The Benefits Of Exercising Outdoors

[caption id="attachment_831329" align="alignleft" width="1068"] Bigstockphoto.com/young African american woman runner with headphones jogging outdoors in nature beautiful summer night - Fitness, people and healthy lifestyle[/caption] There’s a reason that many exercise machines now have enormous LCD screens that feature virtual tours through forests, beaches, mountains and other natural landscapes while you exercise; people crave time outdoors and the fitness industry is catching on. Gym owners can’t very well take the roof and walls off of their establishment to give their customers fresh air (although that is a cool concept, but would make them pretty vulnerable to moochers and robbery). So they have to find some way to make people keep coming back, even though an indoor environment isn’t always the best for a workout. If you’ve been feeling bored and uninspired by your gym, here are incredible benefits of exercising outdoors. [caption id="attachment_621478" align="alignleft" width="535"] Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll stay engaged longer

Running through a natural landscape like a forest, or even through a town, is far more engaging than staring at the walls or televisions in your gym. And when you exercise outdoors, you have to be aware of things like cars, trees, and other obstacles. You’ll naturally stay mentally engaged for longer when you exercise outdoors.       [caption id="attachment_695316" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You can alternate surfaces

As much as treadmill manufacturers may try, they cannot get their product to perfectly mimic the great outdoors. Alternating the surfaces you run on, from grass to pavement to dirt, provides your body with some nice resistance and challenges various muscle groups.             [caption id="attachment_701282" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You aren’t being watched

Sure, the people you pass by see you jogging. But it’s not like in the gym, where one stationary person next to you can see how fast you go the entire time or how far you go. When you pass somebody jogging, that’s the last time they’ll see you. You don’t need to worry about people judging you for how long you go.             [caption id="attachment_624560" align="alignleft" width="420"] Shutterstock[/caption]

It's free

You don’t have to pay a monthly fee to hike through a neighborhood. You also don’t need to pay for the towels in your own home when you get back, or wait to use the shower. When the outdoors is your gym, then your home becomes the locker, and isn’t your home just better than the gym bathroom?             [caption id="attachment_717418" align="alignleft" width="420"] Shutterstock[/caption]

You can go up and down hill

You can climb up and down hills. Again, some treadmills mimic this experience, but there’s nothing quite like climbing real hills outdoors. Plus, treadmills cannot recreate drastically sloped downhill climbs.               [caption id="attachment_715151" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You may go further

If you exercise outdoors, you’ll probably cover more miles than you would in the gym. If you’re on a treadmill, when you’re tired, you can just turn the machine off and go home. But out in the world, once you’re tired, you still need to trek back to your home or car, forcing you to go further.             [caption id="attachment_715137" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll get ideas

You’ll be amazed by the ideas you get from exercising out in the world. When you pass by businesses, parks, and people living their lives, you could find inspiration for other projects going on in your life. You don’t really get that at the gym.               [caption id="attachment_693923" align="alignleft" width="420"] Shutterstock[/caption]

You can call your mother

You can call your mom when you’re on the gym’s treadmill, but it’s frowned upon. The other gym rats stare at you, upset that you’re interrupting their silence. But when you go for a hike outdoors, you can call your mom, friend, accountant—whoever.               [caption id="attachment_714155" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll interact with nature

Interacting with nature is so important for one’s mental and emotional wellbeing. Research has found that spending just a short amount of time outdoors can reduce one’s tendency for depression.             [caption id="attachment_707669" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You could boost your immune system

Spending time outdoors can also boost your immune system! On the flip side, going to the gym puts you in contact with a lot of germs when you touch the treadmill, the bathroom doors, the drinking fountain—you get the idea.             [caption id="attachment_698039" align="alignleft" width="420"] Shutterstock[/caption]

You won’t feel performance pressure

Maybe you just like to go for a mild 20-minute ride on the electric bike at the gym. But you feel pressure to use the more intimidating machines, and try something with those medicine balls, because everybody else is. You won’t feel that when you exercise outdoors.           [caption id="attachment_719151" align="alignleft" width="423"] Shutterstock[/caption]

The world is your gym

You’ll never run out of new places to exercise when you exercise outdoors. You can pick new parks, neighborhoods and town centers to jog or walk through every day. Life is too short to visit the same gym every single day.             [caption id="attachment_713649" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll get vitamin D

Getting enough vitamin D is crucial. It helps you properly absorb calcium, increases bone and muscle strength, and promotes the production of chemicals that make you feel happy. You don’t get vitamin D in the gym.             [caption id="attachment_619730" align="alignleft" width="500"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You get a little ego boost

If you’re at the gym, everybody is working out—so you’re not unique. But if you exercise out in the world, people passing by usually admire you for exercising. They may give you a little hoot and holler, a high five, or just check you out. It feels good and you know it.         [caption id="attachment_717723" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll unplug

There aren’t any USB ports outdoors. You can’t watch the news on the trees. When you exercise outdoors, you’re forced to fully unplug. Even if you bring your phone, you can’t stare at it as much as you would at the gym because you need to watch where you’re going. It’s so important to unplug for at least a little while each day.           [caption id="attachment_706458" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You won’t face any upsells

You don’t only pay to go inside the gym. Once you’re there, you’re talked into purchasing sessions with a personal trainer, or signing up for Zumba classes, or buying the new protein shake they’re selling in the gift store. You won’t face any upsells out in the world.             [caption id="attachment_715046" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You can avoid traffic

It’s happened to you; you’ve left the house, perky and excited for the day, but by the time you sat in traffic to get to your destination, your mood was ruined. Studies have found that stressing out about sitting in traffic can be bad for your health. But if you don’t have to drive to the gym, you can spend a little less time in the car.           [caption id="attachment_710417" align="alignleft" width="420"] Shutterstock[/caption]

You could improve your memory

Studies have found that spending time outdoors can improve your memory—it’s just another one of the many benefits of that magical vitamin D.             [caption id="attachment_718992" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll breathe better air

If the air in your gym feels, smells and tastes stale, that’s because it is! That’s just recycled air, circulating germs and sweat. If you can jog in a forest, on the beach or in a non-city landscape, you can breathe better quality air.               [caption id="attachment_706472" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You won’t compare your body

You’ll feel less body conscious if you exercise outdoors. At the gym, you just look at everyone in their tight workout clothes and keep track of how much longer they’re spending on the treadmill than you are. You won’t think about those things when you work out outdoors.

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