The New Year marks new beginnings for many. A new diet and fitness plan is a common New Year’s resolution but is usually only taken seriously for about a month. Many start strong and then diverge. How are your New Year’s resolutions holding up? Our Munich-based Account Executive, Claudia Schulz, believes that training regimes are still worth considering, especially those in the outdoors.
Workout schemes are everywhere; fitness apps, group classes, Pinterest posts, Instagram videos, park runs, the list goes on. The inspiration to burn calories, gain strength, and tone up is accessible now more than ever. Since I am not particularly a gym enthusiast, this winter I took a particular interest towards the outdoor workout schemes and was curious to see if I would enjoy them.
For those who are not familiar with outdoor workouts, they are a short workout scheme set up to tone the body without using equipment but full body strength to get a total body workout. This workout scheme is targeted at those who want to build their fitness and strength but also to enjoy the nature of the great outdoors.
A recent Les Mills (one of the world’s leading group fitness providers) and Neilsen study of global consumers estimated that 39% of adults over 18 exercise on a regular basis, 39% don’t exercise and would like to and the remaining 22% don’t want to exercise. This study estimates that 20% of these exerciser’s do not go to a gym. These statistics are of great interest to the entire sports industry, especially those looking to develop an industry for training outdoors.
Outdoor training is something that the mainstream media have also grabbed hold of. There is a perception that working out in the fresh air is fun, strengthening and beneficial. We’re seeing regular articles about outdoor exercise in magazines like Cosmopolitan, with advantages for readers such as; burning more calories, bettering your mood, enjoying the scenery and no cost. Mainly targeting female consumers, articles like these provide reassurance and approval of being an outdoor enthusiast.
https://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/body/fitness-workouts/a37200/4-reasons-to-exercise-outdoors/
I am a surf fanatic, but with the nearest surf break hundreds of miles away, my new life in the heart of Munich has led me to try a range of outdoor workout schemes. First I experimented with mobile apps like Freeletics and Nike but found these to be the most demotivating. Without a personal development plan, there is no build up or end goal, just a combination of exercises and workouts to choose depending on your mood. This gym-like numerical approach to fitness is something I wanted to avoid when moving outdoors. What I found most enjoyable was the use of outdoor workout groups like Eisbach Fit. Motivating yourself to go to them is by far the hardest thing to do on cold dark winter days, but the social atmosphere and group motivation leave you feeling the way a workout should, in joyful ache.
