During the winter months you’ve been cooped up inside your gym and now you’re definitely ready for a change. Fortunately, there are a wide number of different summer-time activities that you can do that will challenge your muscle strength, boost your cardiovascular fitness level, and keep you interested in your fitness program.
Let’s take a quick look right now at some of the top outdoor non-gym cardio activities that you should be considering. By adding two or three of these throughout the week, you’ll have no problem getting that cardio training in and seeing great results from it.
Skipping
First up on our list of great non-gym cardio activities is skipping. If you want an activity that will really torch calories fast, skipping is most definitely it.
By spending 10 minutes of skipping, you’ll burn just as many calories as you would with fast paced running, so this one proves to be just as effective as far as overall fat loss goes. Plus, with the only equipment you need being a skipping rope, it’s also a very cost-effective way to meet your fitness goals as well.
Just be sure to skip on the grass or a padded surface to reduce the chance of bone and joint pain.
Rollerblading
The second great non-gym activity to take part in is rollerblading. Not only is this also an excellent calorie burner, but if you crouch low enough while you go about your rollerblading, you’ll also be placing a good stress load on the quad muscles, helping to build lower body strength.
If thigh toning and slimming is what you’re after, rollerblading should be your choice of activity.
Hill Sprints
To really kick up the intensity of things, consider hill sprints. You’ve likely done treadmill sprints at some point in the gym over time but now, to really put your physical ability to the test, try doing those sprints going uphill.
Hill sprints are perfect because most hills offer a good length for an all out sprint and the walk back down will serve as an ideal rest period to allow you to recover.
If you can do 4-6 hill sprints, being sure to start with a five minute warm-up and cool-down, you will have created a very good workout for boosting your metabolic rate and adding more power to your lower body muscles.
Rowing
Rowing is the next cardio activity that you should consider adding during the warmer months. If you happen to have a river or lake nearby and can rent out some rowing boats or kayaks, this is a perfect upper body cardio workout for those days when your legs just need a bit of a break.
Rowing will help to tone the shoulders and strengthen the back, while also giving you a great ab workout as well.
Team Sports
Finally, be sure not to overlook team sports either. Team sports are great for boosting your cardio ability and also increasing speed and agility as well. Best of all, they’re incredibly fun to play.
Join a recreational soccer or basketball team and make fitness a social affair.
So there you have a few of the top non-gym cardio activities that you should definitely consider. If you can make the most of these, you’ll have a very enjoyable fitness plan ahead of you.
Aishwarya is a versatile blogger who loves to write on different topics ranging from fitness to travelling and philosophy to technology. She is working as a partner with Offshore Ally, a full time virtual assistant company which aims to provide VA for real estate industry.