But what if I live in a cave, Jake?

With that tagline in mind, this article is going to provide you with a more realistic and effective spin on the concept. Thanks to a bit of imagination, I’ve discovered that if you’ve got the outdoors, you’ve gotta gym! Read on for a guide on setting up your own outdoor gym along with a workout to try.

Where Is the Best Place for an Outdoor Gym?

Practically anywhere! Although it depends on what you want to do and your access to the outdoors. I am currently based in Australia’s capital city, Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). One of the best and most unique things about Canberra is the abundance of open outdoor space and closeness to bushland. For example, my training partner, ACT Fire Brigade Officer Dave Bremers, and I discovered Mount Ainslie is a mere ten minute’s jogging distance from us and has an abundance of natural objects and trails we can utilize. What’s near you?

A kangaroo training partner is optional.

What Objects Work Well in an Outdoor Gym?

Any natural objects that you can lift, carry, climb, or pull yourself up from. Try for a variety of different sized rocks or log to lift or carry and low tree branches for pulling exercises or climbing. In addition, look for trails, paths, and hills for weighted carries.

How Do I Program for Outdoor Gym Sessions?

While you are only limited by your imagination and what objects you have access to, I recommend keeping it simple and focusing on full-body style workouts. I have found the following template works well:

• Lower body movement (quad dominant) – Log or rock squat variations
• Upper body pulling movement – Tree chin up or pull up, or tree inverted rows
• Lower body movement (hip dominant) – Log or rock deadlift variations
• Upper body pushing movement – Push ups, Log or rock bench-style presses
• Whole body explosive and/or whole body grind – Rock or log carries and/or rock or log throws
• Core work – Plank or back extension variations

The RKC plank is an excellent way to develop core strength and full-body tension.

Exercise-wise, you are only limited by your imagination and the objects around you. If your outdoor setting doesn’t have rocks, logs, or other objects for loaded exercises, simply focus on bodyweight movements with increased difficulty and/or more repetitions. Be prepared to be flexible and adapt your workout to best suit your surroundings and to ensure you have fun.

What Are the Benefits of an Outdoor Gym?

Training outdoors is an enjoyable and fun change to being in the often sterile and artificial environment of a gym. Lifting and playing with randomly sized and weighted outdoor objects is a fantastic challenge to grip strength and endurance, while their offset loads and holds help improve coordination and strengthen often-neglected stabilizer muscles.

“While you are only limited by your imagination and what objects you have access to, I recommend keeping it simple and focusing on full-body style workouts.”

I hate to use that word “functional,” but getting better at picking up and moving large awkward objects like logs and rocks is pretty functional training for everyday life. Getting to train in the outdoors, particularly in my country of Australia, also means getting a good dose of sunshine and the associated vitamin D benefits. There is also just something cool about having kangaroos and other Australian wildlife in your “gym” watching your form!

Your Outdoor Workout: “Bremers”

Here is my current go-to outdoor gym workout that you can get started with. It’s 45 to 60 minutes of full-body training that works great as a solo session or when done with a partner.

“Bremers”

1. Rock squat thruster – ascending ladder, up only – max 10 reps
2. Tree chin up (alternating grip) – ascending ladder, up and down
3. Rock sumo style deadlift – ascending ladder, up only – max 10 reps
4. Push ups – ascending ladder, up only – max 10 reps
5. Rock carry – 2 x 3 minutes, maximum efforts for distance
6. RKC plank – 3 x maximum efforts for time

No loud music, no waiting for equipment – just me, the outdoors, and a fun workout.

Notes:

• Ascending ladder, up only: Do 1 rep, rest 15 seconds, do 2 reps, rest, do 3 reps etc. Continue in this fashion until you fail a set and/or until you complete the 10-rep set.
• Ascending ladder, up and down: Do 1 rep, rest 15 seconds, do 2 reps, rest, do 3 reps etc. Continue in this fashion until you struggle to complete a set and then return back to 1 rep. You then continue going up until you are 1 rep short of where you stopped previously, then you return to 1 rep. Said another way: if on your first effort you get 1, 2, 3, 4, and then 5 reps. Then the next round you start back at 1 rep and work up to 4. After completing 4 reps, you start back at 1 rep and work up to 3. Continue up the ladder, going one rung less each time until you are too fatigued to even complete 1 rep.

Give it a try and let me know how you go. Remember, you got the outdoors, you gotta gym!

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• Primal Fitness – What It is and Why It is Important
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The post How to Make Nature Your Gym (Australia Style) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

During my first wilderness tour, I spent all of my free time constructing an all-natural CrossFit gym at my summer base camp. I made a combination squat rack and dip station out of logs and stumps, gathered every shape and size of rock for weights, discovered cliffs I could use to do handstand pushups, and organized fallen trees as box jumps. Surprisingly, it was difficult to find tree branches low enough to do pull ups on, so I tied a rope to a branch and looped it around a nook in a tree. This setup looked and functioned like a trapeze-pull up bar and added some excitement to workouts. But this outdoor gym did more than just get me into the best shape of my life – it changed the course of my life.

If you threw any WOD at this “wild gym,” you were good to go. I remember doing “Fran” with a heavy rock for thrusters and pull ups on a very dynamic pull up bar (all at 9,000 feet in elevation). Another favorite was “Nancy.” I would do overhead squats with a log (that I hoped was not more than 95 pounds) and then 400m sprints on a muddy, rocky, uneven trail. This made for great agility training. I had light, medium, and heavy logs that I used for back squats, front squats, and overhead squats. I placed rocks on my back or in my backpack to add weight to pull ups, pushups, and dips. Working out had truly become an adventure.

The most epic day of wild-fitness began with ten miles of hiking to get to several trees that had fallen across the trail and needed to be sawed. After several hours of sawing and swinging axes, we headed back to camp. I had a quick snack and decided to do some pull ups and dips for a little extra work. I felt pretty accomplished with my day and was looking forward to the several bratwursts waiting for me in my backpack.

Just as I sat down and started to gather firewood, a sixteen-year-old boy ran into camp yelling, “My mom is having a heart attack!” With my calves twitching and adrenal hormones pumping, I sprinted down the trail with a first-aid kit and radio. The boy’s mother was sitting by the trail and was relieved to see a potential rescuer. After an initial assessment, we determined she had a severe case of altitude sickness. The rescue helicopter arrived and landed in a dangerously small meadow. We loaded her up and held our breath until they cleared the canopy and headed towards civilization. Her son was still with me and I ended that day with another six miles of hiking. Preparing for the unknown and unknowable. I slept well that night.

Sleep was the best part of being in the wilderness. It became much more of a natural rhythm that flowed perfectly each day. When it got dark, you went to bed. When the sun came up, you got up. I received a healthy dose of daily sunlight and avoided any of the artificial light pollution that invades so much of our lives. You know that sickly orange glow from street light that trickles through the blinds at night? None of that in the wilderness. The only interruption was the occasional deer running through camp at 2:00am, in which case I generally awoke thinking I was under certain bear-attack. The fight-or-flight response is paleo, right?

You squat a lot in the wilderness. Getting water, squat. Stoking the campfire, squat. Making dinner, squat. Bathroom, squat. It’s interesting how the modern world has practically eliminated the need to go through such an innate human movement. If you’re having trouble going below parallel, try going backpacking for a week.

Hiking is another activity that is crucial for human vitality. Consistent times of low-intensity movement throughout the day will help you recover faster, improve mobility and make you healthier. An interesting phenomenon that I’ve seen develop is the sedentary athlete. This individual trains exceptionally hard and is at a relatively high level of fitness. However, even though he or she goes all-out for a one-hour workout, the rest of the day involves nothing but sitting. We need to move constantly. The circulation of our venous blood and lymphatic fluid is not under pressure like our arteries. These systems require muscular contractions to push fluid along. If we are inactive for extended periods of time, this fluid begins to pool and slows down the clearance of metabolic waste.

Perpetual movement does not mean you have to work out all day long. Take a quick walk or bust out a few squats, lunges, or push ups at your desk, several times a day, and suddenly you are moving things along. As a CrossFit coach, I’ve noticed how low-intensity movement affects me. On days that I train hard and coach multiple classes, I am physically tired, but do not feel as sore or stiff as I do on days I train and then sit at a computer for extended periods. We’ve become so focused on the one-hour of high-intensity exercise that we forget to move the remaining 23.

Living in the wilderness and using nature as my gym truly changed me and my philosophy on training. I think that CrossFit has done an outstanding job of disrupting the outdated social agreement that exercise needs to be done using machines under fluorescent lights and ended with thirty minutes of cardio. I believe we should take this a step further, though and turn fitness into an adventure.

You do not always need rubber flooring, bumper plates, air conditioning, 24” boxes or a pre-workout supplement to work out. Mother Nature has provided everything we need and more. Let’s embrace this. Go get hot, dirty, and uncomfortable while loving every second of it. Go alone to somewhere no one will see you, or even believe you were there if you told them, and do a workout.

I believe that we were all born wild and that this wildness is still a part of who we are, both as individuals and as a culture. I also believe that outdoor exercise can be a means to reconnect to the innate wildness in all of us. Challenge yourself, workout anywhere, and live with wildness, passion, and purpose.

Photos courtesy of Dan Vinson and The Wild Gym.

The post How Living, Working, and Training in the Wild Made Me Evolve appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Researchers recruited twelve male cyclists. The cyclists were put through two forty-kilometer cycling courses. One course was performed indoors. The other course was performed outdoors on a fairly flat trail. Each cyclist used his personal bike, which was outfitted with an ergometer.

So how did the outdoor trials compare with the indoor trials? The difference was astonishing. Every single participant finished the outdoor trial faster. The average time to complete the indoor trial was 96 minutes, compared to just 83 minutes for the outdoor trial. A thirteen-minute difference on a ninety-minute workout is pretty amazing.

Power output was an average of thirty percent higher during the outdoor trials. Participants registered a higher heart rate during the outdoor trial, but also a lower skin temperature. The cooling effect of oncoming air during the outdoor ride was thought to account for the lower skin temperature, because core temperatures were roughly the same for the indoor and outdoor trials. Perceived exertion was also about the same, regardless of location.

So participants felt about the same during the outdoor trial, yet performed significantly better. It looks like outdoor training could result in better long-term adaptations. This isn’t the first study to reach such a conclusion. A previous study from Extreme Physiology and Medicine reported a similar result. When runners exercised outdoors they ran faster and perceived the run to be easier than a comparable run indoors. Outdoor exercise lasting just five minutes or more was also shown to substantially benefit mood.

Looks like this is another slam dunk for outdoor exercise. By taking the gym outdoors you’ll work harder, yet feel better. Even if you can’t do your entire workout outside, do what you can. Just five minutes can make a difference. Sometimes at my gym we will open the roll-up doors so we can see the outdoors, even if we’re lifting inside. Does it make a difference? I don’t know, but on a nice day, it can’t hurt.

References

1. Molly Mieras, et al. Physiological and Psychological Responses to Outdoor vs. Laboratory Cycling. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: POST ACCEPTANCE, 27 January 2014. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000384

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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If you decide to ditch the studio and take your mat to the sand or grass, there are a few things to keep in mind to modify your practice and make the most of your experience. Find an area at the beach or the park where you can relax and feel a bit secluded. There may be people who walk by, but try to stay focused on your practice and on your breath. If you are at the beach, you will obviously face the ocean. If you are at the park, position yourself to face a beautiful setting as your altar.

When doing yoga on the beach, it is best to skip the mat and opt for a flat sheet, large beach towel, or blanket. I’ve made the mistake of brining a yoga mat to the sand and the yoga mat had to become a “beach yoga mat” afterwards. The indentations in the mat absorb the sand and are really hard to get out. When you unroll the mat indoors it makes a mess everywhere. If you practice on the grass, a blanket or sheet is still ideal as it gives you lots of surface area. The mat moves around on the grass much more than on a hardwood floor.

To get grounded, start with a seated meditation to transition into the moment and into your yoga practice. Just simply sit and watch the breath flowing in and out of the nose. You may even add the mantra, “I am breathing in. I am breathing out.” Do this for a few minutes until you feel you are relaxed and present.

It is best to avoid long holds of poses that put pressure on the wrists such as downward facing, plank, vinyasa, arm balances or handstands. The sand and grass are much softer than the hardwood floors of a yoga studio, and therefore the heel of the hands tend to sink and put pressure on the ligaments of the wrists. Often I will practice a few classical sun salutations to dynamically warm-up the body, but I will forego any other vinyasas.

Standing poses are great outdoors, which includes things such as warrior poses, triangle, extended side angle pose, and all standing balancing poses. Backbends such as bridge, bow, and camel are great ways to improve flexibility in the back without straining the wrists. Hip openers such as pigeon and cobbler’s pose are also a perfect addition to an outdoor practice. Seated or lying-down twists work well on the sand or grass.

If you have an existing headstand practice and have no major neck or eye injuries, headstands are really fun to do outside. When I do headstand on the sand I feel like I am ten years old again. It is liberating to see the world from a new perspective – upside down in nature. As with any yoga practice always end in savasana to gain the benefits of the previous poses.

Get out and enjoy the long, warm days by adding an outdoor yoga practice to your routine. In my option, nature is the best yoga studio! Where is your favorite outdoors location for yoga? Please post to comments below.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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When people are allowed to simply walk as fast or as slow as they prefer, they tend to walk faster when outdoors compared to indoors. This is interesting by itself, but the kicker is that they report feeling less exertion. So by exercising outside you can actually perform better, but your workout will feel more effortless.

Green exercise is also proven to improve mood and self-esteem. And not much time is required to reap these psychological benefits. The first five minutes of green exercise show the greatest psychological benefit. So even if you can’t complete your entire workout outdoors, don’t worry. Can you take part of your workout outdoors for just five minutes? Just that tiny dose is enough for a measurable benefit to your mind.

Unfortunately, access to the outdoors is declining among youth. Only 10% of youth today report having access to nature, while 40% of adults say they had access when they were young. Now I’m sure that some ageism is present in a self-reported statistic like this. You know what I mean. Some people love to recount stories of walking seven miles to school, uphill both ways, through knee-high snow, even though they grew up in downtown Miami. But evidence is clear that parental fears of strangers, traffic, and criminals are causing them to limit youth access to nature. This is a travesty. Youth stand to gain so much through child-like playing and exploring in nature. The dangers are insignificant in comparison.

The world-wide decline in physical activity since the Industrial and Digital Revolutions is almost certainly a part of the corresponding increase in disease. Mental health has also showed a marked decline. Most of us agree that exercise is part of turning this trend around. But as this study shows, green exercise in particular may be able to achieve great effects with relatively low doses.

References:

1. Valerie Gladwell, et. al. The great outdoors: how a green exercise environment can benefit all. Extreme Physiology and Medicine 2013, 2:3. doi: 10.1186/2046-7648-2-3

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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