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Jackie Wright " Great spring and summer workouts

Jackie Wright / The Fitness Trail
Grand Lake, Colorado

(First in a two-part series)

Winter, while still hanging on in Grand County, is gradually on its way out making room for spring and summer. And, with spring and summer come all of the great outdoor workouts available to us. Let’s begin with spring workouts this week and next week a few summer workouts. As always, consult your physician prior to beginning any exercise program.

Spring Cardiovascular Training



On those days when mother nature cooperates and the roads are dry, the following workout is a good bet. The hiking trails may not be dry enough for hiking, but some roads that are not too busy may be a great location to get out there and walk.

– If you have been working out regularly, choose a path that will provide you with hills and flats so that you can train steady state and anaerobically. If you are just beginning an exercise program, choose terrain that is as flat as possible.



– Rather than focusing upon distance, think about duration. Regular exercisers might choose a path that will take 30-60 minutes to complete. Beginners might initially choose a path that will take 20-30 minutes to complete.

– Warm-up by walking at an easy pace for five to ten minutes.

– Then, begin a fitness walk by keeping a pace which will enable you to say your name and phone number during the steady state segments but not to easily carry on a conversation (i.e. flats/downhills).

– On hills, if you have been working out regularly, push yourself up the hill at a pace which will cause you to become breathless for 10/30 seconds and to actively recover in 10/30 seconds, depending upon your fitness level. If you are just beginning an exercise program, walk slowly up the hills, taking breaks when necessary but keep the feet moving.

– Complete the fitness walk by bringing the intensity down to the point where you can easily carry on a conversation, then perform stretches for all major muscle groups of the body.

Muscular strength training

If you have access to a park where the ground is relatively dry, you can use the park as a huge muscular strength training area.

– Warm-up by walking at an easy pace for five to ten minutes.

– Then, locate an open area where the ground is stable and flat.

– Perform four to eight traveling squats to the right and then back to the left. Repeat two to three sets of 4-8 repetitions (i.e. four/eight squats right and left is one set).

– Find a park bench and perform either full or modified pushups from the bench. Perform 8-12 repetitions.

– At the same park bench, turn around and perform tricep dips with the legs bent or extended. Perform 8-12 repetitions.

– Find a dry spot on the ground, lying supine and perform 8-12 bicycles for the abdominals and core.

– Then, repeat this same sequence two to three times followed by a relaxing cool down stretch.

Perform the fitness walk, three to six times per week and the muscular strength training circuit two to three times per week. Next week, we will cover great workouts for the summer months.

” Jackie Wright is the owner/manager of Never Summer Fitness, LLC located in Grand Lake, Colorado. She can be reached at her e-mail address: NSFGL@comcast.net, her Web site http://www.neversummerfitness.com or her blog at http://www.skyhidailynews.com


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