Outdoor Exercise vs. Indoor Exercise

While exercising in any environment has a host of positive benefits for both your body and mind, exercising outdoors can be a great way to change up your workout routine and even have some added health benefits. Being stuck mostly inside for a long winter here in the upper Midwest is usually enough to make us ready for the outdoors once spring/summer arrives. With summer officially here now, many of us are trying to enjoy the outdoors as much as we possibly can.

So why not make some of our summer workouts happen outside as well?!

There have been studies that show exercising outside can have benefits that include a decrease in anger/anxiety, positive effects on vitality, and increased energy.

Plus, there is the great benefit of getting Vitamin D in our body which is a very important Vitamin that we often lack in, especially in the winter when we see no sun. These are all added benefits on top of all the important benefits you get from your normal workout.  Here are a couple of exercises that you can perform at home to get you started:

Step up: Go to the local park or any stair that may be outside and use it to perform step up. This can be a great cardio workout or grab some weights (dumbbells, backpack with books would also work) and make into a more strength-based workout.

Lunge: This is a great exercise that you can perform anywhere with only a little bit of open space. If you want to make this exercise harder, just add some dumbbells or a weighted backpack for some extra

Pushup/pushup on stairs: Use that same step or stair and use it to perform incline pushups. Or if you have no step/stairs you can just perform regular pushups.

Triceps dip: Here you can use your step/chair one more time for a great triceps workout. To make this exercise more difficult simply extend your legs further in front of you.

Yoga: This one does not need to get any more specific than this, because there are a ton of great options out there for yoga at home. Get out in the morning or as the sun sets and perform a short yoga session can be a great way to either start or end your day.

There are tons of videos on YouTube and Downdog is a yoga-based app that you could also use.