Take it Outside! My Gym Trainer Stadium Workouts

No Equipment Needed!

Stadium Smarts:

Summer is a great time to escape the gym and head outdoors for a great workout.  To shake things up or bust through a plateau, head to a local outdoor stadium with lots of steps, perhaps at a local high school for a great stair climbing circuit.  Here are some tips for how to get the most out of your My Gym Trainer stadium workouts:

1. Intensity trumps duration: Because running stadiums is so intense, the workouts contained here are shorter, but will generate a bigger metabolic boost than long, slower workouts. By nature, running stairs is an innate interval-training workout.  Intervals alternate high-intensity bouts (runningup the stairs) with low-intensity recovery periods (walking back down the stairs).  This varying of high and low intensities several times within the workout pushes us to breach our anaerobic threshold; the point at which we are breathless and our muscles are burning.  Hitting this point (but notstaying there) in a workout increases the intensity and after-burn effect of the session, so that you continue burning greater fat and calories after the workout is over.

1. Shape and sweat: Stair climbing is one of the best cardiovascular activities for muscular endurance and shaping.  Especially long strides up the stairs (two steps at a time) mimic the movement of a lunge, first stretching the glutes, quads and hamstrings, and then contracting all 3 muscles together in one big muscular effort to reach for the next step.  If done right, this movement creates a muscular burn in the glutes, quads and hamstrings that cannot be generated in other cardio activities like jogging.

1. Up your metabolism with weights: We know cardiovascular exercise is great for our heart and helps shed pounds, but without weight training, we will see little definition or “cuts” in our newly trimmed physique.  These circuits created integrate cardio along with weight-training exercises to hit all the major muscle groups, while increasing the metabolic effect of the workout.  If you want to target a troublesome lower half, incorporate this leg circuit up to 3x/week.  Need a little tone in the arms?  Try this upper body circuit 2-3x/week.  Complete both circuits on days that you want a total body blitz, resting a couple minutes between upper and lower body circuits.

The workouts are to be done circuit-style, which means that you move from one exercise to the next with little rest.  Continue cycling through all the movements within the circuit until the 15 minutes is up.

Want more?  To increase your intensity, bring some dumbbells with you to the stadium! Place them at the top of Aisle #1 before you begin, and hold them during your squats, squat jumps and squat thrusts for added burn in the legs.  During your upper body circuit, use them at the top of the aisle to do rows and shoulder presses.

Be sure to perform a proper warm-up for at least 5 minutes, incorporating jogging, a few light run-throughs on the stairs and some dynamic stretches like high knees, side-to-side lunges and spinal twists.

Cardio & Lower Body Workout – You will need 2 adjacent aisles for this workout

Perform this circuit, rotating through as many times as possible in 15 minutes

Begin at bottom of Aisle #1, and sprint up steps, 2-at-a-time

Perform 10 squats at the top

Perform 10 squat jumps at the top

Perform 10 squat thrusts at the top

Perform walking lunges across the top until you reach Aisle #2

Walk down Aisle #2 – recovery time

Run back to the starting spot at the bottom of Aisle #1 and repeat circuit

Cardio & Upper Body Workout – You will need 1 aisle for this workout

Perform the circuit, rotating through as many times as possible in 15 minutes

Begin at the bottom of Aisle #1

Perform 10 incline push-ups with hands on the 5^th step and feet on the ground level

Perform 10 dips with hands on the 1^st step, feet on the ground level, knees bent

Perform 10 moving planks, bringing the hands from the bottom of the steps up to the 1^st step and back down while in push-up position

Sprint up the steps, 2-at-a-time

Walk back down the aisle, recovering

Sprint up the steps, 2-at-a-time

Walk back down the aisle and repeat circuit

Once your workout is completed, perform a 5-minute cool-down, focusing on bringing the heart rate back down and incorporating static stretches for the hamstrings, quads, glutes, shoulders, cheat and back.

Tags: burn fat, cardio, stadium workout, women's workouts