Take Your Workout Outside!

Post by Olivia Martino and Paula Jahn, Registered Dietitians and Co-owners, Nourish Northwest

Several years ago, while we were both living in Seattle, attending grad school we used to work out together at a gym at the very bottom of Capital Hill.  If you know Seattle at all, you know how steep of a hill this is.  Our calves were pretty toned during those years.  Several times a week we would walk down from 15th Ave, pass our favorite coffee shops and bars, always in awe of the beautiful view of South Lake Union and the Cascade Mountains and step foot into a huge box gym to attend our favorite fitness class.

Again, if you know Seattle at all, and even if you know Portland, you know how important it is to get outside during those few sunny days we have.  One year when that first sunny day came around, as we were headed down to the gym we decided there was no way we could go inside that loud, stuffy air conditioned building.  “Let’s do some urban boot camp instead!” one of us declared and ran over to the nearest street lamp to start some push ups.  Then we took a little detour over into Cal Anderson Park and scanned the area to see what our “equipment” would be.  Our urban boot camps became a regular summer thing, and we came up with some creative ways to use outdoor fixtures.

 

 

 

While we want you to continue coming to your normal weekly fitness classes at Nourish, we also understand that there are some days when you just have to stay outside.  The good news is we offer two weekly outdoor boot camp classes at Mt. Tabor on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings.  But for those other times, when you want to squeeze in a quick toning session, here are some exercises you can do on your own!