I am thrilled to welcome guest blogger, Natalie Rado. She’s an amazingly talented Fitness Trainer here in NYC. I asked her to give us some practical tips for getting fit without a gym membership and to share some moves that fit into busy lives. She came up with a fabulous 30 minute workout that we can do outside practically anywhere. Please enjoy.
Ah, Spring. It’s such a wonderful time of renewal and rejuvenation, isn’t it? It feels so great to walk around the city streets sans heavy jacket and clunky boots. It makes you want to get outside all the time to smell the freshness of the flowers blooming; feel the sun beating down on your neck; and embrace the joy that not being cooped up in your apartment brings. It’s also a time to move your workouts outside and out of the gym to mix things up and gear up for summer. Let’s renew and rejuvenate your exercise routine to take you out of a workout rut or just spice things up to get you feeling amazing by the time bathing suit season is here.
Here are 4 exercises you can do in a park, in your back yard, on a jogging trail, or even in your apartment on a rainy day. It will take you about 30 minutes to do on your own, and with this high intensity training, that’s all you need to get results! You’ll perform these exercises using the ladder technique. That is, you’ll start with high reps and slowly work your way down to lower reps. In this particular workout, you’ll perform each exercise in a circuit (do each exercise one after the other without rest), starting with 16 reps, and then going down the “ladder” to 14 reps, 12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, and ending with 6 reps. Between each circuit, take a 60 second rest to jog in place or march in place. If you’re outside, you can take those 60 seconds to run to another spot in the park or down the running trail. Switch up your scenery!
1) Squat-thrusts: Start standing with your arms over-head; then put your hands down on the ground to kick your feet back into a push-up position; perform one push-up; jump your feet back into your hands; stand up; repeat.
2) Walking Lunges: Sink your weight centrally and make sure that both knees are bent at 90 degrees while walking forward. Watch that your knees don’t jut forward in front of your toes.
3) Mountain Climbers: While in a push-up position, bring one knee into your chest at a time and alternate legs. This is a fast action exercise so try to keep up the pace!
4) Walking squats: Just like the lunges but in a squat. You’ll step one foot out to the side in a squat and then bring the feet together. Stay down in the squat the whole time, and make sure that you’re weight is pushing into your heels, not your toes.
This April I started this kind of workout myself as a Spring Shape-Up and I’m feeling better than I have in a long while. Also, these are the kind of exercises you can experience in my new boot camp that I’m starting this Spring to get your body toned in places you never thought possible. Check out my website for details on how you can get started with my boot camp and Be Well!
Natalie is a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the leading Personal Training Certification program in more than 80 countries. She specialized in the courses Optimum Performance Training for the Pre-Natal Client, Sports Performance, Neuromuscular Stretching, Neuromuscular Physiology, and Kinetic Chain Dysfunction. In addition, she is CPR Certified by the American Red Cross and a graduate of Western Michigan University.
Natalie trained clients with Method Fitness in Manhattan and Body by Mike in Brooklyn before starting Be Well, personal training for anyone looking to feel great in their own skin and accomplish fitness goals they never thought possible.
