12 Outdoor Workout Ideas to Spice Up Your Fitness Routine

How often do you get outside? Not to walk to the parking lot to get into your car or to go into the café next door to your office…but to reap the benefits of the great outdoors? How often do you take part in outdoor fitness?

Many people spend most of their waking hours cooped up at a desk, driving to and from work, the shops, or the gym, and generally doing things indoors. Although these habits can be hard to break, it’s worth considering how to prioritize outdoor time each day and incorporate outdoor fitness into your weekly routine.

Whether you’re looking for ideas for an effective and fun cardio workout or a strength training full-body workout, there are options to suit all fitness levels and preferences. Read on to discover our top outdoor workout ideas to change up your fitness regimen.

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The importance of outdoor activities

There are a multitude of benefits associated with outdoor activities. Here are a few of them.

Vitamin D

Sunshine is the most effective way for your body to get Vitamin D. You need it for calcium absorption, and in turn, for strong, healthy bones. Not living in a very ‘sunshiny’ sort of place? Then go outdoors for…

Fresh air

Take a break from artificial air conditioning and breathe in the real thing. No fresh air where you’re from? Then go outside for…

The mental health benefits

Going outside offers a change of scenery and a break from what you’re doing. It can also offer mood-boosting benefits. Take a walk while you’re out to stretch your legs, get your blood pumping, and release endorphins. Then, you can head back feeling mentally and physically refreshed.

Physical benefits

Last but not least, outdoor workouts help you improve your physical fitness, just like indoor exercise does. You can do cardiovascular exercise, strength work, and even mind-body sessions as part of your outdoor exercise routine.

If you’re feeling run-down, you may want to stay indoors. Instead, you can read these wellness tips to get you back to good health.

Outdoor training ideas to change up your routine

Here are some simple options to make outdoor fitness an enjoyable part of your lifestyle. Most require minimal equipment or nothing at all. They certainly don’t require an expensive gym membership! Choose a form of exercise that fits with your fitness goals and preferences and enjoy spending more time in the great outdoors.

Hiking or walking in nature

Take a buddy, head out with the kids, or find a walking meet-up group in your area. When my older daughter was young, we belonged to a meet-up group called the “Trail Babies.” In this group, families with young kids would get together and go on walks and hikes in our area.

Check out free outdoor gyms at parks in your area

Some outdoor workout spaces are better than others, so it takes a bit of trial and error to discover whether they have the equipment to meet your needs. This is a great website for finding outdoor fitness stations in parks and other places. 

Turn your daily commute into a workout

Consider biking to work as a convenient way to get some cardiovascular fitness and incidental exercise into your week. You might be surprised that with modern-day traffic, your journey could be faster on a bike! Alternatively, park a few blocks away and walk the remaining distance.

Get yourself an ‘anywhere’ workout routine

Bodyweight workout routines can be a fantastic option to exercise your major muscle groups. From mobility workouts to yoga, pilates, jump rope workouts, TRX workouts, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT), there’s a wide range of exercise options that use portable equipment or no equipment at all.

I’ve created a simple, low-impact workout with bodyweight exercises for full-body strength with different levels that you can try today. I’m a former fitness professional with extensive industry experience, so you can rest assured it’s a well-balanced program.

Enjoy a workout at your local playground

Head down to a nearby park and playground and have some fun. Playing is a surprisingly great workout and a good way to add outdoor fitness to your week. From a simple park bench to the monkey bars, playgrounds offer numerous ideas for outdoor exercises. Here are some simple exercises that you can do with playground equipment.

Jump on a backyard trampoline

Have you jumped on a trampoline lately? Trampolines provide a fantastic way to play, have fun…and get a brilliant workout at the same time. Check out these top choices for enclosed trampolines.

Try rucking for fitness

Rucking is a fantastic low-impact outdoor activity that can be done anywhere. Think hiking, but in any environment. It gets your heart rate up and your muscles working harder than if you were walking without a pack. Plus, you don’t need fancy equipment to get started.

Get involved in a new outdoor sport

Check out the outdoor team sports available in your area, or try something closer to nature. This could be a water sport or a snow sport, depending on where you live.

Choose active weekend activities

Hire a bike or kayak on the weekend or a day off and explore your area from a different angle. Biking is a fantastic physical activity for your lower body, whereas kayaking is a fun way to focus on your upper body. Or, get into trail running to step things up and enjoy the natural environment.

Discover outdoor fitness sessions near you

Search ‘outdoor fitness in my area’ and see what comes up. In our home city in New Zealand, we had free outdoor fitness classes in the park every Saturday morning. In Penang, Malaysia, we had the same thing. It is also likely that several outdoor bootcamp workouts or circuit training sessions will be available for you to try.

Invest in a mobile personal trainer

When I worked as a personal trainer, I offered sessions in parks, fitness studios, and at clients homes. A qualified personal trainer will help ensure you’re using proper form and completing high-quality workouts every time. They will usually help you find the motivation for a more intense workout than you might end up completing on your own.

Use a workout app

There are so many excellent options for fitness apps these days. As long as they don’t require heavy equipment (most don’t), you should be able to choose whether you use the app for indoor workouts or as your outdoor workout routine.

One of my favorite workout apps is FIIT for their wide range of excellent classes and top-quality trainers. It has an excellent balance of mind-body, strength, and cardiovascular-based sessions, so you can find the perfect workout to meet your fitness goals.

Final thoughts on embracing outdoor workout experiences

By now, you’ve hopefully realized there are numerous outdoor exercise activity options with something to suit everyone. Simple exercises like the plank position offer an equipment-free way to workout on your core strength in the great outdoors, and squat jumps or Bulgarian split squats are a killer way to work your leg muscles.

Similarly, a basic park bench can provide a strength and cardiovascular workout when you use it for exercises like dips, step ups, modified mountain climbers, and modified pushups.

Check to see whether there’s an outdoor group fitness class in your area for a motivating way to get fit. Or, try something like hiking, jogging, biking, rucking, or kayaking for fun and effective cardio training.

Aim to extend the outdoors notion by ensuring you’re also in nature at some point in your day, or at least your week. Go barefoot if possible, give your feet a proper stretch, and wake up the less active muscles whilst wearing shoes. Find out about the health benefits of nature by reading this article from the Huffington Post.

And finally…never mind the weather! There is no such thing as ‘bad weather conditions’, just inappropriate clothing. So splash in those puddles, let the rain refresh you, and enjoy the wind through your hair.

By the way, if you’re looking for some great performance-based sports sandals to fit your outdoor fitness lifestyle, take a look at my favorite ones.

How do you stay active outdoors? Feel free to join the conversation and leave a comment below!

Need more ideas for exercise?  Check out Elly’s book by Clicking Here.

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