Share

Wellbeing

Have Your Own TrailFit Adventure | Outdoor Workout Tutorial With Sophie Everard

How to elevate your fitness and workout on forest runs and weekend hikes

Would you rather spend hours of your week counting calories in a stuffy gym, or use that time to get some fresh air and exercise outdoors? While both activities burn energy and do your body good, taking your workouts outside is a much better way to made exercising more rewarding and enjoyable.

At Cooler we love to make our exercise routine fit our outdoor lifestyle and we love sharing this lifestyle with as many people as possible. This is why over the last month we’ve been working with Keen Footwear to get more adventurous women off the treadmill and into the outdoors with three awesome TrailFit sessions. Whether it be spending the morning on the city streets, hitting the parks for an amazing fitness session, or getting out into the wild at the weekend, we’ve create a TrailFit workout session for every type of terrain and lifestyle, so everyone can elevate their fitness.

Have Your Own TrailFit Adventure | City Workout Tutorial With Sophie Everard

Last weekend, fifteen women escaped London’s urban jungle and spent a few hours in Epping Forest with the awesome trainer Sophie Everard. From running through the trees, to using the natural space around them to workout their bodies, they discovered how the forest can provide a much more powerful workout than they would get by spending a Saturday morning in the gym.

Didn’t manage to get down to our TrailFit events? We’ve put together a taster of each session for you to save to your phone and try on your own. Pull on a pair of Terradora boots, copy this workout and get out into the great outdoors. You’ll feel much better for it, we promise.

KEEN TRAILFIT TRAINING SESSION

Duration: 60 minutes

Warm Up

  • Double heel lifts
  • Walking lunges
  • Butt kickers
  • Leg swings
  • High Knees

Walk at a fast pace for two to three minutes, then jog for five minutes.

Weave in and out of trees (suicide runs): agility runs. Run for 30 seconds, rest for one minute. Repeat 5 times.
Suicide runs are high intensity sprint, working on endurance, agility and speed. Suicide runs can be done nearly anywhere – outdoors, in a park, gym, courts, all you need are shoes and some props to serve as markers which in this case are trees, weaving through trees.

Finger planks (good for climbing) 30 seconds, 3 sets
Hold a high plank (or raised pushup position) using your fingers to hold you as high as possible. This will really build finger strength and core.

Body rows off tree branches. 3 sets of 5-8 reps
Utilizes your own body weight without placing stress on the lower back, working the back, biceps, traps, and all the stabilizer muscles.

Get creative and find a lower branch. Grab the branch with an overhand grip (palms facing away from you). Contract your abs and try to keep the body in a completely straight line. Your ears, shoulders, hips, legs and feet should all be in a straight line. Pull yourself up to the branch until your chest touches the branch. Lower yourself back down.

  • Pushups against trees (regressed push-ups) 3 sets 6-8 reps
    This is a push up with hands on raised surface. Elevating your hands is less mechanical work, but you’re keeping the same bio-mechanics of the press-up movement. Drop the knees for an easier modification, where you don’t require as much core stability.
  • Wall sits utilising large trees. 3 sets of 60 seconds (advanced, 45 seconds (intermediate), 30 seconds (beginner)
    This exercise works the quads, hip flexors, glutes and hamstrings. Stand with your lower back against a straight tree, walk your feet out at hip distance apart and lower your glutes to sit against the tree. Press the lower back into the wall by shifting weight to your heels off the toes, and relax the abs and shoulders.

Skater Jumps 8-12 reps 3 sets
This exercise develops lateral strength and power in the quads and glute muscles. It also places the entire load on one leg, which helps with balance and reduces the tendency to favor the stronger leg during two-legged jumps.
Get into a squat position with your feet close together and the majority of your weight on your right leg. Push off your right leg to the opposite side. Land softly on your left leg and move your right leg behind it like you were performing a Curtsy Lunge. Repeat on your left leg.

Trek and light jog, increasing speed to add HIIT. Look for paths with inclines to accelerate up, increasing difficulty through speed control or elevation. Sprinting for 30 seconds and recovering for 60 seconds, at least 5 times. Further increase difficulty by decreasing the recovery time.

Newsletter Terms & Conditions

Please enter your email so we can keep you updated with news, features and the latest offers. If you are not interested you can unsubscribe at any time. We will never sell your data and you'll only get messages from us and our partners whose products and services we think you'll enjoy.

Read our full Privacy Policy as well as Terms & Conditions.

production