In like a lion is a good description of the weather I faced during my first full week of training outdoors. The week started cold, warmed up a bit, had some freezing rain, then dipped into the negatives with wind chill. Definitely a challenge for training.
Bundle up!
Workout #1: January 1st, 10am, 20 degrees Fahrenheit with 30 mph winds. My first official Outdoor Fitness Project workout. Cold. I completed the workout at a local park with a fitness trail (Tinker Park in Henrietta, NY). Despite the fact that dogs are not allowed, it will probably be one of my go to places. The inclusion of parallel bars and pull-up bars on the trail keep workouts straight forward and make Tinker park a standout for easy outdoor fitness. After a thorough warm up I was still cold so I decided to run the 1.2 mile perimeter trail at a brisk pace. Now my core was warm and I was ready to go.
My workout consisted of the following:
Bent arm handstands: 4X10 seconds
Modified front levers: 4X10 seconds
Bulgarian split squats: 4X10 (each leg)
Pull-ups: 4X10
Dips: 4X12
Plyo box jumps using the top of a picnic table: 4 sets of 3 jumps
The great weather continued for workout #2. January 3rd, 7pm, 33 degrees Fahrenheit with freezing rain. I rounded up my dog Duke and headed into the neighborhood for this session.
Workout #2 breakdown:
Bent arm handstands: 4X10 seconds
Modified front levers: 4X10 seconds
Incline Push-ups 4x12
Hanging rows 4X12
For the rows and front levers I used the trapeze swing on my daughter's swing set. Aside from freezing rain on my face and mud on my heels, this worked well. To finish, I did 6 sets of stair sprints. There is a set of railroad tie framed stairs connecting my neighborhood to another. The stairs are about 4 feet long each and are filled with gravel. Even in the freezing rain traction remained decent.
On January 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, I went snowboarding. It had been a while since I last went and was quickly reminded of how great a full body workout falling is.
I completed workout #1 and workout #2 one more time each for a total of 4 strength training workouts. The worst weather I encountered was during my January 7th workout. A windchill of -11 made it nearly impossible to stay warm. To combat the cold and build as much heat as possible, I did my incline push-ups near the stairs in my neighborhood. I ran one stair sprint between each set. This helped keep me slightly thawed. Through this, my dog Duke did not seem to care one bit about the cold and ran around like a maniac the whole time.
Week 1 activity summary: 4 strength training workouts, 1 Jujitsu session, two sprint sessions, two plyo sessions, two fast 1.2 mile trail runs, and 3 days of snowboarding. Not a bad way to start the year.
Take action and get active!
