The original all-terrain vehicle was the human body. Our cave dwelling ancestors might have a leg up when it comes to exercise routines. How can we train our bodies to wrestle sabertooth tigers or mastodons? Early man might not have left their workouts painted on cave walls, but they did leave us one big hint. If you want the best workout possible, go outside.
Polished stainless steel and touch screens look sleek, but they have nothing to do with fitness. As the flowers begin to bloom, its time to step outside and enjoy a workout in the fresh air. Spring is a perfect time to escape from the gym so you never have to sit on a sweaty machine again. Exercising outdoors is challenging, saves time, and studies are finding that it can actually make you feel better.
Go for a Run
Why would running outside be any different that running on a treadmill? The drawback of treadmills and ellipticals is that you run in place. Whether its the turning belt of a treadmill or the spinning gears of an elliptical, the machine is doing some of the work for you. When you run outside, you provide the movement. Both activities may look similar, but running outside will increase your work load from 2 percent to 10 percent through air resistance. As you transition from a walk to a run the wind resistance increases. So as you improve, running naturally becomes more difficult.
Stop Reading
I always tell clients, if you can read a book while exercising, you are not doing it properly. Workouts are very similar to sex. Your performance depends on your level of involvement. When you go for a jog, your brain does not zone out like it does at the gym. We must be constantly aware of our changing environment. By actively engaging our surroundings, we enhance our proprioceptive capabilities.
Proprioception is the fancy word for keeping track of your limbs in space. It is the basis of things like "hand eye coordination." It is not a reflex but a skill we can develop over time. Activities like running outside maximize the coordination between our nervous system and muscles. Why is this important? Whether you are trying to catch a coffee mug about to crash to the floor or grab your child's hand when it darts toward an electrical socket, we can all benefit from increased reaction time and proprioception.
Less Weight, More Strength
Most of us don't want to look like a muscle head reject from the Jersey Shore. We want to be lean and strong, but not bulky. The easiest way to avoid exercise machines is to go outside. There are no machines in the park.
Body weight training is the most effective way to maximize overall health and well being. Let us compare a leg press machine to a basic squat. A leg press machine has us seated with the weights running along a rail. There is no coordination needed. You push with your legs as your body is held in place by the seat (some machines even come with seat belts). It deprives your core, hip and stabilizer muscles of any practice.
If we look at a body weight squat, the same leg muscles are engaged, but everything from your core to your toes are working to stay balanced and upright. As you squat, your weight is being transferred throughout your lower body. Body weight squats are harder, require zero equipment and are guaranteed to be perfectly matched to your size.
Smile -- It's Good for You
"Go outside, its good for you," my mother used to say to me. Maybe mom was right. Being outside has a number of health benefits. Our bodies need Vitamin D, which comes from the sun. We don't produce it naturally. Twenty minutes outside is enough exposure for an average adult. What happens if we are Vitamin D deficient? In a word, depression. Vitamin D deficiency is a major component in seasonal depression. Studies have shown that participants who exercise outdoors feel revitalized, have increased energy levels, and feel more satisfied. At the same time they decrease their levels of tension, depression and anger.
So while engineers try to invent the next fitness machine, save yourself the trouble. Lace up your shoes and go find reason to be in the sun.
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This is one of the many ways electricity generated can be used.
In larger gyms the electricity will be used to help power local buildings and evwen go back into the national grid.
The Green Heart is a new outdoor gym design which incorporates a health shelter where people can learn more about their health targets and then act upon it on the surrounding free TGO outdoor gym and was inspied by the Department of health's responsibility deal.
Please contact me if you require any further information.
colin@tgogc.com
http://www.skinnyscoop.com/list/kristinefretwel/5-favorite-fitness-classes
I'm not a fan of leg presses, but I'd like the author to load up one of those sleds with 1000 pounds and then tell me that body weight squats are harder. Or she could shut her mouth and do some WEIGHTED squats, which are a better option then either of the ones she proposed.
She also said "Most of us don't want to look like a muscle head reject from the Jersey Shore. We want to be lean and strong, but not bulky." Her obvious bias against weight lifting, and ignorance of how muscles adapt to stress (they grow or shrink rather than become bulky or lean) should be an absolute contraindication to anyone taking her seriously. She is also playing off of women's fears that they will get "bulky" if they lift weights. The vast majority will not, no matter how heavy they try to lift, so long as they don't take performance enhancing drugs.
Anything said by a self described "fit-preneur" needs to be taken with a 45 pound plate of salt.
Vitamin D is created when exposing your skin to UVB-light. This is the by far best and the only natural way to increase your vitamin D level.
To exercise outdoors is a good advice, but remember that UVB can reach your skin only when the sun is higher than 50 degrees above the horizon.
This mean that the right time for being outdoors is around noon, however, for several months of the year, the sun never manage to climb high enough.
A tanning beds is then a good alternative to keep your vitamin D level high.
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More exercise does not improve health or increase longevity, and heavy aerobic exercise is bad for you. Those who run marathons and triathlons have more heart disease and shortened longevity. This is obvious to anyone who owns a horse: overwork kills. "No pain, no gain" is patently false. And "workouts" kill, exercise should be fun, not work.
I'm 61 and I'm still an endorphin junkie, regularly walk 10 miles, rollerblade 20. But I do it because I enjoy it, not because I pretend it's good for me.