The health benefits to exercising outdoors in Ely
Exercising outdoors has no end of benefits for your physical and mental wellbeing. It is because of these benefits that we choose to exercise outside and it is one of many reasons as to why we get such amazing body transformations for our clients.
Here are some of those benefits;
Seasonal Health Benefits
The health benefits of exercising outdoors are also partly seasonal.
Winter Benefits
A study on the seasonal changes in metabolic rates showed the impact of the temperature you train in on your metabolism.
In summary, when exercising outdoors in the colder months, you actually burn more calories, which can result in greater weight loss and body transformation, when compared to exercising indoors in an Ely gym.
This happens because our bodies need to be kept at a certain temperature. Therefore, when we are in a cold environment, we burn more calories to generate enough heat.
This medically reviewed article on the benefits of cold exposure evidences even more benefits to exercising outdoors in the colder months, such as;
- Aids fat burning
- When colder, you burn calories and fat in order to stay warm (as discussed already)
- Fights inflammation
- raises something called adiponectin, a protein that combats inflammation
- Stronger via hormesis
- Hormesis being the introduction of a small stress to the body to prep it for future stressors that are even stronger, i.e. by working outside in perhaps less than ideal weather, you’ll be more accustomed to that next time and it’ll have less effect on you
- Strengthens the nervous system
- Cold temperatures act as a light ‘workout’ for the nervous system, which therefore strengthens it.
- May support and speed up recovery
- Reduces swelling, inflammation and muscle spasms
- Regulates Blood Sugar Levels
- Cold exposure can enhance the body’s response to insulin, allowing glucose to clear from the blood with greater efficiency.
- Strengthens the immune system
- Reduces pain
Summer Benefits
One benefit of working out in the warmer months, is the increased intake of Vitamin D due to exposure to sunlight.
The gov’s factsheet on Vitamin D shows that is has been known to;
- enhance your mood
- strengthen bones and teeth
- prevent muscle weakness
- help with muscle pain
- improve energy levels
It also helps prevent against and treat;
- Heart disease and high blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Infections and immune system disorders
- Some types of cancer
- Multiple sclerosis
Other benefits to working out in the summer months, is the exposure to the heat, such as;
- Reduced inflammation and pain
- Heat exposure activates ‘heat shock proteins’ (HSP), several of these HSP’s have anti-inflammatory effects, with many studies linking the increase of HSP’s to reduced inflammation and pain.
- Improved brain health
- It’s also been shown that these HSP’s are protective to the brain, especially during a stroke or traumatic brain injury.
- Heat exposure has also been shown to increase levels of brain derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF). BDNF is important for brain development and has an impact on learning and memory.
- Detoxing
- The liver can get overwhelmed with removing all the toxins in our body, so by increasing the amount we sweat due to heat exposure we are decreasing the amount of toxins in our body.
Improved mood and natural anti-depressant
Exercising outdoors with us provides a mental health boost much larger than that of an indoor Ely gym. Partaking in exercise outdoors has been shown to improve mood and reduce depression and feelings of anger (link to study from Barton and Pretty, 2010).
This is improved mood is partly due to vitamin D as already discussed, however sunshine also naturally increases serotonin, which is a hormone that affects your mood.
Exercise itself produces endorphins, which is yet another feel-good hormone that boosts your mood and reduced pain. So, as you can imagine, a combination of doing exercise and being outdoors, is a super combination for mood improvements when compared to an Ely gym.
That’s without mentioning the fact that you’ll be training amongst super friendly, like minded individuals, all of whom support each other to achieving their goals! Just having that general chit chat and support, is another mood booster!
Cleaner and more hygienic
Being in a clean and hygienic environment has possibly become more important than ever due to our battle with coronavirus. If you go to an Ely gym or are thinking about going to an Ely gym, know that it won’t be as clean and hygienic as training outdoors.
No end of clients have left Ely gyms during this pandemic due to their inability to avoid certain factors, e.g. breathing the same air as the other 30+ people in a confined space, or sharing equipment with other members.
Here at Body Shape Fitness where we train outdoors, you get to;
- breathe in clean outside air
- it’s been evidenced that you’re far less likely to be infected or to catch any illness when in an outdoor space
- not share any equipment with any other member
- we clean all equipment thoroughly before and after the sessions and you don’t share any equipment with anyone else
- be easily socially distanced away from other members
- decreased the risk even further of catching anything
These all make training outdoors with Body Shape Fitness far more hygienic and cleaner, when compared to training within an Ely gym.
What to do next
You’ve just read our guide that explains how and why training outdoors is considerably better for your physical and mental health.
You can now make the best decision for your own health, well-being and body. Click the following link to sign up to our 6 Week Transformation Challenge in Ely, there’s even the opportunity to do it for free!