Fitness Overhaul

Tired of the same boring gym atmosphere and looking for a change in your workouts? I have a routine that you can do that not only works great, but is most likely different and more fun than anything that you can do in a gym. I don’t really think that you should give up your gym membership, but this workout can give you a change of scenery and get you excited about working out again. In reality, it may not be that much different than what you are doing now, but there is a little twist to it that makes all of the difference. I have taken something that works great in a gym and found a way to do it outside in nature.

[I live in Pittsburgh and it gets very cold in the winter and we only have so many sunny days in the summer. When it is sunny, I want to spend as much time as I can outside! That's why I really love training outdoors!]

I am talking about a full body workout with resistance training as well as HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) that you do outside in the woods, at a park, in your yard, or wherever. The best thing about it is that you don’t need to bring a bunch of stuff with you like weights or benches. This was the thing that was holding me up for the last year. I always wanted to be outside, but I still wanted to do resistance training and I wanted to train hard. With all of the different body weight exercises and full body circuits that I have done, it finally dawned on me that, I can do these anywhere. . . even outside.

When I started this blog, I geared it towards men and women that are over thirty that are tired of being out of shape and are ready to get their younger look back. I firmly believe that over thirty doesn’t have to mean overweight, it’s not just a cute tagline for my blog. I think in reality, we can stay in great shape no matter how old we are.One thing that holds us back though is that as we get older, we also get busier. We all have obligations that we have to fulfill and it seems like there just isn’t enough hours in the day, right? We have work, kids, sports for the kids, household duties, trying to find time to spend with your significant other, etc.

With all of this going on, it is really easy to let our workouts slack or not give it our all whenever we are training. Another reason that we don’t train intensely or just go through the motions is boredom. Sometimes it is boring to go to the gym and see the same people and do the same exercises, listen to the same music, etc.

To make it even worse, some people work in an office setting and sit in a cubicle under the fluorescent lights all day. Only to leave work and sit in their car in traffic to go to a stuffy gym under more lights, listening to the local steroid head grunt and groan with the music blasting! I know that my age may be showing here, but for me sometimes I just need a break from all of this.

I always thought that it would be cool to train outside in the woods like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbo used to do years ago. They would go out in the woods with some weights and just squat until they were both ready to be sick! That would be awesome, but in reality I’m not about to lug a bench or squat rack out in the middle of the woods!

I found the solution and think that this is something that may interest you as well. I watched this guy do a demonstration with nothing more than a rope and he was able to do a really kickass workout. He wrapped the rope around a tree branch and used it as handles to do pullups, chinups, dips, inverted rows, and tons of other exercises. It was pretty awesome to see what can be done out in the middle of nowhere with only a rope.

This guy was super intense and no matter how hard I train in the gym, he was definitely matching it out there in nature. If you follow any of the stuff from Turbulence training or the Mode workouts, like the Body weight 400 challenge then you know how intense these can be. They can also be done outside with little to no changes to the workouts. You won’t need any equipment, but if you want you can use a rope, or resistance bands. If you are doing intervals for your cardio, you can easily adapt this outside to doing HIIT while running and sprinting. You can do sprints up a hill in the woods, or if you have access to water, you can do your cardio in a kayak or canoe. I’m not saying that this is something that you will want to do forever or even long term, but to get outside on a great sunny day every once in a while maybe great for you! And the different ways to train outside are endless.

[You can train like this whether you are just trying to lose a few pounds or even if you are training to become a cage fighter like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite! This was a pretty hilarious movie if you like dumb humor like me.]

It doesn’t have to be in the middle of the woods either, just outside in a park or in your yard will do fine. I often thought that if I was a personal trainer and wanted to get more clients, I would go and market to busy executives or office workers that are cooped up inside of an office all day. If this was you, would you rather train outside like this or inside some stuffy gym? If you decide to try this out or already train like this, let me know what you think. . . just watch for bears!

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