There are many reasons why I consider the gym to be one of my “happy places”. I love my co-workers, my clients, my class members and I love the constant positive energy that filters through our facility on a daily basis.

One of my favourite things about LiveWell as a space, is the ability we have to bring the outdoors right to us by opening our huge garage doors! Nothing beats the fresh air that flows into the classroom, and the view is pretty great too! We open things up as soon as we can in April and continue until late Fall or as long as Mother Nature cooperates. It gives us the unique ability to have certain classes such as spin, yoga and boot camp style workouts partially or completely outside.

Our warm months are limited, so we should take full advantage of them while they are here and take our fitness outside any chance we get. It feels so great, especially if you work indoors or spend a large part of your day in air conditioning. When you workout outside, you get to…

Breathe fresh air into your lungs

Feel the breeze on your face

Listen to the birds

Clear your mind

Elevate your mood

Boost your vitamin D levels

Wherever your summer holidays take you, or even if its just in your backyard…

let nature be your gym!

My favourite spot to do this is our friend’s cottage, where the cottage roads become our treadmill, the cottage stairs become our Stairmaster, and the beach becomes our fitness centre. It is truly exhilarating listening to the waves and feeling the sun on your face while doing your workout. There are countless exercises that can be done with absolutely NO EQUIPMENT!! All we need is our own body weight and that is something we will always have with us… there is no room for excuses!!

Here is a list of a few possible ‘body weight’ exercises you can do anywhere at any time:

CARDIO

Walk
Run
Hike
Swim
Jumping jacks
Climb the stairs (there are 72 from the cottage to the beach)
Burpees (sorry, couldn’t leave them out!)

STRENGTH

Squats
Lunges
Push-ups or planks
Triceps dips
Sit-ups
I like to find a large rock/log to use for deadlifts, push press or bicep curls.

Always make sure to have plenty of water with you, and don’t forget to put on sunscreen before heading out; especially on really hot days like we have had so far this summer!

These summer months go by too fast, so make sure you get outside and enjoy them as much as you can!

HAPPY SUMMER, EVERYONE!