Warmer weather and longer daylight hours often means the thought of attending a stuffy gym becomes further and further from your mind - it's around now that panic sets in about looking good for your holiday.
Has all the resolutions, gym work and sensible eating that you promised yourself through the winter paid off or has it come down to a last minute focus?
This will ring true for many people, however the good news is, it’s never to late to make changes and look good for your holiday. Here are a few ideas to get you motivated and scorch some calories in the great outdoors:
Stairs – find some steep outdoor stairs and after a good warm up – power up or quick walk, depending on your fitness level and walk down as a recovery. Repeat 6 – 12 times. A brilliant heart rate and fat burner workout.
Beach/Grass sprints – Try to find a flat joint friendly surface with a bit of give eg beach or grass. Mark around 40-80 metres and after a decent warm up, work on your speed with short sharp sprints, walk back as you recover. Look to complete 10-20 times.
Lamp posts – Seek a good route that has regular lamp posts, focus on your speed and technique for two lamp posts, followed by a slow jog for four. This type of training keeps your heart rate high throughout the session and as you never fully recover between the sprints is excellent for endurance as well.
Paddle Boarding – A great form of exercise and is becoming more and more popular. This is excellent for increasing core strength, balance and is surprisingly tough on your breathing when you really go for it! Of course being out on the water also gives you a great sense of freedom and will leave you invigorated.
Beach Bootcamp – My Tynemouth, Beach Bootcamps are hugely popular and cater for all, ages, sizes and levels of fitness. There is no competition with anything we do as everything is geared on a set time, therefore you can work as hard as you feel. Of course the sheer beauty of Tynemouth, Longsands makes it one of the best places to train in the North East.
Exercising outdoors makes you feel fantastic as it boosts your levels of the feel good brain chemical serotonin, giving you more energy and motivation. Studies also show those who train outdoors workout for longer. Factors such as varied terrain and wind resistance also play a part in improving your fitness and burning more calories.
With the North East boasting some of the most beautiful, beaches, country side and parks in the country, you are spoilt for choice for new places to train and supercharge your metabolism leading up to your holiday