Don't be a gym rat, take your workout outside!

As soon as you take your workout outside, you'll start to feel those new muscles build from the inside.
Shreya Shah, 27, has practiced weight training for over two years, but the benefits of her regime never translated into making daily, everyday tasks any easier -such as carrying multiple bags of groceries. "I'd grab the multiple bundles with the confidence of a superwoman, like the task would be a piece of cake.But as soon as I'd lift the bags off the cart, I would crumble under the load," recalls the young dentist. She eventually traded her gym for the open air, where she spent the early hours of the morning sprinting through the streets of the city, practicing handstands in parks and shuffling through long distances in multiple postures. She claims that the benefits of her current routine can be replicated in daily activities, and she's never felt better.
On January 29, model-turnedactor-turned-entrepreneur Dino Morea dismantled his outdoor fitness stations in Marine Drive, installed with the support of Yuva Sena chief, Aaditya Thackeray. The BMC's silence on Morea's request for an extension for his gyms was the reason. Such outdoor gyms, however, are still installed in Worli Seaface and more recently, Malad West and Goregaon. But in a city where, according to media reports, gardens and park comprise only 0.52 per cent of land that sprawls across 483 sq km, this is simply not enough.
However, a certain breed of Mumbaikars, including the likes of Shah, is undeterred by the statistics -they have begun to take their workouts outdoors to gain more out of their training regime.
The `Core' reason
Agreeing with Shah's opinion on the benefits of outdoor training, Dino Morea explains that the muscles developed while exercising at outdoor fitness stations are slow to wither in the face of long breaks."Suspending yourself on monkey bars, attempting dips on the parallel rods and working on your pullups are some of the most functional exercises that can be executed.Unlike the strength developed via traditional resistance training, these workouts build power that stays with you for years, even when you take a sabbatical from training," he says.
Morea swears by bodyweight exercises and credits them for the manner in which they activate the core. "Your core is used in every activity that you perform in the day. The more people go out and play with equipment that make them handle their own weight, the easier it will be to perform life functions."
Free your mind and body
While fitness novices hunt for an ideal gym or studio to kick-start their routine, outdoor training is gaining popularity among the more advanced fitness freaks.“Many people are taking to gyms lately, but an increasing number of gym-goers are heading outdoors in search of a greater variety of exercises,“ confirms Dr Aashish Contractor, Head of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, HN Reliance Foundation Hospital.
Fitness instructor Preetesh Manas highlights the psychological benefits of taking the gym outdoors, admitting that not only is attendance higher in such classes, but members are happier and more likely to stick to their routine when training in open air.
Multiple researches have highlighted the innumerable benefits of training outdoors. In 2012, for instance, a study revealed that open-air exercisers are significantly more physically active than those who train indoors. However, there's another notable reason to give this trend a shot. "It's highly functional in nature," says Manas.
What is functional fitness?
Highlighting the true meaning of the word functional training -a term carelessly flung around in fitness studios -Dr Contractor says, “It's any exercise that replicates the movements of our daily activities, or recruits the muscles in a manner that imitates the way they're used every day, so as to make daily chores easier.“ Shah recommends a little introspection to analyse just how functional one's exercise routine is."The point is to stop and ask yourself what is it that your fitness allows you to do. Can you pull a couch, trek for hours without getting exhausted, lift bags without a backache or push a car that's broken down?" she questions.
Why take it outdoors?
Functional training can be executed within the four walls of a training centre, but taking to open spaces appears to enhance its benefits.
Once outdoors, facilities aren't as customised as in a gym. In the latter, floors are levelled to perfection -and even cushioned -to reduce the stress of training. Treadmills make us run, reducing the effort we put in propelling our bodies forward, and equipment are designed perfectly to make lifting easier.
"I decided to head outdoors when I couldn't replicate a pull up on the thick tree trunk in the park, though I could execute at least three on the narrow bars of the gym," recalls Shah. She adds that lifting a 10 kg kettle bell isn't synonymous to carrying 10 kilos of rice."Kettle bells are functional but the rice bag doesn't come with handles to grip. Can you lift it without that? Go out and test yourself by lifting an uneven rock," she urges.
Manas credits the natural environment for activating tiny muscles that go unnoticed during traditional weight training. "A simple exercise like a squat jump becomes harder when you're on the beach because the sand, though being a safer surface to exercise on, is tougher to train on. It's uneven and you need to put in more effort to jump higher because you sink deeper. Can you imagine how many extra muscles your legs are using then?" Natural terrains also enhance neuromuscular coordination, an essential aspect of training. The feet are constantly adapting to the irregular trails and the muscles are continuously communicating with the mind to keep you stable and upright, especially over rocky paths. This also boosts calorie expenditure.
Switch it up and out
Dr Contractor is also in favour of the variety that outdoor training offers. "You can intersperse resistance training with sprints, step-up and jump ropes. Benches can be used for press downs, monkey bars can be used for multiple workouts and sandboxes for lunges," he says.
Crossfit L1 certified trainer Vipin Kumar conducts outdoor classes at Priyadarshini Park in Mumbai and favours outdoor workouts to facilitate a seamless transition between different exercise formats. "I can blend resistance training with a sprint or jump rope sequence easily.The cramped up environment of gyms do not offer the space to make such shifts in minimal time," he says, adding that this agility is a primary factor that leads to calorie expenditure and long-term fitness.Vipin also adds that space constraints put a lot of essential functional exercises on the back burner."Practicing frog leaps, bear crawls and spiderman walks require spacious environments and are often neglected in closed rooms."
(By Sonia Lulla)