When it comes to keeping fit and leading a healthy lifestyle, it doesn’t get any better than the great outdoors. The benefits of training and exercising outdoors are there for all to see. Choose fresh air over packed sweaty gyms. Choose the sun in your face over waiting half an hour for a shot of a machine. Choose battling the elements over battling a membership fee that rises every year. Exercising outdoors is a wise choice and one which you won’t regret. There are some great reasons behind the outdoor fitness movement. Have a look at a few of ours and ask yourself the next time you’re waiting your turn on the treadmill; should I start exercising outdoors?
It’s Cost Effective
If you have ever joined a gym for any length of time you will have realised one thing. The gym and everything that comes with it is expensive. First off you have your membership which is accompanied by the excuses as to why it has gone up a tenner in the last 12 months. Then there are the expensive clothes that you need to buy in case you run into someone you know. When you add together the cost of transport, protein, home equipment, you soon realise that going to the gym isn’t the cheapest of lifestyles. Exercising outdoors keeps the pennies in your pocket. It costs nothing to go for a jog outside. No money is spent stretching in the local park. The benefits of exercising outside on your wallet alone is reason enough to ditch the gym membership and head outdoors.
Great Reliever of Stress
Imagine the scene. You are on an early morning hike up the hills watching the sun peak over the mountains as you peer over the picturesque, crisp landscape. Compare this to being stuck in traffic on route to a gym that is full of overgrown humans sweating and grunting loud enough for those with headphones to hear. I’m guessing the first scenario is more appealing when talking about the subject of relaxation. Exercising outdoors is a great way of relieving stress and giving you the chance to clear your head. The ways you can do so are endless as well. Take the dog a long walk. Go a run first thing. Jump in the local pond and go for a swim. A day spent outdoors relaxing, relieving stress is a day well spent.
Challenge the Elements
Battling the elements is all part of the fun of exercising outdoors. Whether you’re fighting against the heat, bracing through the rain or braving the wind, mother nature can be a tough level of competition when it comes to working out in the great outdoors. A cruel mistress indeed, but a battle well worth fighting. Going up against the conditions will turn boys into men and girls into women and are all part of exercising outside. Give it a try yourself and see for yourself.
