Tired of the gym, why not start training outdoors?

The fact is, we live in a wonderful and beautiful area of the world, and that´s without even mentioning the climate.

365 days of sun (ok I made that up but it´s probably close to 300 days a year).

There are more gyms here than there are people ( or so it seems) and with more opening all the time, it´s something I cannot understand. We have sun, sun and more sun , so why not train outdoors instead of looking at a wall on a treadmill or looking at yourself in the mirror whilst lifting weights?

Training is my life and I have spent more than enough time in countless gyms. They may change from gym to gym but some things remain. The roof over your head. The artificial light and music that you generally don´t want to listen to. So why don´t more people train outdoors?

FEAR OF CHANGE – why start training outdoors?

If you have spent most of your life training in a gym, or are a newbie to it all, a gym seems like a natural place to start.

All those pristine machines, shower rooms, saunas and someone to guide you around and tell you what to do, right? Those gym monitors that give you a workout plan and then never speak to you again or even check that you´re doing it right. Sounds great!

There´s also another reason that most people will pick a gym. They don´t really know how to train without those machines which practically tell you what to do. Where would you start if someone took them all away?

Then there are the gym rats who know nothing else than lifting those weights, doing anything else would be completely alien to them. They might lose all those gains!

Does any of this sound familiar?

CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK AND TRAIN

You may have seen videos on Facebook or you tube of people doing crazy things with just their bodies. Normally filmed in Russia or the States, calisthenics or body weight training is huge. Don´t believe me? Just go type in Calisthenics and see for yourself. Check out people like Calisthenics movement for some insanely impressive stuff.

Human Flag, Calisthenics Movement

These guys and girls are super strong but still small and impressively toned. They have strength that you could never acquire in the gym and they all do this whilst training outdoors.

Best of all they barely if ever lift weights or go to a gym. When was the last time you ever saw anyone in a gym do anything remotely cool like that?

SO WHAT NOW?

Why not go to a local park and find some bars where you can try some pull ups and dips or even just normal pushups either on the floor or elevated on a bench if that´s too hard. Test yourself and see how strong you are just by lifting your own body. You might be surprised at just how difficult it can be when you have never tried it before.

NOW THE FUN BEGINS!

Now you´re at your starting point and you know how strong you are. Write it down and keep it.

Watching your own progress is so much more enjoyable now. You´re training outdoors, the sun is shining and you can physically see your progress.

One thing which you will notice quickly is how easy it is to see change when you are lifting your own body. Unlike in gyms where you add an extra kilo here and there, it´s very difficult to lose track of your progress over time as the actual exercises never change, just the weight. Take the bench press as an example – keep adding weight until you reach a plateau and get stuck there for years

lifting the same weight week in week out. Where is the fun in that? (That is what happened to me)

 

Pistol squats

Now compare that to pushups. Once you can do a normal pushup well, you can look at all the variations such as one arm push up, archer pushups, diamond pushups…you get the idea. There is no need to keep it the same , change it up and keep it fun!

If you can already easily do pushups and pullups, go here for a list of more advanced exercises. This is far, far from being exhaustive but at least you can test where you are and then decide where you want to be.

GOOD LUCK!