During the summer, it is optimal for our health to take advantage of the fine weather for outdoor training sessions, better known as outdoor activities.
The outdoor activities par excellence are undoubtedly walking and running, but in recent years, various activities have developed, such as yoga and tai-chi in parks and free-body training in functional training areas. These activities often take place in the middle of nature, away from the hustle and bustle and smog of the city, which is why people are more willing to exercise outdoors than in the gym - why is that?
The outdoors generates more systemic and psychophysical benefits, and we can prove it scientifically!
Here's what you can benefit from:
- Greater oxygenation: The open air allows us to have greater oxygenation of the muscles, which in turn become more efficient and are able to express greater muscle strength.
- Breathe well and breathe clean: Exercising outdoors, surrounded by nature, allows us to improve the functional capacities of our respiratory system: clean air, absence of smog and pollution also help reduce the risk of lung diseases.
- Improves vitamin D production: doing outdoor activities involves exposure to sunlight and a consequent increase in vitamin D production. This vitamin is essential for the proper functioning of our organism, for healthy bones and joints and for strengthening the immune system.
- Psychophysical well-being: activities in the countryside and in groups improve mood and social relations
Moreover, the variability of the activities performed should not be underestimated. Thanks to the practice of disciplines such as crossfit and calisthenics, structures dedicated to free body training in the open air have become widespread in various green areas and parks in our region, consisting of bars of different heights, rings, ropes... with which we can perform an infinite number of exercises simply by using our bodies as an overload. The objective of these areas is to encourage movement and exercise, to reduce sedentariness, to bring young people closer to physical activity, and to give everyone the opportunity to train without the cost of a facility.
By performing circuits consisting of free body exercises, alternating with the use of bars to perform exercises against gravity, or muscular strength exercises in which the goal is to lift our body weight, we can improve our fitness:
- Improve the mobility of our joints
- Improve our body perception and motor control
- Improve the muscular strength of lower and upper limbs
- Training here allows space for everyone, being able to vary the exercises according to one's motor background
- Thanks to the variability of exercises there is the possibility to increase the intensity of training according to the exercises chosen and make it suitable for one's own training level
How can we supplement the calories and water we lose through this type of exercise? First of all with something comfortable, to put in your rucksack, and to use as a snack and eat immediately after the activity, perhaps outdoors in the middle of the park:
- Hydrate with at least 0.5 L of water
- Dried fruit: at least 30 g walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts
- Fruit in season: one medium-sized, fresh fruit in season to supplement fibre and water
- Snacks/cereal bars and honey to supplement carbohydrates and sugars
- Breadcrumbs with sliced bread or jam
- 100% fruit juice without added sugar, preferably fruit juice, centrifuge or extract
- Fruit smoothie with vegetable drink and hazelnut crumbs
(Article by Dr. Girardi Gioia)
