Mensfitness '' Be an outsider''

Mensfitness '' Be an Outsider''

Article Men's Fitness

Recent research shows that around 60% of people joining a gym barely make it for their induction, let alone entering the world of sweat and pump three times a week. So what distracts us from this manufactured haven of health? The reasons why seem to lie somewhere between, the smell, the monotony, other bodies and your warm couch. As a personal trainer I spend half my life in gyms, so if anyone wants to venture out doors I am the first to leap into a frenzy to get there, any weather.

One of my clients Mimi Spencer , editor of ES magazine, said of gyms before she trained with me `Gyms as a rule smell of boys and athletes foot, I know athletes foot does not strictly smell but if it did , it would smell of gyms. Slightly damp, a combination of Head and Shoulders and Sure extra dry and the lurking cloy of perspiration trying to break through. Not my world. I am too vain for the strawberry puce bit, too picky for the slightly damp bit, and a whole lot too concerned with my appearance for the bit that involves sweating in public, but then two things happened I got engaged and I met Christianne'

It would seem people do need a huge incentive to keep their training consistent, either that or crack of the whip motivation. If this is you, then enter a new gym in the great outdoors. Its free, refreshing, there are few bodies to compare yours with and you have a wealth of exercises to chose from.

Of course gyms are not entirely a waste of money, it is practical, convenient and good for specific training. But outdoors we are naturally akin to animals so we naturally feel closer to our origins, which means it is easier to relax, concentration does not feel like a chore, and the exercise you are faced with, will surpass with a smile.

I have trained people through wind, rain and snow and yet they always look so much happier after, than if they were stuck indoors on a treadmill. We all need our freedom and if you are slumped behind a desk all day, what better way to unwind and liberate your self, than to jump over some logs, climb a tree or feel the wind howling through you. You can sing, you can make noise, you can jump around in a crazy manner and noone is close enough to care. It is about getting away from the incessant hum of life, computerised machinery can drain you, just being outdoors gives you natural energy.

Can't face it alone? Then why not pick up some outdoor techniques. Robin Cope, managing director of British military training,

( britmilfit.com Tel 0207 751 9742 ) says

`Gyms are good to construct a body but there is so much more variety outside, you have a whole park'

`With our classes you are not confined to a sweaty studio, but are outside where there is fresh air, added motivation in groups of like minded people'

So how can you use the great outdoors?

`We work on stamina, strength and endurance, the training is very basic, but this seems to be the most effective, the more complex an exercise is the less likely you are going to stick with it. So this would involve relays, running around trees, grouping into pairs or 4's, it gets you away from spending half an hour figuring out how to use gym equipment'

If you do want to venture into something a bit more daring then they also arrange parachuting, abseiling, marathons and assault weekends.

In January of this year many of my clients hit the dreaded post Christmas slum, where the motivation was lying somewhere in their rested chocolate fat and the idea that they would have to do it all over again erupted in tantrums. But with a bit of bullying, I have persuaded some to enter triathlons, duathalons, marathons and have taken them out climbing ….it has worked. We all need constant stimulation and the key is to up and change your routine as often as you can. Do not let foot and mouth put you off either. Cope says that their classes are not effected by it they still run there classes nation wide in parks around Britain.

And you will get results. Outside you are constantly going over different terrain, so your body has to keep adapting, which inevitably results in increasing your fitness levels further.

To train outdoors

Set yourself a circuit of ten simple exercises and begin or end with cycling or running

Upper body

1 Tricep dips off a bench or branch.

2 Press up against a log.

Upper and lower

3 Climb up a tree, if you are not sure of heights then climb a few branches and jump back down again

4. Bunny hop over old fallen tree.

Abs

5 Find a gate or style and corner yourself resting your elbows with your feet off the floor. Raise your knees to your chest then back down again.

6 Walk along wobbly branch.

Legs and Butt

7 Step ups on a bench, the higher the better.

8 Lunge walk.

9 Set up something to run your feet in and out of ( imitating hopping in and out of tires)

10 set yourself up hurdles to jump over.

If I have not convinced you yet then may be Jennifer Lopez can. Her personal trainer Radu says ` I train Jennifer by applying training from the gym to the outdoors, verifying and exposing conditioning to mother nature, climbing, running, jumping and playing games'

So absorb the fresh air in to your lungs, get on J lo's wave length and put some use to your fitness.

Websites

www.greatoutdoors.com

www.britmilfit.com

www.the paradome.com

Personal training Christianne Wolff 0797 7714791