Getting Out Of Your Box!!

Everyone likes to talk about going to the gym to do cardio or weights. We get into a mindset that we always need to either be on a machine doing cardio or running outside. That's about as creative as it gets. Well, dare I say it, that can get BORING! That's coming from a personal trainer.

Doing the same thing over and over again leads to monotony and stale fitness routines. I know over the past year I have replaced my favorite cardio activities with mountain biking because it gets me out enjoying area parks and gives me a great cardio workout at the same time. In the past I never would give it a chance because I viewed it as something that wasn't for me.


Often times I see people do this. They discard something as "not for them" before even trying it and when they actually try it guess what, THEY LOVE IT!! The challenges/events we run during The SUMMIT and JUMPSTART CHALLENGE as well as our fitness retreats are designed to get people out of their boxes.

Last weekend we did several "out of the box" activities such as a power hike through a State Park where we had the hikers track their heart rate and calories burned. Low and behold, at the end of the hike many of them had burned hundreds of calories while pushing their heart rates into a good working range. Who would have thought a walk in the woods could do that?

We also did kayaking. Talk about a great core workout! Where would you rather be a sunny day in Minnesota. On the water or in gym on an elliptical?

My take home point from all this is that fitness needs to be lifelong. There are many ways to challenge your body and they don't all have to be in the gym. Yes cardio machines and weights are important but they are only part of the puzzle.

We have some great activities available to us here in Minnesota. Hiking, canoeing, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, mountain biking, kayaking, rollerblading to name just a few. I'm sure there are other activities that I have missed but my point is, the next time an opportunity comes up to try something new don't disqualify yourself. You might find that it is just the refreshing challenge you were looking for!