Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we are talking about one exercise question for two minutes and giving you three reasons why you should follow our advice. Now this week, we are talking to those of you who are trying to bridge the gap between your inside and outside workouts. The weather is getting nicer, so how do you balance your time between hitting the trails and hitting the gym?
1) Incorporate Both Resistance Training & Cardio
Tip number one – make sure you are incorporating both resistance training and cardiovascular exercise. A lot of times, when the weather gets nice, we just want to workout outside. But, often times, the activities that are available to us outside are more cardiovascular in nature, so make sure that you are still finding at least two days each week to get in the gym and get some resistance training done.
Action Step: Plan to get to the gym at least 2 days each week to get in some resistance training. Outside of that, feel free to hit the trails outdoors!
Related: 3 Considerations When Doing Cardio
2) Keep In Mind Your Overall Goal
Tip number two – keep in mind what your overall physical and health goals are, and design your exercise routine around those. A lot of times, we are trying to exercise in a way that is most convenient for our schedules, and this means there may be times when we are only able to go out for a run. But, you still have to keep in mind what your long term health and fitness goals are and design your exercise plan around those. This needs to include making time to go to the gym and get in some resistance training even when the weather is nicer.
Action Step: Start by defining what your health and fitness goals are. Once that is done, you can then start to appropriately decide how much time you should be working out outside versus in the gym with weights.
Related: Short on time? Here’s how to exercise!
3) Make Your Workouts Efficient By Writing Them Down
We know there are a lot of you out there have been waiting all winter for the weather to finally be nice enough to workout outside. But, you have to remember that the gym offers you a very unique opportunity to challenge your body. So, utilize this valuable asset in the most efficient way you can by writing your workouts down ahead of time. This way, you can get in, do exactly what you need to do, and then get out of there.
Action Step: Before you head to the gym, take 10 minutes to write down the exercises you plan on doing. It does not need to take long. Just have a template to guide you once you get there so you can be in and out as efficiently as possible.