The weather here in Vancouver this May has been amazing. It’s made me want to train outside more, rather than in my dark basement gym. So instead of doing my typical HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout going back and forth between stationary biking and burpees, I decided to take it outside.

For this particular workout, all you need is a hill. I happen to live right next to a park situated on a hill, surrounded by natural forest. The forest cover offers the perfect amount of shade to keep things cooler too. To use the hill for my workout, I simply run uphill during my high intervals and walk downhill during my low intervals. Hill running is really intense, working out all the muscles in your legs. I still use my typical timing for my workout, 4 minutes warm-up, 8 cycles of 90 second low intervals and 30 second high intervals, followed by a 2-minute cool-down.

I like this workout for several reasons. I like being able to work out outside but keep in in the trees out of the sun. If I were running over flat ground, I’d have to be in the sun, or at least I would in my neighbourhood. I like having visual reminders of my progress. Because the intervals are set times, I have some indication of when I’m about to change intervals based on where I am on the hill, which is nice when you’re really gunning it and need a little something to remind you that you’re nearly at the end of the interval. I also like that it’s working out different muscles by adding the uphill and downhill movements.

No over to you. Do you have any creative ways that you get your workouts in outdoors? If so, please feel free to share them in the comments. 🙂

Tags: cardio | HIIT | Hill Running | Interval Training