Pete Yardley Health & Fitness: Taking it Outdoors

pete yardley personal fitness trainer wolverhampton

I’ve recently started running an outdoor boot camp session each week with a mixed ability group. Our first few sessions have been a huge success with good attendance and amazing feedback. On the whole, the weather has been on our side and the guys and girls who’ve come along have thrown themselves into everything I’ve asked of them.

I suppose that one major consideration when marketing and planning ‘boot camp’ sessions is just how hardcore to go. To some, the name of the exercise class itself conjures up visions of military-style obstacle courses, which might feel very intimidating for some. But I reckon we’ve hit upon a perfect blend of challenging bodyweight work and the use of equipment such as:

Tyres

Ropes

Kettlebells

Dumbbells

Balls

Cones

Resistance bands

I absolutely love planning and delivering these workouts and it’s great to meet loads of new people who I wouldn’t necessarily have pleasure of working with had I not taken my business away from the gym for one day a week.

And exercising outdoors is just brilliant, particularly in a group. Here are my top 4 reasons for trying to plug more outdoor exercise into your routine:

Vitamin D

Most of us have heard of vitamin D. It’s a vital and nutrient in optimising bone health, modulating immune function and reducing inflammation. The sad thing is that a HUGE portion of us are deficient in this vitamin because of our poor diet and sedentary lifestyles. One very simple way of getting your body to synthesise its own vitamin D is to get your skin in the sun for 20 minutes every day. Our Saturday morning boot camp will, as long as the weather behaves itself, give you more than enough.

Mental Well-Being

Studies have shown that exercising outdoors promotes feelings of increased energy, revitalisation and positive engagement. Read more about these findings in this Science Daily article. For those who struggle to commit to exercise, these mental benefits might just be what you need to make the new habit stick. A study from Canada confirms this in older women.

Space

As an instructor it’s great to train a group outside because of the options it gives me because of the space that’s available. We all know how claustrophobic and cramped it can feel when working out in a busy gym. There’s no such problem at boot camp!

An Ever-Changing Environment

From one day to the next, the gym will never change. The weights machines will track along the same pre-determined path, the mats you use to perform your core exercises will continue to provide a familiar soft and comfortable support for your lower back, and the treadmills will never let you do anything but walk or run in the same direction. This is all well and good. But what about real life? Do we always move in straight lines? Should we always prioritise comfort over function? The simple answer is NO. Training outdoors provides an opportunity for your body to practice adjusting to changes in terrain, temperature and a whole host of other inconsistent factors.

Here are some images of the team having fun in the wind, rain and sun…