Cardio High Outdoor Workout

For a brief moment Cardio High offered outdoor workouts at Newton North Track, though we mostly used the turf football field. We are now going through a period of sheltering in place, and Cardio High is only offering workouts via Zoom. But we thought it would be useful to share the basics of our outdoor workout, so clients could find an empty field for an outdoor workout. We believe our outdoor workouts are quite a bit healthier than just going for a run because we vary the movement instead of committing to a repetitive jog.

Step 1: Go through the Cardio High warm-up. Never skip it.

Step 2: Move between two points on a field (40-50 yards is ideal). Change your gait each time you make a trip. Examples:

• Start with a heel to toe speed walk. Then backwards walk.
• Shuffle jog forward. Shuffle jog backward.
• Shuffle jog with vigorous running arm movement.
• Walking lunge with opposite arm raise. Then add rotation over the front knee.
• Jog with increasing speed via faster foot strike.
• Short stride skip. Bounding skips.
• Butt kick jog. End with high knee jog or high knee march.
• Carioca (grapevine) in both directions – face same direction, so you lead with each hip.

Take a break from back & forth movement every 2-3 minutes to do bodyweight exercises such as:

• Lateral skip with a ground tap.
• Scap push-ups and push-ups.
• Squats or squat hops.
• Bear crawl or high plank with knee to elbow.
• Bridge and single leg bridge (or bridge with heels on step if avail.)
• Reverse lunge to leg swing.
• Up and down dog.

If you try a workout like this at one of your favorite Newton parks, please let us know what you think. Make sure to maintain your social d. if anyone approaches and asks to join you in your workout. Also make sure to wash hands after workout and stay healthy!

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