My First Outdoor Workout…

Yesterday when my trainer, Jason Kerr, came to my office for our scheduled workout, he looked at me with a big smile on his face and said, “Do you want to workout outside?”

The thought of using the weight machines at the gym didn’t thrill me and the thought of going outside and running a little was enticing. So, I said, “Sure.”

We went up to my office, I got my sweatshirt and asked Ellen Heydt if she wouldn’t mind following me out to my car.  I wanted to get my sunglasses because it was a gorgeous day outside.  It was in the 60?s and the sun was beating down strong. It was one of those days to wear sunglasses!

When I was all ready, Jason said, “Let’s go.” We were off and running around my office building at Greenway Plaza in Melville, Long Island. I thought we were just going to run.  I was good with that, but when I looked at him I knew it would be more than just running.

Our first stop was at a loading dock.  “Let’s run down slow and up fast,” he said to me. We did it once. We ran it twice. And we ranit up and down a third time.  I thought that we would just stay there and keep running up and down this short hill.

But we were off to the next obstacle, which was across the street on Baylis at a construction site.  After doing squats and lunges (my favorites… only kidding!), Jason had a strange look in his eye.  He picked up a bag of sand and said, “What do you think?”

I shook my head and he put it on my shoulders.  I continued to do lunges and squats with the heavy sandbag on my back.

There were no breaks during this workout.  When we weren’t running, I was doing jumping jacks, jump squats, mountain climbers and push ups.  At one point, he got on his hands and knees and said, “Jump over me.” “Are you kidding?” I asked.

“No, you can do it,” he said. “Just put your hands on my back and jump over me.”

I thought I was going to hurt him. I wasn’t feeling good about this one but I tried it anyway. I did a couple the right way until I fell on him and rolled right off onto the grass.  We just both laughed.

After that, a car pulled up beside us, it was Kristie Galvani on her way home. “Rob thought he saw you guys running in the parking lot,” she said.  ”I didn’t think it was you, but I guess I was wrong.” She smiled and drove away.

Throughout the entire workout, I kept thinking about The Biggest Loser and how Bob Harper has the contestants go outside and do very unusual workouts.  Does Jason watch this show? Where did he come up with these things?

Although the workout was totally different than usual, I really enjoyed it. There was something to be said about being outside in the sun running around my work office having fun.

Related articles

• 5 Great Outdoor Exercise Workouts (everydayhealth.com)