It's summer you guys (sort of)! Step off the treadmill, tear up your gym membership and take your exercise outside. We asked Reebok fitness ambassador Caroline Dean to give us some workouts to do in the fresh air.
Workout 1
This is a strength-building exercise that you can do with no equipment – save for a park bench or some steps! Strength routines give your metabolism a great big boost without bulking you up. All that'll happen is you'll gain strength and tone those muscles.
I also recommend mixing this with an interval sprint workout, which is designed to raise your heart rate. By working at a higher intensity, you will burn far more calories than by doing longer endurance exercise, and you'll also burn fat quicker. If you have any medical conditions, check with doctor before carrying out any high-intensity training. Carry out each of the following exercises in a circuit, one after the other. This will prevent you from getting bored, and also keep you moving. Aim for three rounds of 10-15 reps.
Squat
Squats are one of my all-time favourite exercises. The benefits of squats are endless: they give you a total lower body workout, working butt, hips and thighs. Standing with your feet hip-width apart, move your butt backwards and lower as if you are sitting back in a chair. Check to make sure your knees are not coming over your toes. If they are, stick your butt back further. Aim to get your weight in your heels and go as low as you can.
Push-Ups
Push-ups are a great way to sculpt your arms and shoulders. You can perform them on your toes first or start with bent knees and progress up to your toes. If the ground is wet, find a park bench and perform your push-ups from there.
Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. If you find push-ups cause too much trouble for your wrists, perform them on your knuckles (make sure you are on grass!). Keep your body in straight line and squeeze your glutes to make sure your abs are activated. With control, lower to floor. You are aiming to get your chest all the way to the floor before raising yourself back up.
*Walking Lunges *
Lunges work multiple muscles in the lower body, including the quads, glutes and hamstrings. Getting the technique correct is important to make sure you are getting maximum benefits. Get into a hip-width stance, with feet pointing forwards. Step forward – heel then toe and then plant that foot. At the same time, bring your back leg into a 90-degree angle, bending your knee to the floor.
Swap sides, bringing the opposite leg through from heel to toe. You are aiming to keep a neutral spine all the time, so do not allow your upper body to come forward. It really helps to squeeze your glutes while doing these.
*Tricep Dips *
Perform some tricep dips on a park bench. They will help to make upper arms look great. Your aim is to make sure your elbows are not swaying outwards and pinned to your sides going backwards.
*Plank *
A plank can either be done on your forearms or with straight arms.
The plank is great because it actually strengthens your whole body, not just your abdominals. You can also vary it so much: you can raise one leg then change sides, or you can jump your legs out to the side. Aim to hold your planks 30-60 secs each round.
Workout 2
Sprint Interval Training
Sprints are fantastic to do outside rather than on a treadmill as the uneven surface works muscles harder. A great way to begin this is to walk briskly for two minutes, jog for three minutes and then walk for three minutes. On the next round, increase to a three-minute run then walk for three minutes. For the next four times, you are looking to run all out for three minutes then recover for three minutes. If you feel that you are recovering long before the three minutes are up, bring the sprints and recovery to two minutes or just one minute.
You are aiming to raise your heart rate to a high intensity, so it feels a bit uncomfortable. You shouldn't be able to talk while doing these. On a scale of one to 10, you are aiming to go just beyond seven.
Follow Caroline on Twitter @Carolinesdean
Picture: Gorsad Kiev
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.