A great way to spice up your walk is to add some strength training exercise intervals during your walk. You’ll be amazed by how quickly your regular walk will pass by. After five minutes of walking, do one minute of exercise. Choose a different exercise for each five minute walk cycle.

Start on your regular walking or running workout with a good 10 minute warm up followed by stretching. Choose a route that takes you through a park or some place with park benches, playground equipment, cement retaining walls, stairs, or hills – your very own outdoor gym.

Walking Lunges

Walking lunges provide a good workout for the glutes, quads and hamstrings. They also improve flexibility in the legs and hips. Be sure not to extend the knee past the foot, but keep it at a 90 degree angle.

Park Bench Tricep Dips

This exercise works the triceps in the arms. Sit on a park bench and then lift your body weight up and out, palms on the edge of the bench and facing out and your elbows straight. Your knees will be bent and your feet flat on the ground. Bend your elbows and then straighten to dip down and up. Be sure not to rock back and forth away from and back to the bench. Instead, keep your back very close to the bench during the entire movement and limit the movement to up and down.

Bench Step Ups or Stairs

Stand in front of a park bench and step up, up, down, down, making sure your heel isn’t hanging off the edge of the step. This works your glutes and quads. Benches are higher off the ground, so stairs may be a better option for beginners.

Park bench/Playground Sit Ups

Place your feet under a hanging edge/handle. Rest the palms of your hands behind your head and raise your upper body. Do not pull your head forward and keep your back straight.

Be creative. You can use playground equipment to do push ups/pull ups, squats and more. You just have to start seeing the outdoors as your personal gym and combined with your walks for a perfect workout.