4 Ways To Spice Up Your Summer Workouts

Written by Greg

With summer at our front door, and the kids out of school, we’re looking for ways to spice up our summer workouts while keeping the whole family involved. Here are five tips to make that happen.

4 Tips To Add Some Zip To Your Summer Workouts

Who wants to be in the gym every day when its warm and sunny outside? Not me, and most certainly not your kids. Nothing against gyms, but I’ve never met a kid above the age of 6 that like hanging out in a gym playroom while Mom or Dad hit the weights. Mix some of these ideas into your workout, and they can get fit as well. Everyone will enjoy their summer workouts.

Join A Tennis Club

Most communities have a at least a handful of tennis courts available, even if its only at the local high school. Look around at the beginning of summer, and you’re likely to find a local tennis club as well. Generally speaking, the group gets together once or twice each week and they have courts set up for people of all ages and skill levels.

Explore Your National Parks

Most people have at least one National Park within close driving distance. These are places set aside for us to enjoy, and they present the opportunity for a wide range of exercise workouts. A day at your closest National Park can include physical activities ranging from canoeing, hiking, rock climbing, or swimming. You’re almost guaranteed to find camping and picnic areas available as well. When economic times are tough, this offers the additional benefit of keeping the day inexpensive.

Do A Sprint Triathlon

Say triathlon and most people will cringe, but the truth is that training to complete a sprint triathlon isn’t as hard as you may think. Approximate distances for a sprint triathlon usually consist of a 500-meter swim, a 12-mile bike ride, and a 5-K run. Sure, if you want to win its a tremendous amount of work, but if your intent is to simply complete the event, it can be pretty enjoyable.

There’s the added benefit that your kids can train as well. But if they’re young, or its just not their thing, many sprint triathlon coordinators make a day of the event and include something like a try-athlon, which are shorter distances for the kids.

Try Geocaching

A friend of mine recently bought a GPS unit and has gotten into geocaching. If you haven’t heard about it, this is the modern day equivalent of a treasure hunt. Containers are cached around the world and GPS hunters download coordinates to their device and go in search of the cache. Hunters often sign a log book when they find the cache, and can then go online and share stories with other treasure hunters. He says his kids love doing this with him, and locating caches have taken everything from hiking and bicycling to remote spots that require day-long excursions, to short city trips to sights of interest.

I’ve only recently discovered there’s an iPhone app, too. You can find it here –>

My kids have been asking about geocaching, and we’ve already planned a trip to the only public diamond mine in the U.S., so we’re going to include some serious modern day treasure hunts this summer.

When it comes to fitness and weight loss, its easy to get caught up in repeating the rut of weights, gyms, and treadmills. These are just a handful of ways you can incorporate fitness into your lifestyle, in a way that’s fun, entertaining, and interactive. Put your imagination to the task and you can find a myriad of other ways to spice up your summer workouts.

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