As winter begins to defrost, many of us can't wait to spend as much time as possible outside. Fortunately, there are many ways to stay active outdoors — with or without equipment. Here’s a detailed list of outdoor workouts and activities you can try.
Hiking is an excellent cardio exercise that will help strengthen your lower body — such as your calves, hamstrings, glutes, and quads — as well as your core. Because hiking usually involves walking on uneven terrain, you’ll activate a variety of muscles to stabilize your body.
Stand-up paddleboarding has gained massive attention in the last few years thanks to its full-body benefits. It requires good core and lower body strength to maintain your balance. And paddling targets your arms, shoulders, and back.
Whether you’re swimming in a pool or a lake, you’re getting in a full-body workout. When swimming, you use almost all your muscles to stay afloat and push against the resistance of water. In particular, swimming targets upper body muscles such as your lats and traps and the muscles in your chest and arms. Swimming is also a great way to improve core strength, it burns a lot of calories, and it's great for improving your cardiovascular health since your heart and lungs need to work harder to deliver blood and oxygen to all your working muscles.
If you prefer recreational sports as a form of exercise, there are many great options. The benefits of playing sports are that they’re fun, usually target multiple muscle groups, and get your heart rate up. For example, tennis requires lower body and upper body strength and cardiovascular fitness to help you run across the court and swing a tennis racket. If you prefer a slower-paced activity such as golf, you can still reap many benefits. Golf requires good core and upper body strength. Walking and carrying your clubs can also improve your cardio fitness and strength while burning calories.
If you’re looking for a low impact cardio exercise, you may want to give inline or roller-skating a try. These activities are a good alternative to running since they can get your heart rate up but put less stress on your joints. They can also strengthen your calves, hamstrings, and glutes.
Cycling is another lower impact cardio exercise. Bike riding targets your glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, arms, shoulders, and back. What’s more, outdoor biking may target your core better than a stationary bike does because you also have to maintain your balance while riding.
Finally, kayaking is a great summer activity that requires good upper body and core strength. It’s a great cardio exercise too.
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