length of your towel, and then shuffle backwards to your start position.
10 Push-ups: Lie on your stomach and raise your body by pressing down on your hands while keeping your back straight. This exercise can be adapted to your fitness level by either kneeling or increasing the amount of reps.
15 Sumo Squats: Stand up with your feet wider than your hips and your toes slightly turned out as you sit back into a squat.
15 Burpees: Start with a jump, and then squat down, place your hands on your mat, and jump out into a plank position. Jump feet back towards your hands and pop back up into a standing position.
20 Bicycle Crunches: Lie on your back and bend both knees into your chest, hands clasped behind your head. Find a focal point to the left and right of your body. Look at those two focal points as you twist and crunch to each side, reaching your right elbow to your left knee, and vice versa.
20 Mountain Climbers: Start in a plank position and alternate driving your knees into your chest, keeping your hips flat and parallel to the ground.

After completing a circuit or 2 of these exercises, you won’t believe you ever spent a monthly fee to go to the gym and use fancy workout equipment!

Trail Running

If you want to burn more calories during your outdoor workout without having to run longer, give trail running a try. Thanks to the rocky, uneven terrain, your body has to work harder with every step. This makes it a more intense and effective workout compared to running on flat pavement.

Don’t let another day go by before you take your fitness goals seriously and you can do it without going far from your new home at Holding Village. New year, new you!